shellio

Just a reminder of something I've known but tend to forget: if you get information you don't trust or even don't like from a ticket agent, try again. It may very well change if you talk to someone else.

I tried to make reservations by phone the other day to get from SFO to CDG using United FF miles. I was told by the reservations agent that the only available seats were to Frankfurt and, although Lufthansa is a partner and does fly Frankfurt-Paris, they had recently changed their policy and would not accept FF reservations more than 90 days in advance of the flight date. If I later was able to reserve that connection to Lufthansa I would have to pay a change fee of $100. If I wanted to make reservations now to assure seats I would have to pay for a connecting flight, which looked like it would be about $325 R/T.

So I called back today, got another agent who seemed clueless, thanked her and hung up and finally got an agent who seemed to know her stuff. Yes, Lufthansa has a new policy. No, it doesn't apply to inter-Europe flights, only to intercontinental ones. Yes, of course I can make a reservation now to get to Paris on the same ticket, with a connection in Frankfurt. No, of course I don't have to pay for the Frankfurt-Paris leg.

Apparently the change in Lufthansa policy has confused some agents and they are giving people incorrect information. I was lucky to have been so skeptical and/or dogged, as I've saved at least $100 per ticket in change fees or possibly $325 per ticket in fares.

ira

Hi shellio,

"He conquers who endures". ~Persius

LoveItaly

shellio, thanks for the "heads up" reminder. I just went through the same aggervation with my health ins. carrier.

It is good to be reminded to not take the first person "advice".

Thanks again.

Robespierre

A Universal Law (which I coined about 30 years ago) goes like this:

&quot;When someone tells you a thing is impossible, all they are <i>really</i> saying is that <u>they</u> don't know how to do it.&quot;

ira

Or that they don't want to do it.

LoveItaly

Robespierre and Ira - True, True, True!

taggie

I had something similar when booking an Air Canada FF trip to Athens via London. Was told that no way could I get to Athens, that there wasn't anything even available to London (this despite the fact that I had the internet site in front of me and it was showing TONS of available FF seats to London when I wanted to go. The agent kept assuring me the site info was wrong).

I hung up, immediately dialed again and got a different agent. Ended up getting everything booked on all the dates I wanted, using a combo of AC partners... AC to London, then Austrian to Vienna-Athens, then Lufthansa returning via Frankfurt.
Sure it was a &quot;challenge&quot; for the agent, but on my second try I got someone who was up for it. The first person just couldn't be bothered to even try and do her job.
At least it taught me a lesson.... that actually performing your duties isn't necessarily a requirement for that particular job.

shellio

Taggie, to be fair, the first agent I had was trying very hard to be helpful. She spent a lot of time looking at various dates and routings, but she had failed to understand the limitations a partner airline had recently put into effect. I don't think she was trying to avoid doing her job. In your example, maybe that was in fact the case.

My point was that sometimes service workers make mistakes and the customer can suffer from it. Keep trying until you're sure the information is correct.