US Airways Dividend Miles - Award Ticket Nightmare--advice needed

OK, so here is what has happened, US Airways has been not very helpful so I was hoping someone could advise me on what I should do.

I live in Korea and am getting married in Greece on 7/12. Made an award ticket reservation on June18 for my wife's niece (19 years old, never left Korea, never been on a plane) to come to the wedding.

Reservation: Confirmed, ticketed, sent to me by email was
7/5 ICN-FRA on Asiana 541
FRA-ATH Aegean 833

7/14 IST-ICN Asiana 552

I bought her a ticket from Daegu (where we live) to Seoul to catch the ICn flight and a ticket from Santorini to Istanbul on 7/14 for the return to Korea.

We leave for Greece on the 7/5, while connecting in MUC my wife gets a text from her niece that when she appeared at the counter in ICN she is informed that her ticket (the Asiana portions) were canceled. As we were getting on the plane no time to sort this out, much stress ensued. Upon arrival in Athens this is what I find out. Apparently, there wasn't award space on the Asiana flights when I booked them even though i have an eticket with a confirmation code and a ticket number, I checked online right then and indeed all the flight segements were still showing "active"

Asiana (a good service airline) let her on the ICN-FRA flight as a flight attendant did not show up for a hop to FRA. SHe then was able to take the Aeegean flight to meet up with us in Athens.

I call US Air and am told that it was their mistake in issuing the ticket (which they never gave me any notice email/phone they canceled) and there is nothing they can do to get her back until July 18th (first date award space available) I told them that is not acceptable, I have flights already booked, as well as a ticket (contract) for travel on the 14th. Buy her a seat if they have to. They refuse to and say there is nothing they can do.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks so much.

Since US has admitted that it is their mistake, I strongly recommend taking it higher and ordering them to book you on a paid ticket on your original flight. I would also recommend changing communication from phone to email so you have written evidence of the discussions between you.

If US still won't budge then maybe best to wait until closer to the travel date to see if award availability opens up... If it doesn't then purchase a new ticket and submit a claim to your insurance company (emails will help here too).

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

If the OP is forced to purchase a ticket for the return portion of the itinerary, I would suggest contacting the Ombudsman service at Condé Nast Traveler magazine; they can work wonders in getting satisfaction when these sorts of things happen, because they publish the complaint -- and the airline's response -- in their widely-read magazine.

Are there perhaps code-shares for the July 14 flight that you could try? For example, does Lufthansa list the return flight as one of its flights, even though it's operated by Asiana, and so maybe you could book the flight as a Lufthansa flight? Any other Star Alliance airline might be worth a shot- maybe one of them has its own award ticket allocation for the Asiana flight?

This is one of the most outrageous things I've seen on this board, frankly.

Are there perhaps code-shares for the July 14 flight that you could try? For example, does Lufthansa list the return flight as one of its flights, even though it's operated by Asiana, and so maybe you could book the flight as a Lufthansa flight? Any other Star Alliance airline might be worth a shot- maybe one of them has its own award ticket allocation for the Asiana flight?

This is one of the most outrageous things I've seen on this board, frankly.

Award ticket availability can only be released by the operating airlines. Codeshare airlines have no access or control over this availability. Unfortunately the only way to get on this flight is for Asiana to release an award... Forgot to mention earlier that since it is USairways fault they should be contacting OZ to try persuade them to open up more availability... This sometimes works ^

Hi again, thanks all for the advice. Here is an update.

I called US Airways again, the agent said "wow this is strange that this ticketed. They are not supposed to ticket unless there is availability" Put me on hold to check into it....and promptly hung up on me. So, uh yeah not going to bother calling anymore at this point and let it ruin my wedding/vacation. I have now called 3 times (spoke to a supervisor once, who admitted it was their mistake) and all I get is that there is nothing they can do as "there is no award space available" until the 18th.

I have also not received an answer as to why I was never notified that flights had been canceled, nor why on the day of travel logging in on the US Airways site the reservation was showing "active" (valid) for all flight segments. I have fired off an email complaint to customer service and we will see what happens. I'll buy here the return if need be and fight this battle later.

As per advice in the thread, I have also fired off emails and forwarded my e-ticket/confirmation (with ticket number) to the CondeNast Ombudsman as well as the USA Today Ombudsman Linda Burbank.

The wife has also contacted Asiana, who were understanding but rightly pointed out it was not their mistake, but rather US Airways. Still, they have pushed it up the line and may be able to help us. (Asian carriers customer service is light years ahead of anything we have in the US) We need to call back later today to see what they say.

Frankly, if US Airways wants this blasted all over the airwaves...more power to them, I'm not gonna let it ruin my wedding.

Thanks again

Sorry to hear that. Enjoy your wedding.

OP still has the niece's problem to deal with. Blasting things off to the media may or may not work at some time in the future, but it's not going to get her a BP now or anytime in the next 6-12 months.

Rather than calling US and "ordering" them to do anything, the sole option is to sit down and figure out other options by route & flight # and present those to US. This is going to take a second-level supervisor, so be prepared to spend some serious time on the phone because you're going to have to explain it to the CSR and the first-tier supervisor all over again.

Be firm but polite and ask for assistance. There are a lot of things US can do, but all you are doing is asking US to fix the problem, not telling them how to do it.

I'm hopeful that US and you can resolve this by 7/14. This is really something that Asiana and US must work together to fix for you, the customer because they let her on the originating flight. Now she's basically stranded and the two airlines are pointing fingers at each other.

US - screwed up by not informing you that ticket was not valid/issued, despite them telling you all was a go

Asiana - screwed up by actually letting her fly. Did they just wave her on, or did they validate the ticket? What did they issue her at the gate if her ticket was not valid?? Is the itinerary now still 'active' with either US or Asiana or is it canceled?

Since you have about 4 days (well, 3 to give a comfortable margin), I suggest calling the US Airways corporate headquarters in Tempe and explain the situation to someone in the executive offices, stressing that your 19 year old daughter is basically STRANDED because of something US and Asiana did.

There are people on this US board that have worked directly with high-ups in Tempe to resolve issues (Calling Art and Sparrow!) that hopefully will step in to assist you with good contact(s) to go directly up the food chain. 3 days is not enough time to wait for 1st and even 2nd level customer service people to bounce the issue around.

As a failsafe, however, I hate to say you might need to try and find her the cheapest, best routing home on your own dime and be prepared to fight US for the reimbursement, demonstrating you did your best efforts to get the best fare while also exhausting all communication efforts with them. What is the difference in price right now between a refundable and non refundable one way ticket to get her home if the airlines don't come through for you? If it's not a lot, get the refundable so you can cancel it in the event they fix this colossal customer service blunder.

I suggest getting the DoT involved as well.

Update #2

Well Asiana came through. After a call from the wife they released an award seat. That is customer service. Thnks again everyone. 24 hours till the wedding!