Kacee

Flying SAN-SFO today in F. Finish work early, so I call VX to change to an earlier flight. Call auto-transferred to AS. Rep says yes, there are seats available, confirms $25 fee for the change, says he has to do this manually, puts me on hold. Comes back five minutes later, says his "lead" insists I have to pay an upfare of $240. I say "I'm pretty sure same day change should be into any seat for $25." Puts me back on hold, comes back ten minutes later, says "yes, you're right, we can do that. I'm on hold with Virgin to process the change, I'm going to have to put you back on hold."

35 minutes later (50 mins total now) . . . I've walked to my hotel, used the restroom, retrieved my bag, and ubered to the airport . . . still on hold. Get to the VX check-in counter and figure might as well hang up because they can process it here, right? VX check-in agent resists, says "they're still working on your ticket, I don't want to touch it." I kind of lose it, tell him I've been on hold for 35 minutes and I'm not going to just stand off to the side waiting for this to fix itself. I'm seriously ready to go buy a walk-up ticket on UA. Dude fiddles with his keyboard for about 60 seconds, hands me a BP in F for the earlier flight (which goes out with 2 empty F seats).

Anyone else running into this sort of dysfunction dealing with VX flights as they "integrate" with AS?

TheDudeAbides

bkojote

Kacee

I looked for a master thread on this kind of thing but didn't see one.

I get the sense this is not getting better anytime soon.

Tracer_SEA

I think most here would tell you that it gets a lot better in less than a month, when VX's separate reservation system goes away...

The AS systems have their quirks, but the agents know how to use them and the scenario you describe in the OP will be a non-issue then.

pushmyredbutton

I hold out hope that this is true. But I feel we'll run into new kinds of 'issues' that shouldn't be happening. Right now it's a total cluster.

sfozrhfco

Maybe in SEA they do but what about in SFO where the agents are largely from VX and have very little experience with the AS system? They will not have the benefit of years of working around the quirks to help them.

jsguyrus

Flying SEA-SFO next week. I specifically avoided the flights operated by VX (which is most of them) to avoid these problems.

Kacee

Yeah my sense that the problems are going to continue was based both on experience with the CO/UA merger (which didn't get really bad until they tried to switch everything) and the fact that all the VX agents at SAN seemed really unhappy. That's a bad sign going into a merger.

CDKing

I've had problems with VX booked tickets solely on VX system with no AS involvement. VX system is a piece of garbage. Sounds like all of these problems are from VX flights booked under the AS code. These won't exists regardless of how much experience the rep has with AS systems. Having gone through many mergers, i always book through the operating airlines website as it never goes well when book the codeshare.

sltlyamusd

Agree with CDKing. I used to have issues with VX booked tickets flown on VX prior to the merger. So these reports don’t surprise me.

The ITDA

Regarding to the long hold time, they let most VX call center people go (they were contractors) a few weeks ago. I have waited 2 hours each for the two times I tried to talk to a VX agent because none of the AS agents know anything about the VX system.

Why can't they just hold on to those agents for another month?

Use 844-204-8348, none of the other elevate phone numbers work.

DrAlex

Hey, spin this to your advantage. If you are experiencing problems, voice it to CS or the AS Twitter Team. I would imagine they are shelling out a lot of compensation right now during this transition. As noted above, it is expected there are going to be significant problems for the next month. If you have a problem, let AS know about it. That's one of the reasons many of us continue to support AS - the execution may not always be perfect, but CS is almost always apologetic and generous.

pushmyredbutton

Lately, they haven't responded to any of my concerns either by AlaskaListens or the feedback form when it comes to AS/VX issues and how they've been leaving me stranded/middle seat/standby etc.

Not sure what's up, but it's totally turning me off to the brand.

DrAlex

Yeah, that seems to take a fortnight or longer. I believe the Twitter team is most equipped for a quick reply and fair compensation. @rune87 contacted them yesterday about a wonky tray table and got immediate attention.