Originally Posted by
CX828
This fare is certainly not safe and guaranteed. . .
Just got off the phone to Alitalia. As I couldn't assign seats on AF or AZ website, I called the call center. Long story short, the ticket is not valid, his word's were "if I were at check in I would not let you on the flight". He seemed very aware of this issue specifically mentioning "you saw this fare on google flights". Apparently I will now be contacted within 24/48 hours by a different department and one of two options may occur - I fly as I thought booked, i.e. in business, or I am re-seated in coach. He was very dubious about the possibility of a refund stating "you might get a refund but I cannot guarantee anything at this stage". It was described as a "system error by the web department". Apparently they are investigating how the error occurred and whether pax booked a coach ticket and had access to business class seats or whether in the alternative it is just very low priced business fare. Either way there was a mapping error that they know about. Watch this space.....
This is a bit worrying. So if we turned up at the check-in desk and if we were downgraded to the economy cabin by AZ on the basis that we only booked an economy fare then we will have no recourse other than the 75% cost of the fare under EU regulations for downgrade. My understanding is that the 75% value is calculated on the base fare rather than the total cost including tax. Base fare is only £143 so would AZ try to minimise the damage by downgrading us and offer 75% of £143 as a refund? If this happens at the airport, most of us would find ourselves in a difficult situation as we would have spent money on hotels, positioning flights etc. I guess if the special fare has happened with some other airline then I guess we would be a bit more confident. Just that AZ has a horrible reputation and it is hard to trust this Airline