A3 begins charging for advance seat reservations - limited discount for A3*G
Apr 1, 2018, 3:09 pm
#212
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Cyprus
Programs: LH SEN, A3*G, TK*G E+, ALL/Accor Plat
Posts: 644
Read my previous posts with regards to my personal opinion on the matter. However if it is company policy then taking it out on the gate agents at boarding delaying an aircraft and operations is certainly not the way to behave. To be honest if they had called your bluff and off loaded you they would have been 100% legally covered and you would have lost alot of money in court. There are times to throw your toys out of the pram but that was not one of them. In the end they gave in because you blackmailed them as they were dispatching a flight and by your own admission you delayed the other passengers even though it may have been only by a few minutes.
The correct way would have been to either take the seat offered or pay the fee as per company policy then take your anger out with customer services after who may have chosen to refund you as a good will gesture.
My sympathy is with the gate staff to be honest. There is never a legal gurantee for a window or aisle etc... Try taking it to court if you dont believe me.
The correct way would have been to either take the seat offered or pay the fee as per company policy then take your anger out with customer services after who may have chosen to refund you as a good will gesture.
My sympathy is with the gate staff to be honest. There is never a legal gurantee for a window or aisle etc... Try taking it to court if you dont believe me.
Apr 1, 2018, 3:15 pm
#213
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,892
Is my selected seat guaranteed?
Your selected seat is guaranteed. In the unlikely event of any change due to operational reasons, we will do our best efforts to reallocate you an equivalent seat type with the same characteristics (window / aisle / middle seat, Up Front / Extra Legroom). If no such seat is available, then you are entitled to a refund.https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-info...ts/seat_types/
So they agree to do their best to guarantee it but if they cant for operational reasons then you are entitled to a refund. You paid nothing so this does not apply. Legally you have no leg to stand on Im afraid. Again I do not deny you the right to be angry and aim that anger by phone or writing to the correct channel which is A3 customer services but what you did was still wrong and bad manners. It was the way in which you conducted yourself and handled it I take issue with.
Apr 1, 2018, 3:25 pm
#214
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Cyprus
Programs: LH SEN, A3*G, TK*G E+, ALL/Accor Plat
Posts: 644
Sorry lets quote the whole text with the link to that statement.
https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-info...ts/seat_types/
So they agree to do their best to guarantee it but if they cant for operational reasons then you are entitled to a refund. You paid nothing so this does not apply. Legally you have no leg to stand on Im afraid. Again I do not deny you the right to be angry and aim that anger by phone or writing to the correct channel which is A3 customer services but what you did was still wrong and bad manners. It was the way in which you conducted yourself and handled it I take issue with.
Is my selected seat guaranteed?
Your selected seat is guaranteed. In the unlikely event of any change due to operational reasons, we will do our best efforts to reallocate you an equivalent seat type with the same characteristics (window / aisle / middle seat, Up Front / Extra Legroom). If no such seat is available, then you are entitled to a refund.https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-info...ts/seat_types/
So they agree to do their best to guarantee it but if they cant for operational reasons then you are entitled to a refund. You paid nothing so this does not apply. Legally you have no leg to stand on Im afraid. Again I do not deny you the right to be angry and aim that anger by phone or writing to the correct channel which is A3 customer services but what you did was still wrong and bad manners. It was the way in which you conducted yourself and handled it I take issue with.
Apr 1, 2018, 3:27 pm
#215
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Cyprus
Programs: LH SEN, A3*G, TK*G E+, ALL/Accor Plat
Posts: 644
Sorry lets quote the whole text with the link to that statement.
https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-info...ts/seat_types/
So they agree to do their best to guarantee it but if they cant for operational reasons then you are entitled to a refund. You paid nothing so this does not apply. Legally you have no leg to stand on Im afraid. Again I do not deny you the right to be angry and aim that anger by phone or writing to the correct channel which is A3 customer services but what you did was still wrong and bad manners. It was the way in which you conducted yourself and handled it I take issue with.
Is my selected seat guaranteed?
Your selected seat is guaranteed. In the unlikely event of any change due to operational reasons, we will do our best efforts to reallocate you an equivalent seat type with the same characteristics (window / aisle / middle seat, Up Front / Extra Legroom). If no such seat is available, then you are entitled to a refund.https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-info...ts/seat_types/
So they agree to do their best to guarantee it but if they cant for operational reasons then you are entitled to a refund. You paid nothing so this does not apply. Legally you have no leg to stand on Im afraid. Again I do not deny you the right to be angry and aim that anger by phone or writing to the correct channel which is A3 customer services but what you did was still wrong and bad manners. It was the way in which you conducted yourself and handled it I take issue with.
.
Apr 1, 2018, 11:15 pm
#217
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,565
@johnirvine: Think for a moment what your thoughts would be if your departure were delayed due to a passenger arguing with the agent at the gate; as you would have no possibility of knowing what his/her complaint would be and who's at fault, most probably you would side with the agent and you'd certainly not blame the airline for the delay. Is it, thus, worth arguing with the gate agent? Especially in your case when they are not even employees of the airline (and neither is their supervisor for that matter). And I write this fully understanding why you were, justly, angry!
Apr 2, 2018, 3:15 am
#218
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: ARN
Programs: A3*G, SK*G
Posts: 336
The above considerations aside, as someone who flies 40-50 segments a year on A3, paying more than 6K to them, I consider it quite cheap on their side to ask me for an additional €8 to let me select an “up-front” seat. This is a service that even as an A3G I get for free on most other *A carriers, even on long-haul flights where this would otherwise cost €50-€80.
Yet to me A3’s new approach is more puzzling than frustrating. In every A3 flight I have taken since the new policy was implemented, at least 2/3 (often more than that) of these “up-front” seats were still free a few hours before departure, even on fully-booked flights. So why would A3 prefer to displease and frustrate their loyal customers in order to give these seats to random latecomers? Reputation, especially when it comes to customer satisfaction and service is hard to build, but easy to ruin. A3 had all the previous years done an exquisite work on the former, putting lots of effort and funds into that, and now it seems that they decided for some reason to damp all this for a handful €€ of ancillary revenue...
I find it hard to believe that they did “their best” to find an upfront seat for johnirvine, but couldn’t find one... I have flown A3 eight times since the new policy was introduced. Not a single one of them were more than 30%-40% of these seats occupied a few hours before check-in closing time, even in flights that turned out to be fully booked. They simply chose to give those seats to pax who simply showed up in the last minute, rather than to someone who flies 60+ segments on them per year...
Apr 2, 2018, 4:55 am
#219
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Cyprus
Programs: LH SEN, A3*G, TK*G E+, ALL/Accor Plat
Posts: 644
It is very true that a single person stalling an entire flight can be (justifuably) infuriating to the rest of the pax, and perhaps even deemed as inconsiderate. Personally I would never go bashing on employees who may not be responsible for a situation, and have to deal with lots of rude and often wacko people on a daily basis. Yet this should not be seen as a vehicle for any company getting away with trampling over my rights. I always try to keep a low profile, but standing one’s ground while being calm, polite, and non-provocative is sometimes necessary. Not blaming or defending johnirvine since I was not present at the aforementioned incident, just presenting my take on the topic.
The above considerations aside, as someone who flies 40-50 segments a year on A3, paying more than 6K to them, I consider it quite cheap on their side to ask me for an additional €8 to let me select an “up-front” seat. This is a service that even as an A3G I get for free on most other *A carriers, even on long-haul flights where this would otherwise cost €50-€80.
Yet to me A3’s new approach is more puzzling than frustrating. In every A3 flight I have taken since the new policy was implemented, at least 2/3 (often more than that) of these “up-front” seats were still free a few hours before departure, even on fully-booked flights. So why would A3 prefer to displease and frustrate their loyal customers in order to give these seats to random latecomers? Reputation, especially when it comes to customer satisfaction and service is hard to build, but easy to ruin. A3 had all the previous years done an exquisite work on the former, putting lots of effort and funds into that, and now it seems that they decided for some reason to damp all this for a handful €€ of ancillary revenue...
I find it hard to believe that they did “their best” to find an upfront seat for johnirvine, but couldn’t find one... I have flown A3 eight times since the new policy was introduced. Not a single one of them were more than 30%-40% of these seats occupied a few hours before check-in closing time, even in flights that turned out to be fully booked. They simply chose to give those seats to pax who simply showed up in the last minute, rather than to someone who flies 60+ segments on them per year...
If Aegean wish to treat their Goldcardholders in this way, they should expect pushback. I personally have had enough and will, for the next year at least, take my business to TK and the LH Group. However, I still intend to retain my A3*G card as I collect several hundred thousand miles per year on my Alpha Bank credit card.
Apr 9, 2018, 2:07 am
#220
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Maribor SLO
Programs: MM silver, Flying blue Platinum, A3 gold, Marriott platinum, IHG gold
Posts: 132
Hey. Just booked IST-ATH-IST, it is Olympic and as A# gold I could choose first row (so it means economy all the flight) without any extra charge. So new rules not valid for Olympic?
Apr 9, 2018, 2:20 am
#221
Join Date: Nov 2016
Programs: A3*G
Posts: 42
According to Aegean "NOTE: Business Class seats selection remains non-chargeable, as are all seats on Public Service Obligation routes and all seats on our Turbo Prop fleet type (ATR, Dash 8 Q400, Dash 8-100). (source)"
The ATH-IST route is served by a Dash 8 Q400.
Apr 9, 2018, 3:00 am
#222
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Maribor SLO
Programs: MM silver, Flying blue Platinum, A3 gold, Marriott platinum, IHG gold
Posts: 132
Unfortunately, this is not true.
According to Aegean "NOTE: Business Class seats selection remains non-chargeable, as are all seats on Public Service Obligation routes and all seats on our Turbo Prop fleet type (ATR, Dash 8 Q400, Dash 8-100). (source)"
The ATH-IST route is served by a Dash 8 Q400.
According to Aegean "NOTE: Business Class seats selection remains non-chargeable, as are all seats on Public Service Obligation routes and all seats on our Turbo Prop fleet type (ATR, Dash 8 Q400, Dash 8-100). (source)"
The ATH-IST route is served by a Dash 8 Q400.
Apr 9, 2018, 9:59 am
#223
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 271
Aegean uses the Dash 8 Q400 airplanes to fly to Istanbul and for flights with the Turbo Prop fleet type (ATR, Dash 8 Q400, Dash 8-100) you can select any seat at no cost.
