Often1

As you can see, that advice is not necessarily good advice as AS agents clearly recorded OP's multiple asks in his PNR notes and that led a manager to reassess the ticket altogether.

While the agents are paid to take calls, the fact is that OP managed to call attention to himself through repeat calls and "trying on" different stories.

If you are going to try this game, be ready to pull the trigger. OP was not.

VegasGambler

If the change causes a reprice, what's the difference between the original offer (reroute for 35k miles) and the current one (fly or cancel?). Cancelling and rebooking should be identical to changing (with the exception of a $12.50 partner booking fee -- which is, hopefully, not what this is about)

Furthermore, if you call an agent and say that you want to change a flight because if concerns for your safety, and they say they can do it but it reprices at 35k extra miles, and to say you will think about it, that comes across as extremely dishonest. You are obviously not that concerned if you have to think about it. That's probably why the note went on your file.

mctaste

Paying for that error fare with a touch of the corona virus! Hope you like a wedge of lime.

Adam1222

I think it's "disappointing" when someone posts something like this without being honest that they knowingly took advantage of a system error to book the system and are now expecting an airline to be gracious towards them in light of a situation beyond their control.

pl840502

1. The traveler is a friend. I used my miles to book for him. He�s currently in shanghai. Wanting to leave early since the trip ended early unexpectedly cause of the virus. And Feb 3 departure date is still more than 1 week out. I�m the one who tried to call alaska. That�s why I had to consult with him and then call back.

2. Yes as someone pointed out earlier. The routing is PVG-SIN-CDG-SIN. wasn�t hiding it was an error routing.
3. Intention was not trying to call multiple times to reroute for free. The first call was trying the easiest option, change a date out of shanghai, or originating city (if originate Tokyo then he can get a ticket shanghai to Tokyo right away and still make the trip) , doesn�t work. Then second call I thought maybe the routing too complicated. Called to see if changing the routing to PVG-SIN-CDG would help, found the flights departing earlier date and priced the same but couldn�t ticket. The third call I started to feel the ticket doesn�t allow more than 24 hours in Singapore. Meaning can�t change starting date but possible to change the city to Tokyo on the same date Feb 3, and it was successful. But since he�s the one flying, I had to consult with him whether he�s okay with that since that means more than a week unplanned in Tokyo, still not ideal. That�s why I had to HUCA to ticket. Which lead to the last phone call telling me off.
I believe that�s different than calling four times asking for the same thing to different people trying to get someone to say yes, of which the last agent was accusing me

4. Almost all Asian airlines has waivers in places now for changes and cancellations with any flights to or from any cities in china. States ones I believe some has change waivers. Alaska I don�t think they have anything since they don�t fly to or from china.

5. Trying hard to keep the ticket because following schedules (Singapore, paris etc) still haven�t changed. I understand four calls may sound like I�m taking advantage, but it was because first two calls there wasn�t a solution and I had to be the one actively looking for a solution, when I thought of some possibility, I had to call back to see if it�d work. which was successful in the third call

5. Thought of cancel and rebook too but availability on Singapore is scarce, definitely would have to take another airline and change the whole trip

Kacee

So it's PVG originating? To me that makes it even harder to argue that AS should cut the passenger a break. Given the exploitative nature of the booking, IMO AS would be totally within its rights to say fly as ticketed or ticket has no value.

pl840502

Interesting to see people�s response here. Sure feels like in you guys�s eyes, if one�s ticket is an error ticket, you are in the moral low ground to do anything, change/call/post for discussion. I believe the sentiment would be different if this is a revenue ticket? What if it�s basic economy with no changes allowed and currently no waiver in place? Does the nature of the ticket effects that much of what a person should or should not do morally?

WebTraveler

Yeah, no doubt most of the Asian airlines have waivers in place. This ticket was issued by Alaska. Alaska is not the Asian airline and cannot, independently, re-route or change this. They lack the flexibility to do so since they rely on someone else to do so.

Make the change and be done.

WebTraveler

Maybe you call a second time because sometimes the employee does not know how to perform a basic function. But now the guy is at 4 calls....and looking for at least a 5th. It's time to cut losses and be done...on all sides.....all airlines in China are overwhelmed now, and its not going to get any better. In fact, I bet that 35,000 option dries up.

pl840502

I agree if they have told me that at the beginning, I wouldn�t try further. Also if they didn�t honor the ticket, he would�ve scheduled the trip differently. Again not trying to take advantage of anything. Just exhausting all options on a situation. I�m not the one that panics and jump on things. I prefer knowing as many current facts and then make decision. He�s making decision on a hourly basis right now even on where to stay for tonight because of government surveillance of the situation, cost of stay, changes to further travel plan, potential of city wide lockdown in shanghai etc

pl840502

Actually the fourth call was to potentially make the 35000 miles change but got told off, �fly or cancel�. That�s why it feels like not only Alaska doesn�t care about his situation, they are actually accusing me of taking advantage by trying to solve a puzzle.

drvannostren

I'm not sure what the mistake fare was, but yeah, in one of those situations I can see why they wouldn't allow changes despite what's going on. I can see that they'd offer a refund, but usually when buying mistake fares I'm not interested in the refund

VegasGambler

They aren't even saying that. They are saying fly or cancel. If he cancels, the ticket keeps all its value. If he is MVPG+, there isn't even a fee.

IMO AS is being totally reasonable here. I think most other airlines would not be as accommodating. A significant number of airlines would just cancel and refund it because it's an error fare.

_fx

If your friend was actually in danger, you could book them a ticket in Y departing today PVG to anywhere at nominal cost. But no, apparently this "situation" is serious enough to warrant 5 calls to AS, but not enough to downgrade from J.

RAD_PDX

HUCACACACA will eventually raise a red flag