NickB

So, presumably, you cannot possibly understand why direct flights tend to be priced much higher than indirect flights, then? I just do not understand why somebody would have to justify themselves for not accepting a substitution to something they regard as inferior. It is their business why they do not want to take an indirect flight.

Where does that gift story come from, incidentally? The OP has not spoken of a gift, has he, or have I missed that?

stevento

In my original post, I missed the number "4" before "people" - as in " I booked ATH-JFK for 4 people in J "...me being one of those people, and my wife and kids being the other 3.
Secondly, it is not just a stopover, but a much earlier departure which required an overnight stay in ATH, not part of my plan. It would have required extending the trip by one day...which, as a self-employed professional, would have resulted in significant loss of income for me and others...when one employs 10 people who cannot work when he is not there, extending vacations by one day is a big deal.

I am happy to tell everyone that FB did the honorable thing. They accepted the cancellation and extended expiry by 3 months from today. I thought it was reasonably fair to all involved.
Now I get to complain (I put a different word but FT filter automatically changed it to "..." :0 ) about the fact that Skyteam has no availability to any of the destinations on any of my future travel dates, but what else is new

NickB

^ Excellent. Glad to see that common sense and fairness has prevailed at FB.

Ditto

Did you try and ask, before cancelling, whether or not they will accommodate you on different flights which would work better for you? e.g. the afternoon ATH-CDG flight which would have still get you same day to JFK, or AZ via FCO etc.

That's good to hear...

carnarvon

Got it.

Now if I may say, you have been very picky.

You may not have realised that finding 4 biz award seats is no easy task.

I may not know your particulars, but think you should have persued the matter differently, by looking into other routings, other flights or even marginally amend your trip.

carnarvon

Indeed. There are many different combinations via 3 hubs.

stevento

I am not new to award redemptions.

We always travel with our teenage kids, 4-5 times a year, always during school breaks, never with any time flexibility, usually to places much farther than Athens, and always in J or F, so I am very well aware of difficulties of finding 4 award seats. That's why we always book our trips well in advance.
All I was asking FB to do is to give me an opportunity to use these miles for a different trip, which they did. I thought it was reasonable on both ends. Not sure how I should have persued (sic) it differently.

And you don't know my particulars, but I would imagine you woudn't take kindly to your boss telling you to take an unpaid day off because he had to make a connection somewhere. I've had to do it on a missed connection once...it doesn't make anyone happy...

irishguy28

Not at all; and nowhere did I say that. Airlines are free to alter their schedules and plans, even when passengers have already booked on that flight, and in such cases, leeway should be shown to the passenger to try and accommodate them in the most suitable way possible, but if no such suitable arrangement can be found, then they should be allowed to cancel their ticket.

Which is exactly what happened here. The passenger was refunded - though they apparently neglected to give a viable credit card/bank account in which to receive the cash element refund, just as they were unable to offer a viable FB account in which to receive a mileage refund.

Sounds like you bought your Christmas turkey from Tesco UK.

The OP was offered an alternate; presumably they tried negotiating for other alternates; they instead chose to go for a partial refund, which in this very particular set of circumstances included foregoing all miles.

NickB

Did you not? You tell us that the situation would be similar to the understudy analogy and that such as situation "does not lead to an automatic right to a refund." Now, think this through, saying that a passenger has no automatic right to a refund, this means that the airline has no obligation to refund. What does that mean if not that the airline can substitute an indirect service to a direct one and force the passenger to accept it (since the passenger has no right to a refund)?

Not very likely. Quite apart the fact that I was not in the UK, the likelihood of my buying a turkey for Christmas is very remote. To me, this is one of the most boring, bland and uninteresting poultry there is and I would not have the slightest desire to eat it at Xmas, still less serve it to my guests, even if it came from Provenance, Ginger Pig or Turner & George rather than Tesco .

irishguy28

And my next sentence was:

You've done my work for me, though. The "theatre ticket" analogy is not an analogy at all!