I just returned from a several hour session at Thai Airways head office in Lad Prao. For my return (I have paid PE), they originally booked me on TG to NRT and on ANA to NY. They said they could not book me on ANA PE as they have no agreement with ANA concerning PE. I am now booked on the BKK-LAX flight in PE and on economy plus on the UA red eye to NY. I asked about compensation for all the trouble, the longer flight time, etc. and all I got was a shrug of the shoulders.
Lord, I lost it with the city ticket office here in Tokyo. The only thing that Thai (a supervisor in Tokyo) is working on is the possibility of letting me replace my miles I'm using to fly NRT-BKK return, into my Royal Orchid Plus account without a penalty. That seems to be a stretch for them and is taking overnight to see if they'll do.
Thai in Bangkok, after 6 phone calls (long distance) and three email, sent one measly little email today just saying I could either get a "complete refund" or rebook via LAX and take that horrible United red-eye to JFK which would make the trip unbearable. I've lost my connection ticket from JFK to RDU--bye bye $225.
Brianclev, you will not get ANA premium economy class. The reason is cost. Yes, we should get it, but Thai seem to have written us all off and really could care less. That's what I was pushing for and they would never give me an answer of "yes". They'll never admit that they have caused anyone any harm and think that that lousy offer of a flight that arrives in LAX after 9 PM that can only transfer to a red-eye, is really a great deal.
Oh, the clincher of the events today, the reservation agent in Tokyo didn't even know the flights were cancelled! Can you believe the lack of communication and lack of management in that Bangkok office!?
Thai has worked me up into a frenzy. I HATE them.
I called JAL to rebook today and the agent called me back with details of a reservation in their new premium, reserved seats, explained the cancellation and change penalties, types of aircraft, etc. for around 30 minutes! She called me back! I hope Thai loses tons of money and continues to let their fleet rot so no one will fly them. They deserve to fail, like Alitalia.
It's a little ridiculous because they have a contract of carriage with you. If they choose to breach the contract, they are on the hook to give you something of equal value to what you were supposed to receive (in our case a pleasant, bearable flight from BKK - JFK timed to any connecting flights). You can't just cancel a contract at any time and give a refund - that's not the value you contracted for.
Another angle is when the airlines overbook a flight and we are bumped. We expect compensation - over and above the basic transportation to our destination. While overbooking is the result of a statistical anomaly, this is the result of Thai's conscious business decision. They should face the costs of that business decision. If that means rebooking us all in the most convenient business-class, so be it. That is the consequence of their business decision to abruptly cancel the flight.
I know for a fact that airlines cringe at threatened lawsuits and give up compensation. Any NY or CA (I assume those are the only two states with jurisdiction) lawyers out there willing to take this up on a contingency basis?
Brianclev, you will not get ANA premium economy class. The reason is cost. Yes, we should get it, but Thai seem to have written us all off and really could care less.
I think that it's probably a bit more complicated than that. Since there are so few PE seats on the ANA flights compared to TG - either 20 or 24, depending on the plane used - I'm reasonably certain that ANA keeps those seats strictly under their control only. As mentioned, ANA is charging $3000+ for those seats (basically, midway between economy and biz), far more than the extra $400 that was being paid on the JFK nonstop. An economy seat on ANA is a reasonable accommodation (certainly better than being dumped onto a UA flight), and one certainly has justification to nag TG for a $200 refund if they don't eventually offer it.
A few months ago the same stamping of feet went on over on the Singapore Airlines forum as well, with those who lost their executive economy seats demanding to be moved to business. Didn't work. Singapore got them to their destination the cheapest way they could. The rumors of the cancellation of the TG nonstop have been swirling around for over a year. I knew there was a chance it could go pfffttt when I last took it in April. In the past year we've all been taking a gamble each time we booked this flight. Most won, but some are losing now. That's the airline biz, especially in this cost-cutting climate.
It doesn't really matter whether TG is willing to pay NH the going rate for their Premium Economy seat.
If someone is holding full "Y" ticket, (s)he can select premium economy seat by calling NH directly.
It doesn't involve TG, so don't call TG; call NH instead.
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I'm reading FT on Friday night because I have 6AM flight on Saturday morning...
If someone is holding full "Y" ticket, (s)he can select premium economy seat by calling NH directly. It doesn't involve TG, so don't call TG; call NH instead.
If that works, good on ya! But since the number of total PE seats per ANA is rather limited (HALF the number the TG PE seats per flight), I'd do it ASAP.
I would like to add that I actually am very sympathetic with those who find themselves with changed plans/flights. But since TG has seldom been proactive or speedy about anything, I think it's best to keep one's expectations reasonable.
Warning to those with united award seats: I got a rebooking notice this morning, but the rebooking just dropped my bkk-jfk leg. It did NOT replace it with anything.
I had to call up united, the agent said "everything looks ok.. oh.. wait. Ahh yes" So she put me through on a united flight in business class. Not optimal but the only other option available was an economy ticket on ANA (with no refund in miles or anything). Hopefully I made the right decision on that, but will definitely miss the thai hospitality on my way home .
I bought 3 tickets Premium Economy to visit Thailand in July, as soon as i heard the bad news of Thai airways cancelled the JFK-NY flight, i called them. They gave me the option to go to LA and then take the TG plane to go to Thailand, which would be fine if we do not travel with young kid. From 18 hours to 28 hours, i could not do that. Another option is to refund my money, very convenient for them, isn't it? We paid the money 2 months ago of hoping to get cheaper ticket if you buy earlier, but now the prices go up. I called them everyday, wrote emails, wrote letter, spent on the phone an hour at least. The second day, they offered ANA economy class, we asked for the price differences, which by now i dont care economy or premium economy, just want to visit my family as the fastest route. They said NO they cannot give the price differences, is this how big coporate handle the situation?? The third day on the phone for 2 hours at least, tried to talk to the agent to understand our point, she finally booked us on PE from JFK to Narita but the way from Narita to Bangkok will be economy, well at this point am ok with it and do not want to call and pursue anymore further. I did ask them for the domestic tickets i bought and if i change i will have to pay for the changing fees, they do not want to responsible for that. I might ask for that when i come back from the trip. So far my experience with Thai Airways on how they deal with the situation is not the positive side, they definitely loose many loyal customers.
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I was book in PE on the Dec 17 JFK - BKK and Jan 16 BKK - JFK and I have been emailing the Thai office in LA for about a week, with no response. I finally called the LA office today and after waiting on hold for 15 mins was told I could get a refund but it will take 30 - 60 days to process. Just got off the phone with my credit card company so I don't have to pay them while I wait for the refund, as I booked the seats only 1 week before this whole mess began. I think I'm sticking with Cathay and Singapore as they're more reliable.
In further continuation to my saga and unhappiness about the handling of this situation, I have done a "charge back" on Thai for this.
They offer a "full refund", but then say it will take 2-3 months to process. Insane! As a former employee of Bank of America, who worked in the merchant customer service department, I know charge backs. This is when the goods or service is so lousy and the customer is so unhappy with what their transaction, and when the merchant does not satisfy the customer, the customer simply calls in and asks for this "charge back". The money in the merchant's account is immediately deducted and the customer is credited. It infuriates the merchants.
As Thai seem to be completely heartless and inept on the entire handling of this situation, it is the only recourse I could think of to stick it to them. I suggest you all do this too if 2-3 months is not acceptable for a refund period.
Friendly advice from a fellow burned passenger. Lord knows they'll never respond to our complaints or treat us with any sense of dignity.
I'm actually very happy to get the substitute--at least they smoothly put me on BKK-NRT-JFK return trip for July 7. I can live without the Premium Economy. I was VERY worried that this would degeneate into a two-day return trip. I'm very happy to leave 3 hours earlier (10:10 p.m. instead of 00:40 a.m.) and get back to JFK only 4 hours later (10:45 a.m. instead of 7:10 a.m.). I changed my Delta JFK-CLE from 9:00 a.m. to 12:55 p.m. Hopefully I'll make that connection!
I'm just amazed that there were available seats on the BKK-NRT and NRT-JFK flights at this late time.
By the way, I find it very cheap to call Thailand using $25 international calling card from Sam's Club. It's a lot cheaper per minute than using the 1000 minutes domestic card.
Last edited by brianclev; Jun 16, 08 at 11:47 pm.
Reason: add info
It doesn't really matter whether TG is willing to pay NH the going rate for their Premium Economy seat.
If someone is holding full "Y" ticket, (s)he can select premium economy seat by calling NH directly.
It doesn't involve TG, so don't call TG; call NH instead.
Yea but will NH impose an extra charge for the upgrade to Premium Economy? It's a lot more expensive on NH. I'm not payiing an extra $750 or whatever.
I know for a fact that airlines cringe at threatened lawsuits and give up compensation. Any NY or CA (I assume those are the only two states with jurisdiction) lawyers out there willing to take this up on a contingency basis?
I'm a plaintiffs' lawyer who does class actions in Ohio. I avoid federal court like the plague. A certain political party has ruined the system. People don't know how bad it is--they are fixated by other issues. Consumer issues are ignored by voters--so the consumer consistently gets screwed. I doubt any lawsuit would survive. It's probably preempted by some federal law or regulation. If filed in CA or NY state court, the airline would probably find a way to remove to federal court (I don't know anything about airline law, though). There are probably regulations that say that what the airline is doing is reasonable and proper. It all started with Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan, and our only option is to let the free market take care of it.
I lost it today!
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Never again with Thai Airways
