Stranger

Once in a while one meets a grumpy amployee. Just happens.

I suspect indeed some employees resent frequent flyers. Much easier to BS infrequent flyers to start with, which can make life easy.

Best is just to forget and go on with one's life.

NordsFan

Customer goes to the grocery store to buy 2% milk for coming week, just as he does 52 times a year……

1 liter carton costs $1.58;
2 liter carton costs $3.12 (or $1.56/l)
4 liter carton costs $5.98 (or 1.495/l)

(*actual minimum prices of 2% milk as per Quebec provincial milk marketing regulator).

Customer wants to have 4 liters of milk available for consumption at home but prefers the convenience of opening the 1 liter containers one at time rather than opening the big jug "cuz the milk tastes fresher in the smaller container and it’s harder for the kids to pour from the jug, etc."

Customer takes 4 one liter cartons and goes to the cash. Cashier scans 4 x 1 liters and asks for $6.32. Customer becomes indignant and says 4 liters of milk is only supposed to cost $5.98 as per price for larger 4 liter jug and "I buy my milk here every week" !

Questions : does the customer get to leave the grocery store with his 4 cartons of milk by paying anything less than $6.32 ? Does the cashier ever have to repeat what the price is a second, or even a third time ?

Crampedin13A

$75 is a bargain

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...hange-fee.html

YEG USER

Is this really an appropriate way to deal with a SE?

RE: Requiring $75 change fee - yes for the reasons many others here have stated.

RE: Rude attitude - absolutely not.

FWIW I've recently been flying quite a bit between YQR and YEG via YYC. There are a few different options where there is a flight departing YYC that doesn't meet the MCT from the inbound from YQR; when the inbound is on time, I'm always able to be at the YYC gate in time for the boarding of the earlier flight. Without checked bags I was able to be placed on the earlier flight without being charged the fee. The last few times I've asked, the agent at the gate said that unfortunately they couldn't do this any more as AC has mandated that all change fees be collected. Fair enough, those were the conditions that I agreed to when I booked.

I would like to suggest the following for AC...

• AC already waives stand-by fees for Tango Plus fares in the eastern triangle. Why not make this policy system wide? IMHO free standby on Tango Plus fares would help justify the ever increasing spread between Tango and Tango Plus fares.
• Introduce free standby for Tango Plus and charge $75 (to be collected if standby clears) on Tango fares.
• Keep the same day confirmed changes at $75 for Tango Plus and $150 for Tango. There have been many times where I would pay the $75 fee to change flights if I was able to confirm a seat prior to heading to the airport.

Slightly OT - regarding confirmed changes, I really wish the system would give you the option to change to any available flight the same day instead of just those flights leaving in the next few hours. Especially giving the option for flights that depart after the original departure time.

jjclancy

You'd be surprised.

jjclancy

Customer should consider cross border arbitrage to a locale where dairy is subsidized.

YQMer

I'm one who has called back 2 or 3 times and asked the same question. It mostly pays off. Customers may not be inclined to call back repeatedly if they got the same answer every time.

mendy7511

instead of starting a new thread every time time AC does not waive the $75 same day fee, people can just post here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...y-tickets.html

Santander

It's cheaper to just buy T+ and pay a change fee.

I don't think there is any problem at all with not letting OP change flights without paying the fee. The GA's attitude however was shocking in indefensible. I sometimes request (and get) free same-day standby even on Tango fares on YYC-YEG but sometimes I don't get them too. Nothing you can really do about that.

Tedgrrrr

When I worked for a large Telecom company, the general rule we established was that A LOT of leeway could be given to customers as long as the company would recover the "leeway" in THREE MONTHS. E.g. Customer A needs a new Blackberry because he dropped his in the toilet. Customer A spends $400 a month on his cell bill, a new 'berry is less than $1200, so give him a free 'berry. This eliminates the risk that Customer A would be tempted to stop by a competitor's store, or that he would badmouth the company to others, etc etc etc.

I'm shocked that AC doesn't think this way. For most SE's I would surmise that a change fee, could be recovered ten-fold or twenty-fold in a month.

As I mentioned earlier, I often ask AC for an earlier flight to YVR, so that I can spend more time at YVR MLL instead of YYC MLL, on the way to LAX. AC agent says no. The next time I need to book a trip, likely 5 or 10 days later, I go straight to US. AC's refusal to waive the $75 fee has just cost them (repeatedly) a last minute T+ fare, or a Latitude Fare, and US has won (40% of the time) a J fare. I'm not sure the profit margins, but surely losing a $600-$900 ticket (one-way) over a $75 fee I'll NEVER pay for to begin with, doesn't make good business sense.

By way of a second analogy, from time to time I access the US lounges in PHX and CLT on an arriving flight with no connecting flight, which is not allowed (sometimes I'm not even flying US to begin with!), so that I can book a last minute car rental or hotel from the comfort of the lounge and I've never been refused. By allowing me to do what is "forbidden", my loyalty to US is increased, and they get a lot of money out of me for it. IF they said "sorry sir, you need to pay $50 for your 20 minute lounge visit" I would probably feel the same way as AC's $75 fee and look for another airline.

By way of a third analogy, US agents always ignore my overweight suitcase. It's only overweight by 6 or 8 pounds, but if they started making me pay for having an overweight suitcase, I would again look to spend my company's hard earned money on another airline. Incidentally, the last time I flew WS was in 2008, when the agent made me take a heavy book out of my suitcase and put it in my carry-on bag because my suitcase was a pound or two overweight. Good riddance WS.

I'm still baffled that AC doesn't realize customers think like this...

tinchote

I fail to follow your logic. What if the 10 passengers wanted to pay the change fee and there were only 5 empty seats, what then?

"First come, first serve" is a most common policy at most places, and can be applied to this situation too.

bluegrinch

Just how often should AC extend that courtesy? Should it do it next week when you (or someone you don't know) again buys the cheaper connecting flight, and again asks for a free upgrade (for that is what I think it is) to a more convenient non-stop flight? How about the week after, and the week after that week, etc?

That courtesy you ask for yourself will become an unofficial program and AC will lose twice:
a) Giving away a seat someone else might have paid $75 for;
b) Selling a lot more cheaper connecting flights to other passengers in the same situation as yours expecting the courtesy of a free upgrade to a non-stop flight at the airport.

And for what it's worth, on the occasions I have had a change fee waived in the past (less applicable nowadays), two things were always true:
a) I didn't ask for the freebie; I wanted the earlier flight and I was prepared to pay for it if asked;
b) Freebies were given when I made my request at the last minute when it was patently clear the seat wouldn't be sold, not when I asked for a change an hour in advance and the seat could still be sold.

YYZFlyboy

I've been told by an AC insider that the company makes an incredible amount of $$ from fees, such as change and bag fees. For instance the introduction of a fee for the first bag on domestic and transborder flights has been a revenue bonanza.

Because of this lucrative revenue stream agents have been told "NO Freebies" and can be punished for not following the rules. AC have actually been known to audit agents to see how much revenue they have "lost" to the company.

acysb87

I buy Latitude passes for JUST that reason. Changes. Plenty of them.Book last minute too. I like and require flexibility. I was happy paying change fees on TPlus fares but it took too long at CS desk.

RZR

To answer the poster question , no , it is not appropriate for
AC to treat SE that way , but mind you, It is also not appropriate to treat any passenger that way. So you should be upset , but not because you're SE.

You mention that they didn't put you on the earlier flight unless you pay the 75.00 bucks . Well , those are the rules.

Book the flight you prefer ahead of time , if not pay the 75.00 and you're still way ahead compared to the expensive fare.