maarisk

+1 about incompetent call centers

To this list I can add incompetent IT too... Why da £$%£$^ when you change your booking they need to send 2 transactions for the same amount??? My bank usually declines duplicates as suspicios automatically if they come from the same merchant for the same amount in some period of time...

whiskey_sk

Well guess what. Booked 2 OS operated shorthaul segments today, fare bucket is M, and all the exit rows are greyed out, both on LH and OS websites

***EDIT***
LH SEN hotline said they can't do anything and suggested calling the OS SEN hotline, where a friendly lady commented that "there is a technical issue" and she escalated the exit ASR via her supervisor to their helpdesk for processing. Let's wait and see...

whiskey_sk

Half an hour later, the exit row seats appeared in my booking. OS SEN hotline deserves a ^, but the overall OS policy deserves a massive

shrimp

It seems like they even try to prevent SEN card holders already from getting the free exit row seating. I am booked on OS66 next wednesday from ORD to VIE and had a reservation for one of the nice 767 exit rows (19A). When looking into my booking today to check the flight times again, I realized that I was reseated to 14A without notice. Upon calling Austrian, they told me that they have no access to these seats anymore in their system and that they may only be assigned for free for Senators at actual/physical check-in (not OLCI). So probably by the time I check in (which is anyways with UA in Denver and they have probably no clue about any Austrian policies) I am sure all the exit row seats are sold already through OLCI which started 24h earlier. Now I can basically decide if I try to wait and may be lucky or just pay the 70 Euros. This is ridiculous.

f4free

Whiskey_sk, which phone number did you call for OS SEN line?i

weero

The customer education is now tested on a lesser specimen (OS). A bit like animal testing before deploying a drug on human beings .... which we aren't anyway for modern management.

Rambuster

They are spinning the hamster wheel even faster !

weero

I mind the precedence, not the product ... LH exit rows are too narrow for me anyway ... but how far can it be before the elite zone in the front will be eroded and all elite benefits will be gone SQ-style?

whiskey_sk

I've just finished a phone call with OS SEN hotline trying to get an exit row for my upcoming OS shorthaul flight. The agent confirmed they have received an internal memo from their helpdesk that the helpdesk will NOT process any advance exit row requests even for short haul anymore and that these can be only accessed when online check-in opens.
That means one more tangible benefit (at least for SENs, wonder if any HON would care to confirm this) has been enhanced away.
Why oh way, I wonder if it is just incompetence on behalf of the IT (not being able to distinguish between short haul and long haul, where they already charge the 70€) or is this going to be implemented on short haul as a policy (my last short haul flight on Friday had exit rows with the "RESERVED SEAT" covers already...), too.
Disgrace...

TRAVELSIG

This is another great piece of work from the very hard working and innovative "Revenue Suppression Department" at the company- hopefully they can win this years coveted "we got 140 EUR in ancillary revenue and only drove away 80000 EUR in business".

dahlmann123

can confirm it - received it even in writing from OS HON customer relations

weero

LH did this in a much more subtle way by crippling it just for certain aircraft types and blaming the Teutonic miniFAA for it.

whiskey_sk

I can't find the exit row advance reservation in the official SEN/HON benefits listed online. I'm starting to wonder if it ever had been there

Keter

I am flying VIE-BKK today and still have my exist row seat on internet check-in BP. Let's see what happens next. I selected exit row on my short haul (DME-VIE) when reloginning to check-in via LH. LH also seem to allow me to change the long haul to another exit row seat, but I did not do this as I am afraid to get my current seat cancelled and new unconfirmed.

Let's see where I end up.

whiskey_sk

when did you get the exit row seat? During online check-in or was it in your booking before that?