seawolf

Seat assignments are not guaranteed and regulators not going to do anything about it. Best course of action is take your business to another airline.

Churnman

When a passenger is charged extra in order to reserve a seat then there are regulations in place that are supposed to help in certain situations where compliance has failed.

seawolf

Were you charge a seat fee? Business fare should have no seat fee.

Churnman

Update:
Once we got on the plane, they asked if we'd switch to the middle seats (since they had singles which would obviously prefer to have our seats). We accepted and ended up enjoying the 'honeymoon' seats since the partitions weren't as high as the photos we saw and therefore my wife was not claustrophobic in these seats.

On our return flight their system moved us again even though the AirBerlin agent that reserved the seats said that wouldn't happen. It worked out okay, but a warning to others thinking they have their business class seating assignment just know your seats can change at anytime even the day before you check in. You think you're going to be in 3A and end up in row 6, for example. Our seats were changed many times up to check in. We've never experienced anything like this on other airlines. But, I will say we liked the business class seats with massage options and the staff on board are excellent, plus the food was good.

To make matters worse, AB informed us in Vienna that we couldn't get our VAT tax refund docs stamped, but instead had to wait until our next stop in Dusseldorf which was our last departing location before leaving the EU. Then, AB allowed too many passengers on the plane then didn't realize it until away from the gate. Then they asked for a volunteer to leave and that took a while. Then, back to the gate we go. This long delay caused us not to have time when we reached Dusseldorf to get to the customs desk to get a VAT tax refund. AB reps demanded that we didn't have time since it was outside that terminal and we would have to go through security again which would mean we wouldn't make the flight. So, we're out a considerable amount. Then, we found out we could have had our forms stamped in Vienna and that we didn't really have to wait until Dusseldorf. We then could have mailed in our validated forms.

I may try to claim this on our travel insurance (trip delay causing financial loss) because it was caused by the airline delay (the delay was entirely their own fault) since we had planned for plenty of time in Dusseldorf which would have meant time for the tax refund. I heard that I might be able to go to a German embassy or consulate in the U.S. to get the forms validated and tax refund, but does anyone have experience with this (I'll also look for the appropriate thread for this subject). There was a lot of misinformation given to us by AB staff as well as airport staff in Vienna (some there said we couldn't get the refund until Dusseldorf, which we later found out was not true).

seawolf

Were the items to be exported in checked baggage or carry-on?

The Wien airport site list the VAT refund procedure. If the items are to be in checked baggage, it is stamped at VIE and it appears customs will then deliver the bags to the airline directly as you will not see them in DUS.

If items are to be in cabin baggage, the VAT stamp is obtained at the last EU country.

Churnman

We only had carry-ons, no checked bags. We were also told last country before leaving (although the Imperial Hotel concierge told us we could get it stamped at the Vienna airport instead of the connedting city, but we received a lot of misinformation from a number of people). Unfortunately, if your plane is delayed like ours was then there won't be enough time, depending on the airport terminals and location of the customs office that handles VAT stamps, to get the tax refund at a connecting airport if that's the last one. Just found out there are other options in certain countries such as Italy where we could have gone to a local office. I'm still exploring options for future travel and to help others to help them avoid the loss we've experienced. 150 euro may be little to some, but not to me. Live and learn.

UpInTheAir

How are seats assigned if I don't pay extra for a seat? Will I get to choose a seat from what is available at the time of check in? Or does AB just assign me a seat at time of check in and I cannot choose a different seat? Thanks.

pianistat

This is the new AB Customer Service (Toll Free) Number 917-261-3165

seawolf

917 is not toll-free. Pathetic that AB is cutting cost by getting rid of their toll-free number.

Given their treatment of OW elite, I actually wouldn't mind if they implode.

rrgg

Free call from Google Voice

seawolf

Assuming majority of Air Berlin's customers are not Americans, they wouldn't have Google Voice.

rrgg

Wouldn't most of those calls go to one of the EU numbers?

https://www.airberlin.com/en/site/ai...ce_center.php?

You're right. It is cheap of them to not offer a toll free number. But if you're German visiting the US and happen to be calling from a cell phone, isn't the charge for calling 917 or 800 often the same?

seawolf

If German in US, could be in Boston, (lots in) South Florida, CA (and New York) etc. Going to be long distance if calling 917 from hotel other than NYC.

If they are cutting the toll-free number, I wonder how they are doing financially.

Arnur

They are not doing well finacially, but toll free numbers are not very common outside of the USA, so maybe they felt that in this day and age people will use the Internet for most issues. Having said that, given their somewhat basic website I find myself calling them a lot more than, say, Lufthansa when it comes to things such as upgrades etc.. Unlike you, however, I'm quite happy with them (well, other than the website) and would mind them imploding :-)

seawolf

You can tell I'm bitter at them now that they have several dozen XL seats on long haul aircraft but still continue to deny them to OWE/OWS unless passenger pay up while AA continues to provides MCE free to all of AB elites.

And the website still continues to charge OWS even for preferred non-XL seats. You have to call in to get them free.