Airline made a mistake- any ideas
 

3 days ago , I booked flights to Florida for March 2004 on an airline I have flown for years. I will not mention their name.
I booked a Saturday to Saturday itinerary at a good price.
My confirmation did not come Saturday, it did not come Sunday. The email confirmation arrived today and the intinerary is NOT what I booked. They have me on a Friday to Friday trip.
I called right away and spoke with an agent and a supervisor. They felt the agent had made a mistake but it will cost me $200p.p. to correct this. They will not honor the original itinerary. Our discussion was polite but the issue was not resolved. I sent an email to the corporate company. Does anyone have any ideas? I am honest and truthful and I make meticulous notes when I book a trip. The original agent repeated the itinerary back to me exactly as I have writen in my notes.

There's something wrong here. You say that the airline admitted that the agent made a mistake, but you'd still have to pay the $200 to change the reservations! That definitely doesn't make sense. Either you misunderstood or they were providing doubletalk!

I believe they MUST honor the Friday-Friday tickets if they issued them. It's basic contractual law (I'm not an atty, but I know basic contractual law.) They cannot leave you without the erroneous tickets they issued. Is it a possiblity to change your plans to accommodate the Friday-Friday tickets? If not, I'd make alot of noise at the top. My business law teacher taught me to make a complaint to the very top (CEO???) If they correct the mistake, it will be done by an employee on the lower level of the rung, but everyone in between will know about it. If you have meticulous notes with the agent's name and the date/time you called, I'd put that info in your LETTER (not e-mail) to the top offices (CC: Customer Svc and anyone else you can think of, just in case someone loses or doesn't give your letter to the top person.) The more info you put in your letter that matches what they have in their system, the better the chances they will believe you and possibly give you the benefit of the doubt. I don't know how many times I told a company, "I spoke with Bill at 10:30am on July 2nd" and they sat up and took notice. It really helps to get the person's name you speak with. I do that all the time now.

Let the airline know you are a customer of X number of years and there are other airlines out there who will be happy to take your business from them.

I had a problem with an airline several years ago and I won't ever book on them again. They lost my business over a $75 dispute. Uh oh, it was THEIR loss.

In your letter also copy the Attorney General's Office - Consumer Complaint Division in the state you live in and the state the airline is incorporated in. You can get most of the corporate information on the airline's website by looking under the stock investment information link. You'll get the names of the corporate officers and corporate address on the corporation's 10-K. You'll also be able to find the name of the airline's in-house counsel, and you should copy that person too.

The other way to go is to contact your local television affiliates and newspaper if they have a consumer reporter. The NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates all have one, and these reporters love to investigate these stories. Usually someone with a known name making a call saying that s/he is a consumer reporter will often get an immediate reaction from Customer Service.

Thirdly, calling the airline later in the evening when it is quieter can get you better results. Don't accept no for an answer, and keep asking to speak to the next supervisor until you get this resolved. Make sure you get full names and employee ID numbers when you make your telephone calls and document every conversation, even if it is to send yourself an email with the synopsis of each conversation.

Heartburn: switching to the other itinerary is difficult because of my daughter's spring break schedule. She would miss a day of school to travel on Friday. Also if we decide to go into a condo, most are Saturday to Saturday. We will probably get a hotel but the condo is an option. Today I begged the supervisor to pull the tape recording of the original call. Their 800 # has a disclaimer that calls may be recorded to insure customer service. The supervisor states they do not pull tapes. I have meticulous notes on the dates and times, I do not have the name of the original agent. The original agent was most helpful and pleasant and told me she booked me on a companion fare to get this rate. The supervisor disputes I am on a companion fare. Nothing really adds up. I have never had this type of issue and we have travel 5-6 times per year, usually with this airline.
When I think that airport volunteers get vouchers worth several hundred dollars to change their itinerary by a few hours! They want me to pay $200pp to keep what I was told I booked. I forgot to mention I did some Priceline hotel bidding after I booked this Saturday to Saturday itinerary. I was very sure of my dates or I would not have done Priceline bidding. Priceline is totally nonrefundable, even if a mistake is made. luckily my bid was rejected. Then my husband and I both looked on line and made phone calls about hotels, again using the dates I was told I had booked. Thanks

I will be the first one with some doubts about this story. SORRY.

The few times I booked with the airline reservation desk, they always, and I mean always went over the dates, times, and flight #'s before we hung up. If you were so meticulous about having notes in front of you, why did you not catch the discrepancy?

I will have to assume that you gave them the wrong date, and now you want to change it. Unfortunately that will cost you.

If I'm wrong, I apologize. But, I really don't think I'm. Sorry.

It's a good idea to send a letter to the corporate office, but don't send an email. Or, at this point, send a printed copy of your email via US mail instead. It's much more likely to get someone's attention that way.

Sounds like your only other alternative (assuming you used a credit card) is to dispute the charge with your credit card company. Call them. They'll start an investigation. You'll want to pass along your original notes from your phone reservations call, the email of the itinterary that did not come until days later, and the notes of your call from the subsequent call where they admitted they made a mistake.

If you have a good track record with your CC company (i.e. not disputing stuff every month), you have a good shot.

Andrew

My heart goes out to you. I hope the airline comes through for you and changes your reservations. And to think I always trusted the agents not to screw up my reservations over the phone. I'm beginning to trust computer orders more and more (at least then you can print out the confirmation and if the tix are wrong, just pull out your copy and say "Voila!") That was really rotten of the agent to lie to you about the reservations and the great deal you were getting! Grrrrrrrrrr!!

Don't stop calling and writing, you have time for them to fix the mistake if they really want to keep your business.

If not, maybe you can just change your daughter's reservations and pick her up at the airport the next day, she'll just have to return a day early. It sure would be cheaper than changing all four tickets.

At least you lucked out by not getting stuck with the Priceline accommodations. I truly hope everything works out for you and your family. GOOD LUCK!

what i really find amazing is that they would quibble over changing a friday to a saturday! aren't fridays always fuller anyway? well, good luck. i have had american back down once...it took a while and a few people, but don't give up!good lluck!

I also just had a problem with an airline ticket I purchased and they wanted $100 change fare for each of the 3 tickets. I was so upset because there was a big misunderstanding.

When I attempted to contact the supervisor about it, she was RUDE, TALKED OVER ME, etc. I called back and got another supervisor and here is what she recommended. She said that I needed to contact the Customer Relations Dept and speak to the Executive Offices.

I did just that and my problem was immediately resolved and I was NOT charged the change fee.

Just explain the situation and I am sure it will be resolved.

AAFrequentFlyer sounds like the first supervisor I spoke with by being rude. IT IT POSSIBLE FOR THIS TYPE OF THING TO HAPPEN. You see frequent flyers deal with booking all the time and don't realize that the novice flyers can have things happen that we don't pick up on.

I hope you get all of this resolved quickly - it took me less than 1 day after contacting the executive offices.
Good luck
Sealgal

You should be able to get this straightened out with some perserverance, but don't let it go until you do. Some airlines provide the opportunity to change without penalty within the first 24 hours. If your carrier is one of them and they didn't give you confirmation for more than two days, then it would seem as though you would have a legitimate complaint on that basis alone because you had no opportunity to examine the ticket during the period when you could have corrected it.

I generally avoid making reservations on the telephone but there are times, such when using vouchers, when I can't book online. If your airline provides online booking, it often makes a lot of sense to make use of that tool. That way, you can have the dates, flights and times in front of you in writing before you pull the trigger. It's something to think about for the next time.

I wiil say it again, sorry, but I just went back and read 'hilda's' post again. Her post makes my case that it was her mistake, even stronger.
Hilda says that the agent read back the itinerary that matched her notes. So folks, if you think about it, you should realize that the agent was reading from a computer screen. The agents don't write it down on a piece of paper and input the info after the call is finished. They input the info as the res is being made and they read it back to you after the itinerary pops up on the screen with the res.#.
It would have to be one big mean, sinister agent to go back and change the dates after, or maybe it's a smart computer that changes dates???

So, all I'm saying is this. Most airlines have these change fees. I could just imagine all the stories the agents hear everyday when customers decide to change, but don't want to pay.

AAFrequentFlyer, you're making a lot of assumptions about Hilda's situation that you ought not to be making. You weren't there. You assume, for one thing, that the agent did not, in fact, have to re-do the reservation after he got off the phone with Hilda, perhaps due to the way the reservation was entered. Or there may have been some sort of computer problem. Or it could have been a combination of things, requiring some manual interaction that got botched up. Could either of these explain why she did not get an intinerary emailed to her two days late? Yes.

Lest you think it's impossible for airlines to make mistakes: last year I booked an AA ticket over the phone and they mailed me my itinerary US mail. They had my name and address on the page, but on the page below was printed someone else's travel record and itinerary (a completely different trip than I was making)! Luckily for me my ticket was OK, just a computer glitch that caused someone else's itinerary to be printed with my name on it - but, I hope you get my point.

A few months ago Continental told me I could pay for my Contintenal ticket, of which the first leg was an Amtrak train, at the Amtrak window. When I got there I was told I had to pay Continental first. After I did so over the phone, Amtrak had no record that my ticket was paid. There was no time to call Continental, so on faith they hand-wrote me a paper voucher to get on the train. All kinds of manual interactions still happen in the trasportation system, and all of this allows for the possibility of errors.

S**t happens, as the saying goes. A whole bunch of things could have happened in Hilda's case that you are not taking into account.

Hilda also said she begged the airline to play back what she thought was a recording of her conversation with the agent but this request was denied. That would have proven her case.

Stop acting like such a condescending know-it-all and realize what Hilda's saying happened could indeed have happened, just because it has never happened to you.

Andrew

Hilda, I know you refrained from saying the airlines, but if it was American Airlines,I KNOW they will take care of you if you call the Customer Relations department. They will have an Executive take care of this.

If it wasn't them, then I suggest still pursuing it the same way. We'll be rooting for you!
Sealygal

Sorry, I'm with the school of thought that something is fishy here. It is highly unlikely that this reservation was changed. It is possible, but unlikely.

As for the recording the airline may not even have it. You even said the disclaimer is that some calls my be recorded. Not all calls are recorded and those that are recorded are generally for training purposes. The supervisor would listen to the call discuss it with the employee and erase the call. Why would an airline save this? At least this is what the reservation center did where I worked.

As for the person who got the wrong items in the mail. I would assume that this was probably human error in pulling tickets.

Were you possibly looking at a calendar for the wrong year? This happens a lot when people are booking for a year other than the current one. I do believe you when you said you took notes, but you really need to get the name of the person you spoke to in order for them to be helpful. Since you don't have the agent's name, you really don't have much to stand on. While you may be honest and truthful how would the airline know? They can't take every person's word. Too many people lie to get things changed.

Perhaps if you posted on the correct thread on airlines you might get some more help.

Hilda, I am sorry that there are a few that may need to grind an axe your way. I do believe that it can happen.

First of all, it is the "mentality" of the airlines/reservationists that they can make NO mistake. Second if a mistake is made, it is YOUR fault. What ever happened to the customer being right? It is not as though you are trying to cancel the trip. You are paying decent money to travel and if there is a mistake made, then it needs to be fixed.

Considering that all those who call in are most likely "lying" is a very jaded and terrible way to think. Of course, there are people who do lie, but everyone should not have to pay for their issues.

The airlines, and the two who are posting (who I might ask, are you reservationists?) must remember, WE HAVE A CHOICE as to whether to fly that airline in the future.

Hilda, when I had the problem just last week, I was able to get it resolved very quickly. As the executive explained, they have taken away many of the decision rights of the "supervisors" and unfortunately sometimes this affects the customers. They were VERY appologetic and took care of me.

I normally would not be so vocal about this, but I see two people assuming you are guilty. I sure would not want them on my jury. I surely don't think that you would go out of your way and post on here if you were not telling the truth.

Take it easy and Andrew and I and the others will be rooting for you!
Sealygal

Sealygal,
Will you relax!!!
I never called Hilda a liar and I never said she was guilty of anything.
All I said that IMHO it was her mistake as I look at the chain of events, described by no other than Hilda herself.
Sorry if you can't take other's opinions.
I will say it again: I don't work for airlines, never did. I fly frequently and my knowledge of the business comes from dealing with the airlines about once a week.
If you do search of my posts, you will find that I did support others when I see the possibility of the company messing up.
So just chill-out and allow others to state their opinions.
Thank You!

AAFrequentFlyer -

I have had the same thing happen to me through Delta one time. Their computers were down and they read back what I wanted and sent me the wrong itinerary. However, I did not have any problems getting them to change it and they did not charge me. Fortunately, I had the agent's name and exact time I called because I am pretty anal about these things. Years of dealing over the phone with people and getting the run around and has made me write down everything pertinent about a conversation I had.

My company uses a TA even for booking flights because they charge us and that keeps the employees from having to pay out of pocket and wait to get reimbursed. Almost everytime I call them to make a flight reservation, they write down my information and then plug it in. I realize this is a different set up but it does happen.

I do not want you to think I am singling you out, I usually agree with you and find your posts very informative. I just wanted to point out that she could be telling the truth because it did happen to me.

Hilda...sorry to hear of your situation....hopefully some good will come....lesson:in the unlikely event that I have to speak to an airline agent rather than my TA, I always make sure I understand their name AND which city they are in....IMHO, I would not wait more than 12 hours for an email confirmation....dont be shy.....best of luck and I hope things work out for you........S

There's been no response about my earlier comment about the inconsistency in the original posting, where Hilda said the people she spoke to in her followup call "felt the agent had made a mistake but it will cost me $200 p.p. to correct this."
That doesn't make sense. Once the airline admits it made a mistake, it would be a given that there'd be no charge.