I had a somewhat similar situation related to IRROPS and a rebooking. I could not get through no matter what I tried. The SE line was an over 2 hour wait on Thursday evening. I don't know how long it actually was because it just disconnected twice while I was on hold.
In the end I booked myself a paid ticket that resolved the problem and then called the SE desk the next day while at the airport. They were totally unhelpful and the agent said "it seems like you made an expensive mistake". I emailed customer service and got a call back within an hour. The nice person had investigated the issue and I believe read the extensive email with screenshots etc that I had sent to the SE e-mail and concierge the evening prior while on hold (neither of which generated a response). They agreed with me and undid/redid things to make it all work it.
It was very stressful tbh. The SE agent was suggesting I was out the 11k that was required, but in the end it all worked out.
I can totally understand AC wanting to cut back on the number of humans they need at phones to deal with issues. I support it, but the web/mobile tools need to be rock solid first. Things like being able to cancel, handle IRROPs, etc shouldn't disappear so easily.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Jan 9, 2022 at 10:44 pm
Reason: Remove non-public information