Originally Posted by
MsLovly
Hello Flyertalk gurus. First time poster and hoping you all can help with some advice.
We booked Emirates Business Class tickets for my elderly parents (79 and 83) from Mumbai to the USA (IAD) through a travel agency in India way back in January.
On a previous Emirates business trip they received chauffeur service and lounge access, but the agent recently informed us these benefits are not included on the current ticket because of the fare class. Unfortunately this was never explained during booking, and now the agency is asking for additional $$$ a week before my parents are due to fly out.
Has anyone dealt with this situation before? Is there a way to work directly with Emirates to change the fare class and or get chauffer and lounge added. The Emirates website is not allowing us to add these.
Hello MsLovly, welcome to Flyer Talk and the Emirates forum.
Your parents are on the cheapest Business Class fare, which is called 'Special' ('H' fare bucket). This indeed has not got lounge access, chauffeur drive and seat selection.
As it is a travel agent ticket, only that travel agent can change it into a 'Saver' ('O' bucket)ticket (assuming that Saver is still available on that flight, otherwise Flex ( 'I') or even Flex+ ('C' or 'J')). That is nornmally possible, but it will incur extra costs. Nothing you can do about that. If 'Saver' is still available , the additional costs might not be too bad, but Flex or especially Flex+ might be very expensive in which case a taxi and paid lounge access might be a better solution.