Seamless Skyteam (Delta and KLM) NOT!!!
Jul 26, 2015, 2:44 pm
#16
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
I'm sorry, I know we live in a world where people are too afraid, lazy, inept to speak to live people but...
You have now written several emails, tweets, post on FT, and only in an attempt to learn how you can spend more time trying to do something you've been told you can't do. JUST CALL and DO IT in one motion.
You have now written several emails, tweets, post on FT, and only in an attempt to learn how you can spend more time trying to do something you've been told you can't do. JUST CALL and DO IT in one motion.
2. The close to abusive language in your daughter's PNR notes isn't going to help her cause. If you want to do this to yourself, fine. But, why do it to someone else?
Jul 27, 2015, 11:59 am
#17
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: YYZ
Programs: AAdvantage, Aeroplan, Flying Blue
Posts: 662
It's true: Skyteam is less a "team" than StarAlliance or OneWorld
In fact, the level of integration between the "core" airlines (DL/KL/AF/AZ are the ones I dealt with recently) on Skyteam is much worse than on, say, OneWorld between AA/BA/IB/LA. My experience (forgive me if this comes out like a rant but, well, that's what it is):
Nov-14: I book flights SCL-CDG-FCO-CDG-SCL directly with AF in Santiago, four business class tickets fully refundable, total price US$20K approx.
Apr-15: as plans change I need to change to fly from and return to YYZ. I try this in Santiago but no go: AF will refund my tickets but I will have to re-book with AF in Canada (or France, I suppose). Me: no problem except that I'll end up receiving a bunch of Chilean pesos as a refund, that I will then have to convert to US$ as we are leaving Chile soon...but that's ok. AF: you can try to use part of the refund to pay for your tickets ex-YYZ but that will have to be arranged with AF in Toronto. Me: OK, thanks.
Apr-15: I phone AF in Canada. Can I use part of my Chilean refund to pay directly for my flights out of Toronto? Response: ummm... Me: am I speaking with AF here, or DL? Response: why, AF, sir, of course. Me: You sound like DL to me. How's your French? Response: ummmm...
So, it was not possible to use my refund and accordingly I had to book and pay for my new tix separately. No problem, right? So I book YYZ-AMS-FCO on KL metal, FCO-CDG on AZ and CDG-YYZ on AF and it's all going to cost me less than half of what it would have cost out of SCL. Excellent, I selected seats and got through the whole process, then tried to pay with my Canadian credit card but the AF site wouldn't accept it, so the solution is to phone AF in Canada to pay which I do but, again, with whom am I speaking? AF, sir. OK, so here's my AF record locator, I need to pay for the tix. OK sir, and the total will be XXX. Me: ummm, that's $1K more than your website says it will be. AF(DL): that's the fare that I see. Me: well I don't see how that is, I'm looking at the fare now on your website. AF(DL): please give me the details...
And so it goes on for nearly TWO HOURS before they straighten it out and charge me what the website said the fare would be.
But in the end it's done and even have seat assignments on all legs (or so I thought...).
Jul-15. Check in at YYZ fly smoothly to AMS and on to FCO, with KL. At AMS I recall that I had forgotten to confirm my FB number and my boarding pass didn't show it, so KL very efficiently put the number in for the flight just completed and remaining legs.
Jul-15. Check in at FCO for flight to CDG on AZ. Boarding passes printed, FB number not there. Corrected it, no problem, re-printed the boarding pass. Me: is the number in there for the last leg on AF as well, because according to KL it should have been in for both legs. AZ: yes.
Jul-15. Check in at CDG for flight to YYZ. Boarding passes printed, FB number not there...corrected it...!! Me: Oh, and by the way, these are not the seats we were assigned, why were they changed? AF: Well sir, I see that your seats were requested but not confirmed, and the seats you requested are now occupied. Me: but according to this printout from AF I have those seats confirmed. What's going on? AF: ah but you booked in Canada, sir. Me: yes, I did. So what? AF: then you dealt with DL, not with AF. Me: I knew that at the time, but don't your systems communicate with one another? AF: well, no, they don't. Me: So you mean that in order to get confirmed seats I needed to call AF in France? Are you kidding me? AF: Well, sir, yes that's what I mean. Me: (expletive deleted).
In further discussions around the FB issue AF acknowledged that their systems don't even communicate well with KL even though the two airlines are in theory one company.
OK so these things happen, and I'm sure there are horror stories with OW & *A too, but I am an experienced flier with both of those networks and I can assure you that the level of coordination between airlines on Skyteam is much worse than on the other two networks. It's a farce, really, to call Skyteam a "team", at least from the paying customer's perspective.
And that is my rant for today.
Nov-14: I book flights SCL-CDG-FCO-CDG-SCL directly with AF in Santiago, four business class tickets fully refundable, total price US$20K approx.
Apr-15: as plans change I need to change to fly from and return to YYZ. I try this in Santiago but no go: AF will refund my tickets but I will have to re-book with AF in Canada (or France, I suppose). Me: no problem except that I'll end up receiving a bunch of Chilean pesos as a refund, that I will then have to convert to US$ as we are leaving Chile soon...but that's ok. AF: you can try to use part of the refund to pay for your tickets ex-YYZ but that will have to be arranged with AF in Toronto. Me: OK, thanks.
Apr-15: I phone AF in Canada. Can I use part of my Chilean refund to pay directly for my flights out of Toronto? Response: ummm... Me: am I speaking with AF here, or DL? Response: why, AF, sir, of course. Me: You sound like DL to me. How's your French? Response: ummmm...
So, it was not possible to use my refund and accordingly I had to book and pay for my new tix separately. No problem, right? So I book YYZ-AMS-FCO on KL metal, FCO-CDG on AZ and CDG-YYZ on AF and it's all going to cost me less than half of what it would have cost out of SCL. Excellent, I selected seats and got through the whole process, then tried to pay with my Canadian credit card but the AF site wouldn't accept it, so the solution is to phone AF in Canada to pay which I do but, again, with whom am I speaking? AF, sir. OK, so here's my AF record locator, I need to pay for the tix. OK sir, and the total will be XXX. Me: ummm, that's $1K more than your website says it will be. AF(DL): that's the fare that I see. Me: well I don't see how that is, I'm looking at the fare now on your website. AF(DL): please give me the details...
And so it goes on for nearly TWO HOURS before they straighten it out and charge me what the website said the fare would be.
But in the end it's done and even have seat assignments on all legs (or so I thought...).Jul-15. Check in at YYZ fly smoothly to AMS and on to FCO, with KL. At AMS I recall that I had forgotten to confirm my FB number and my boarding pass didn't show it, so KL very efficiently put the number in for the flight just completed and remaining legs.
Jul-15. Check in at FCO for flight to CDG on AZ. Boarding passes printed, FB number not there. Corrected it, no problem, re-printed the boarding pass. Me: is the number in there for the last leg on AF as well, because according to KL it should have been in for both legs. AZ: yes.
Jul-15. Check in at CDG for flight to YYZ. Boarding passes printed, FB number not there...corrected it...!! Me: Oh, and by the way, these are not the seats we were assigned, why were they changed? AF: Well sir, I see that your seats were requested but not confirmed, and the seats you requested are now occupied. Me: but according to this printout from AF I have those seats confirmed. What's going on? AF: ah but you booked in Canada, sir. Me: yes, I did. So what? AF: then you dealt with DL, not with AF. Me: I knew that at the time, but don't your systems communicate with one another? AF: well, no, they don't. Me: So you mean that in order to get confirmed seats I needed to call AF in France? Are you kidding me? AF: Well, sir, yes that's what I mean. Me: (expletive deleted).
In further discussions around the FB issue AF acknowledged that their systems don't even communicate well with KL even though the two airlines are in theory one company.
OK so these things happen, and I'm sure there are horror stories with OW & *A too, but I am an experienced flier with both of those networks and I can assure you that the level of coordination between airlines on Skyteam is much worse than on the other two networks. It's a farce, really, to call Skyteam a "team", at least from the paying customer's perspective.
And that is my rant for today.