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.

Hilda, forget all those posts that say you are a liar. This happened to me. I carefully made airline reservations for one date and the agent made them for a different date. I was on my way to a funeral and the date of the flight the agent booked for me orginally was a day after the funeral. Fortunately, the airline was very apologetic and change my reservations. The agents are human and they do make mistakes. Too bad your airline is being so difficult.
I have found with a lot of businesses lately that the customer service representatives are anything but customer friendly. Keep plugging away.

Hilda - pls let us know how this is resolved. the airline mentality is a strange one - we've had more than a few snafus with seating, tickets etc and we also fly extensively. With a little prodding, things are been resolved but we've also hit brick walls on issues like changing to an earlier or later departure for the same day that has large numbers of open seats and been told it will cost upwards of $2000 (yes, thousand) to take that empty seat on another flight....and that was only flying 500 miles!

This is why I don't do business over the telephone. If I had to go through the airline, what I'd do is make the reservation over the phone. You can make the reservation for 24 hours without committing to purchase it. They give you some confirmation #. I then walk down the street to my local travel agency and give them my # and pay them for the ticket as they print out a documented itinerary proving what days I'm travelling. I did this for about 20 years before the internet came along. Is this method still an option?

Loki.....Normally, yes..However, with some of the low fare carriers--JetBlue,Spirit,etc in order to make a confirmed reservation, you have to purchase the ticket...Book It,Buy It, Own It.....Delta is the first "major"" carrier to disallow a reservation to be "claimed" by a TravelAgent...If I call AA,United,etc and book a reservation,I can call my TA and he can issue the ticket,or as he calls it "claiming",but not with Delta...HTH....S

The same thing happened with me on American. I was booked a one way flight to fly home with my kids from FLL to LAX after my kids met me in Florida. I was extremely certain I booked myself on the exact same flight as my kids. I took notes, wrote down the flight, wrote down the flight times etc. I didn't check reservations right away but did a week later, low and behold they had put me on another flight. AA told me I was SOL I had to pay the change fee. Luckily prices had dropped a bit so the mistake wasn't that costly. I will try my best to avoid AA for any reason because of this. They see all my kids booked on one flight why would I book myself on another the same day. Hello?
JetBlue for me from CA to Florida from now on.

Sorry, Monique, but I don't understand how anybody could not check their reservations right away. I've caught mistakes before -- one e ticket was actually sent to me showing a return date before my departure date. Chances are if you catch the mistake and call right away, there would be no problem. If you are doing this by phone, you have every opportunity to LISTEN to them double check times, flights, and dates. And if you are doing in by internet, there is no reason to confirm until you can check that all the information is right. But if I were in their shoes and someone called a week or so after the fact and said the date was wrong on their ticket, I'd be wary also!

Well it seems that the point has been lost. Hilda needed suggestions on what to do about a situation, not to hear accusations. I guess I fell right into it when I responded back to what I thought was "unkindness". My apologies.

Back to the point...

Like Howard R., I'm still confused by the original statement that the airline felt the agent had made a mistake, but that they'd charge to correct it. What exactly did they say? How did they justify charging you a change fee if they said it was their mistake?

Patrick I was booking a complex trip and thought I had checked ALL my reservations. 9 people, 2 countries, 3 airlines, 2 rental car companies I think about 10 hotels and a 21 day trip. One just happened to slip through the radar on me.
Also my tickets had not been issued that was another reason I think the cost to change wasn't that much. I think? about 16 dollars or something. Not the end of world for me on only one ticket. I am just glad I checked it soon enough.
However the thought lingers in the back of my mind after Hilda's story and I am dying to know if it was on the same airline as mine if this was intentional. A way to boost profits in fact? I don't know. Buy you see these 20/20 shows where they show how stores ring you up for the wrong price on sell items and even after being notified repeatedly it continues to happen.
There is no way in heck I got my childrens flight or times confused and knew exactly what flight I wanted on and even read to her the childrens seat numbers so I could be seated next to them. When I got rebooked there were no seats all together which was actually a godsend to my MIL who had played doting grandma for awhile and enjoyed not sitting with us :D

I am overwhelmed with all the posts, helpful ideas and kind thoughts.
To summarize again, I made Saturday to Saturday reservations this past Saturday to Florida, I have Dates 3/13 to 3/20 and a confirmation number on my notes. This is my last entry in my notes from the actual phone call to book the trip. The agent read the confirmation # , dates and flight times to me and I wrote them down. I was told a confirmatory email would be sent. It did not arrive until Monday ( yesterday), I called right away to report the error.Initially, I was not tremendously alarmed as I thought this could be corrected by speaking to a supervisor. Althought I had a cordial discussion with this supervisor, nothing is resolved. She told me the agent made an error but to correct it I have to pay $200pp to keep the itinerary I booked. None of this adds up. I sent an email to the airline ( and it is not a fly by night airline, it is not one of the new budget airlines) and am waiting a response. I called the airline 800# second time and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told there is a supervisor "denial" in the records and "no one overrides a supervisor". I asked for a corporate #. I was given a number ( not an 800# ) but told it is very difficult to get through on this line. I plan to try dialing shortly. I am not a novice traveler. We take half a dozen pleasure trips each year and often fly this airline. I am careful with itineraries and dates. The booking agent did read me back the itinerary Saturday to Saturday before we hung up. I do not think it is fair to have to pay $200 pp extra to keep the itinerary they told me I had. I will let you know how this is resolved. At this point I am skeptical it will be in my favor. Thanks again

I'm still trying to figure out how they could say that it was their mistake but you have to pay more. Just a thought. Is the $200 really a change fee? Or are they saying that you were given the wrong days, but that the fare is simply higher for the right days? If it's the latter, it's not a penalty -- it's what you would have paid if they'd given you the right days.

KT, the extra $200pp is the price they say applies to the Saturday itinerary that I booked on Saturday for a good price. No penalties are being applied. I just called the corporate "customer service " number. This was not helpful as the Audix system stated to contact the #800 reservation line for problems with current reservations. I have done that twice already! . I selected another Audix prompt at the corporate number, option 3 for lost luggage, I held on the phone 10 minutes then hung up. I am not posting the name of the airline in case they monitor message boards like this. I do not want to hurt my chances of a favorable outcome. I am waiting for the email response to my concern.

hilda........The airlines dont watch travel boards.......nothing will happen if you post the name of the airline.....you might find a savvy traveller here who might actually be of more help of they happen to be a frequent traveller with some sort of status or "in".....just a thought...

I've been following this thread since early this a.m. and I've tried not to get involved, but now I'm totally confused.

Did you book Sat to Sat because you thought the fare would be lower (as you just said in your last post); or was it to accommodate your daughter's school schedule, as you said in an earlier post; or was it to secure condo accommodations, as you said in an in between post? If they quoted you a fare based on one set of dates and they have offered to adjust the fare to accommodate your revised dates, what's the problem? They are not charging a change fee, they are simply charging the going rate for the dates you requested.

I'm still trying to figure out some of the above posts. Could anyone explain what possible reason an airline would have to "deliberately" book the wrong flights or dates for a customer? Is it suggested that this is something that certain airlines due just out of meanness or because they think it's fun? I can understand only two reasons why a flight would be booked wrong: either there was misunderstanding between the booker and the bookee, or there was a simple mistake. I can't imagine why the agent would sit there and deliberately book the wrong flight.

My quoted price last Saturday evening for this itinerary, a companion fare on Northwest airline, was $229, the same rate was available for Friday and Saturday. On the phone, I chose Saturday so my daughter wont miss school prior to spring break. Also we prefer traveling on Saturday and that gives up the option of looking into a Condo for a week's stay. I always get a quote for the day before and the day I really want to travel. The agent read me the confirmation # with Saturday to Saturday travel dates- after I gave my Visa and completed the transaction. Then we hung up and I started looking for the confirmatory email which didn't come until Monday.
The airline is Northwest Airlines. The price is pretty good but not a killer price into Tampa, which is a pretty competitive route from where we live. I have no idea what happened, none of it adds up in my mind. The booking agent was very helpful and pleasant. I have asked everyone to pull the tape recordings they supposedly make to "insure customer service". Northwest says they do not pull tapes.
My issue seems to have hit a chord and it is interesting to me that several others have similiar stories to tell.

Just a thought... maybe there was a mis-understanding when you asked for the rate for Friday and Saturday. Seems to me that if you are purchasing *anything* from *anyone* that if they admit it is *their* mistake, you should not bear the consequences (financial or otherwise). Again, just a thought.....

Hilda, I'll repeat what I said earlier: don't rely on phone calls and emails. Write a paper US mail letter to Northwest.

Considering that Northwest has a 24-hour "change your mind" policy and they were two days late in sending your itinerary, I'm surprised they are bulking at all about changing your ticket without a fee.

Andrew

Hilda: I'd say you're on your own here. As you provide additional details, I can surely understand the "situation" better.

What city are you flying from?