(FARE GONE) UA/"Air One" JFK-FCO $296 a/i via "PL trick"
Feb 1, 2009, 9:05 pm
#301
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: ORD
Programs: UA, AA, Marriott, National, Sixt
Posts: 749
We had some trouble.
We used this MR as a family trip. I booked 4 tickets, two for my parents, and two for myself and my friend. Cheap tickets sent my parents as paper tickets and mine as etickets. All EWR-FCO
My parents live in Chicago and came a couple days ago to fly with us from EWR. They said they got the package from cheaptickets, but I didn't find out until the morning of the flight that they only got paper tickets for my Mom and not my Dad.
My Mom noticed when she received the package and called cheap tickets back in October. Somehow the cheap tickets rep told her to just put their credit card into the kiosk and the ticket would print out (the instructions for etickets). Since they don't travel often they didn't know that the info was wrong.
When I found out about this the morning of the flight we went right to the airport. It was 3 hours prior to departure.
The United ticket counter of course said they couldn't do anything because they were paper tickets and for us to call Cheap tickets. They said they couldn't do a "LTA" (I guess meaning lost ticket claim) because it was on Air One and not on United. The agents did really appear to try to help, calling their supervisors, and other departments.
We call check tickets and they tell us to buy a walk up ticket at the ticket counter. That would cost around $3k. Then file a claim with them after we get back. If their research finds that they didn't send us the paper ticket, they would refund the money in around 90 days. If they find that they sent the paper tickets, but we somehow lost them, then they would not refund the $3k.
We discussed the options and decided to abort since we couldn't go as a family, and didn't want to risk the $3k. It would also cloud our entire trip. I was able to cancel our hotel in Rome after I called them directly, but I'm out my parents flight from ORD-EWR.
What do you think our next step should be. Is there any way we can get our money back? Cheap Tickets didn't give us any other options and I guess it's really our word against theirs. Why would they do two as etickets and two as paper tickets?
We used this MR as a family trip. I booked 4 tickets, two for my parents, and two for myself and my friend. Cheap tickets sent my parents as paper tickets and mine as etickets. All EWR-FCO
My parents live in Chicago and came a couple days ago to fly with us from EWR. They said they got the package from cheaptickets, but I didn't find out until the morning of the flight that they only got paper tickets for my Mom and not my Dad.
My Mom noticed when she received the package and called cheap tickets back in October. Somehow the cheap tickets rep told her to just put their credit card into the kiosk and the ticket would print out (the instructions for etickets). Since they don't travel often they didn't know that the info was wrong.
When I found out about this the morning of the flight we went right to the airport. It was 3 hours prior to departure.
The United ticket counter of course said they couldn't do anything because they were paper tickets and for us to call Cheap tickets. They said they couldn't do a "LTA" (I guess meaning lost ticket claim) because it was on Air One and not on United. The agents did really appear to try to help, calling their supervisors, and other departments.
We call check tickets and they tell us to buy a walk up ticket at the ticket counter. That would cost around $3k. Then file a claim with them after we get back. If their research finds that they didn't send us the paper ticket, they would refund the money in around 90 days. If they find that they sent the paper tickets, but we somehow lost them, then they would not refund the $3k.
We discussed the options and decided to abort since we couldn't go as a family, and didn't want to risk the $3k. It would also cloud our entire trip. I was able to cancel our hotel in Rome after I called them directly, but I'm out my parents flight from ORD-EWR.
What do you think our next step should be. Is there any way we can get our money back? Cheap Tickets didn't give us any other options and I guess it's really our word against theirs. Why would they do two as etickets and two as paper tickets?
Feb 1, 2009, 10:17 pm
#302
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 3,975
I didn't find out until the morning of the flight that they only got paper tickets for my Mom and not my Dad.
Feb 2, 2009, 6:57 am
#303
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: ATL
Posts: 3,219
Mom called about it right away. The Cheap Tickets customer agent told her to put her card into the kiosk when she gets to the airport and the ticket will print out. I think the customer service agent didn't understand that they had paper tickets. My Mom took the agent's word and didn't mention anything to me until the day of departure. They fly maybe once every couple years so didn't know.
May 11, 2009, 10:35 am
#304
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 70
Our itinerary was LGA-ORD-MXP-FCO-IAD-LGA. I had paper tickets, but I can't remember if they were issued by Air One or UA. I was notified by Cheaptickets some time in Feb that the Air One flight from ORD to MXP was cancelled and to call in. The first Cheaptickets CSR I got was completely useless. It took two calls to find a CSR who found helpful AirOne/United people and rerouted the Air One flights to Alitalia (we really didn't want a refund). And they put us on an Alitalia flight that connected us to FCO straight from ORD, which was great, and on an US Airways flight from LGA to ORD.
Cheaptickets told us to stop by an United counter to get our paper tickets updated. My roommate stopped by an empty counter early this morning (had a business trip anyways, didn't want to make an exclusive trip to the airport). Not too surprisingly, UA couldn't find anything in their system about the US Airways flight to ORD. My roommate was able to convince the extremely nice rep to put us on an all UA itinerary and to route us through IAD so now it's LGA-IAD-FCO-IAD-LGA and they switched us to an e-ticket... She has status on UA, but I'm not sure what level. Def above premier.
We paid $330 each for our tickets (because I accidentally got the travel insurance and forgot to get a refund). This deal took a bit of work, but it was completely worth it and we hope there aren't any more snafu's (we fly next week).
Cheaptickets told us to stop by an United counter to get our paper tickets updated. My roommate stopped by an empty counter early this morning (had a business trip anyways, didn't want to make an exclusive trip to the airport). Not too surprisingly, UA couldn't find anything in their system about the US Airways flight to ORD. My roommate was able to convince the extremely nice rep to put us on an all UA itinerary and to route us through IAD so now it's LGA-IAD-FCO-IAD-LGA and they switched us to an e-ticket... She has status on UA, but I'm not sure what level. Def above premier.
We paid $330 each for our tickets (because I accidentally got the travel insurance and forgot to get a refund). This deal took a bit of work, but it was completely worth it and we hope there aren't any more snafu's (we fly next week).
May 11, 2009, 11:18 am
#305
Join Date: May 2006
Location: BOS and ...
Programs: UA 2MM, AA 600k, DL 500k, Hyatt GP 1M, HH Gold, Rad. Gold, CP Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 9,950
Given the history of your PNRs, you may end up glad you have the travel insurance, though getting the UA angel to wrestle it all into UA metal may equal insurance. That's huge. You and your partner are a good team. From getting the fare in the first place to this point, well done.