Flying Blue (Air France, KLM, and Other Partners) - Help, made a big mistake booking tix

I just booked a tix using my FB acct and as I had been checkin many flts didn't realize I didn't uncheck the box "acct hold is the pax". Then in my excitement that I found flts didn't realize that I wasn't asked pax info until I conf'd flts. The reservation was actually for my son but got ticketed in my name and its a promo award. I called just after hitting the confirm button but FB is closed and I can't find one open in the world. I called the FB online help desk in the US but they are closed too. I then called DL in the US and the agent talked to a supervisor and they documented the record that I called immediately but that no one was open with AF to help me out. What should/can I do? Should I go out to the LYS airport tomorrow? The flt is on Tues and FB doesn't open again until Monday.

Unfortunately, the airport people will not be able to help you with a miles ticket. AFAIK they do not have direct access to the system, and certainly not to recredit miles and book a new award ticket which is what you need right now as it is not possible to change the name on a PNR. If it were me, if there is availability, I would book again for your son, send an email to FB (better to have the double 'documenting' including one in written) and then try and deal with getting my promo award cancelled and reimbursed the moment the offices reopen. Of course it goes without saying that they may (and would be perfectly entitled to) tell you that there is nothing they can do as it was a promo award and that your miles are lost. It will all depend on the agent you speak to and their supervisor.

I have done all I can until tomorrow AM. Called DL to document the record that I called within 5 minutes of making the reservation hoping to prevent ticketing. Called AF and AF online helpdesk today. Both said they saw the notes in the record from DL. Told me I need to call FB tomorrow. Thankfully another seat opened up today (the flt is completely full) so I booked that for my son. Will call FB as soon as they open tomorrow. Hoping this isn't a sign that I should have cxl'd my trip to Egypt.

Do let us know if you can get this sorted out. They say that Promo Awards can't be cancelled, but I hope they look kindly on your case. Good luck!

but I hope they look kindly on your case.

Me too! Good luck. Unfortunately it does boil down to that though so don't hold your breath in case you get an agent who is on the 'rigid' side.

My experience with online booking mistakes is: call immediately, explain what you did wrong and they are willing to fix it. I reckon if you call a day later or so, chances to fix it will have gone.

My experience with online booking mistakes is: call immediately, explain what you did wrong and they are willing to fix it. I reckon if you call a day later or so, chances to fix it will have gone.

Yes, there seems to be a 24 hour window of opportunity for cancelling or amending things done on the internet when basic agents over the phone.

After that, the data bases must have been updated or something like that and it would require an intervention from higher up.

Could this (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/klm-flying-dutchman/1347889-changing-name-case-misspelling.html) be used?
And otherwise, isn't there a 24-hour cool down period for purchases via internet? (could vary by country)

My experience with online booking mistakes is: call immediately, explain what you did wrong and they are willing to fix it. I reckon if you call a day later or so, chances to fix it will have gone.

Well, do you think the 24 hour window counts on Saturday night after everything is closed? There was no where in the world FB was open so I called the only place I could talk to someone which was DL reservations in the US and at least they documented the PNR.

Will let you know tomorrow AM.

Could this (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/klm-flying-dutchman/1347889-changing-name-case-misspelling.html) be used?
And otherwise, isn't there a 24-hour cool down period for purchases via internet? (could vary by country)

FB (or for that matter AF and KL) do not have a formal '24 hour cooling period' like some other airlines apparently do, at least not formally and certainly not everywhere. As you say, it may vary by country but at least no general such policy. However, AF and KL can occasionally be understanding at least if the ticket has not been issued. And unfortunately, the misspelling instructions you mention won't work either: it is really meant for mispellings only and in fact I seem to remember seeing at one point some guidelines for travel agents which mentioned I believe up to two mispelled letters (I wouldn't swear it was 2), it is not however meant to allow someone to transfer a ticket, ie change a first name etc.

But again the OP has apparently made numerous efforts to try and warn AF and KL of what was happening within the constraint of close offices. As mentioned above, I myself would have also sent an email to FB from the start using the form (if only so that they could get a 'proof' of when you signalled the problem) but even without that I should hope that if something can be done and the agent is sympathetic, they may at least recredit something.

The Kenya Airways Contact Centre in Nairobi is open 24/7, and should be able to handle Flying Blue enquiries (although they sometimes have to defer complicated things to France...)

Contact details are available at: www.kenya-airways.com/Home/Customer_Care/Contact_Us/Kenya/Kenya_Contact_Details/

They used to have a separate phone-number for their Flying Blue Contact Centre, but I think now it's the same number for KQ general enquiries, and FB enquiries. Might be worth trying...

I made a booking once for OSL-AMS but when you select OSL which is obvious which airport it is, the options given include the the other airport... When scanning for flights, I only looked at the departure time.. and booked it. Then only upon confirmation , realised that the website had given me TFR instead !!

I called the FB line and spoke to an agent and told him that the website still gave me TRF even though I specifically asked for OSL. He was less than sympathetic but decided that he would do me this one favour only and cancel the booking ONLY after I made a new booking with the correct code !

This all happened within 10 mins of booking. Now if its any longer, you may be SOL . Just try and plead your case - and blame the website. FB know that its badly designed too.

They refunded the error tix without penalty. Thank you FB! Breathing a big sigh of relief today.

Good one!!!

Nice to hear!

Well done FB ^