Programs: LH SEN, SN Gold, Eurostar Carte Blanche, BA, QF, AF
Posts: 5,936
FCO-BRU passenger on SN code, AZ metal involuntary denied boarding
A friend was supposed to fly FCO-BRU tonight with an SN ticket, SN code and on AZ metal, and had to stay in Rome as the "booking was messed up and all passengers with SN tickets stayed in Rome". (or so he said, I'll try to find out more tomorrow.)
I made him aware of his EU rights, to which his comment was: "It's the third world here"
Is this due to the "new" Alitalia not working 100% yet?
Programs: LH Senator, AZ Freccia Alata, BA ExecClub Silver
Posts: 64
I was booked on an SN codeshare flight with an AZ ticket and they could not check-in me at my departure airport but I had to go first to FCO.
There I changed the booking to an AZ flight due to delays and thanks to ny flexible fare.
In my experience the integration between AZ and SN system is almost not existing and this might cause problems to the passengers.
In th past 3/4 years ago was better but for the future the c/s might be severed if AZ reamains in SkyT and SN enters *A.
Programs: DL GM, LA P, UA 2P/AC P, PC P, HH S, GP+ S, Hertz PC, ADR Shop&Fly etc
Posts: 451
Based on the information provided, it looks like there's been a tech issue, but there's no way to understand if the problem was on the AZ and/or the SN side (and/or a third party).
We can't do that, and I'd bet also staff at counters of at customer service desk can't properly understand and report what happened, it looks like that's only a task for the IT.
Honestly, I wouldn't blame AZ for that. As customer and passenger, if I buy a ticket from SN, for a SN flight, I expect that SN make things working properly and it should be accountable for that.
What SN did when all its passengers of a flight were denied boarding because the operating carrier was not recognizing the reservations in its system?
Programs: LH SEN, SN Gold, Eurostar Carte Blanche, BA, QF, AF
Posts: 5,936
The dirty details
So, I now have some more details on this.
Friend had SN ticket number, SN code, AZ metal on last FCO-BRU flight of the night, booked on Expedia.
He arrived 3 hours before the flight, and his reservation was not found. He was sent to the SN ticket desk in a different terminal. There he was given a paper ticket, and sent back to the AZ check-in.
However, they could still not find his reservation. Slowly but surely most check-in counters were blocked by passengers flying on an SN code, so they were asked to step aside and queue at one of the counters. These were apparently around 60 people, which the AZ people first didn't believe and checked every person's ticket. They were then quite shocked, since they had no record of all these people. They also realised that this was a serious overbooking situation. The AZ person tried to get people on the SN flight leaving an hour earlier, but half an hour of negotiations didn't yield in seats on the flight since SN didn't want to give them away for free. The SN supervisor who could have approved this was not reachable.
So my friend along with all the others was given the choice of trying to get on the SN flight himself, or a standby BP on the AZ flight. Since the AZ flight was delayed, he decided that two hours were enough time to try and get on the SN flight. At the SN ticket desk, they refused, and said that there are enough seats on the AZ flight, and that he should just stick with them. He would have had to pay 150 Euro change fee to get on the SN flight. My friend did not do this, since he thought this was too much just for getting home an hour earlier.
So back to the AZ check-in, where people were handed standby BPs. Unfortunately my friend was too far back in the queue so that they closed the flight before he got a standby BP. He was then sent to the AZ ticket desk where they made a reservation for the first flight out in the next morning (on SN), but did not issue a ticket, and did not guarantee that they would get on.
They also did not offer any assistance for overnight accommodation or drink and food. My friend staid at the airport Hilton, and paid himself.
Next morning, there were 10 people from the previous night's flight at the SN ticket counter; some had received standby BP the night before for the AZ flight but did not ultimately get on. Others were probably rebooked to later flights.
The problem was that the AZ morning flight one hour later was cancelled, and they started moving people on the SN flight, whilst the 10 passengers from the previous night's flight were waiting at the SN ticket counter and being told to wait. 30 minutes before departure they were told that there were only 7 seats for the 10 people, and they had to decide amongst themselves who would fly. My friend was quick and got his BP and ran to the flight.
The only issue was that they took his hand luggage after he went onboard, and checked it in; it did not arrive in Brussels, and he had to wait a day until he got it.
Programs: LH HON, BA Gold, BMI, Amex Centurion, Hilton Diamond, SPG Platinum, Human race (general member)
Posts: 8,463
I had a similar experience with an SN ticket on SN codeshare of Air Baltic flight on Air Baltic metal.
For the love of God, they didn't even know at RIX that they codeshared with SN ... I took almost an hour to check me in and I had to give the agent instructions on how to retrieve the ticket number.
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