HELP: Continental refuse to issue confirmed reservation
 

Hi guys,

I’m wondering if you can assist. I booked a one-way award using my Onepass Miles.I got the confirmation # stating the needed miles and the Tax price.
The same information I received later via eMail too. However until today the ticket was not issued so I called Continental Onepass in order to know what exactly is going on.

I was told that they might issue the ticket but only for a higher Miles amount, since apparently the system had an issue and calculated the miles wrong.

My question now is; if they confirmed the booking including the miles amount via eMail aren’t they obliged to issue the ticket? How could I know that the miles they were asking for wasn’t correct?

Thank you for any feedback,

If you can tell us the routing and the miles they charged you (and how much more, if any, they mentioned you'd have to pay), we might be able to help

No, they are not. Until the ticket is issued you have no contract. Even after the ticket is issued it is debatable.

I'm willing to bet you did anyways based on the timing of this post and some deals that have been circulating recently but that doesn't really matter. It wasn't issued and you have no claim. Move on and hope to get the next one.
I'm willing to bet the difference is roughly 50K points.

Oh I am so looking forward to the antiquated system of non-instant ticketing. After this and trainings simulators, I wonder in how many other areas this airline is going to regress in its processes.

OP, don't be dissuaded by the last post - tell us your routing, original / new points charged, the time difference between when you got your res # and when you called in after noticing it wasn't ticketed, etc. CO doesn't like to admit fault, but you can get them to own up to it with diligence.

I'm pretty sure the OP knows that CO got wise to the 'discrepency' that s/he was aware of -- when they booked said tkt!;)

I have very little doubt that CO would honor the ticket if they had issued it. They have pretty consistently in the past. But when a mistake fare is reserved but not issued they haven't and they have no obligation to. Nor would I expect them to. Having a ticket and having a reservation are two different things; always have been.

Maybe I'm wrong and maybe this isn't the mistake deal that I believe it is. But the timing and the OP's description of the problem suggest that it is.

I booked a flight FRA-DKR Saver Business Class for 25K dated 06/15/2011.
Since it was my first Onepass award I haven't realized that the ticket is not issued instantly. I got the eMail confirmation but have not realized that ticket is not issued.

I called the same day to Onepass asking for the LH reference and got the same. I was and still am able to view the reservation on LH webpage and to select seats.

So actually everything was fine for me and I haven't realized that no ticket was issued.

On June 19/2011 I've booked another flight, this time a one way trip AGP-FRA and got two eMails from Continental. The first one as a purchase confirmation and the second one with the eTicket.

At that time I realized that the miles for the 1st booked flight had not been deducted form my account.

That's when I contacted Onepass again and asked why the miles haven’t been debited and why I haven’t received any eTicket so far. I then got the information that apparently a system issue happened and I need to pay 45K miles and not the 25K, only if I agree I would get the ticket issued.

No one from Onepass ever contacted me informing that my ticket won't be issued since they had an issue. So in my point o view I got a purchase confirmation from Continental where the price for the Taxes and the need miles where shown, but they refuse now to issue the ticket as there was a system issue. It's not my fault that they had any issue and how should I know that there was an issue? Also I haven’t received any information neither via eMail or phone about what happened.....

:o So it isn't the fare I thought it was. Sorry. :o

Still, all you got was a reservation, not a purchase. You can still see the seats on LH because the reservation still exists. The ticket was not issued and you aren't entitled to get it at that price. You can call until you are blue in the face but odds of it going through are pretty slim.

Like I said, CO is pretty good about honoring errors when the ticket is issued. They're less flexible when the ticket isn't issued, just like most other carriers.

It is not your fault but that doesn't mean they have to honor it.

ETA: Given the date of the initial booking I thought it might have been confusion with respect to the changing of the award chart. The pricing doesn't make much sense in that context either so I don't know why it would've priced that way. But the 25K number was definitely not the right price.

@ sbm12, what kind of fare were you talking about? Was there any special fare or is this issue already known?

I have not seen any similar posts around here.

As you know, 6/15/11 was the first day that One-Way reward availability was offered on CO. So, if you had checked the award chart, it clearly states that the reward you booked required 45K miles! Why the system 'allowed' you to reserve it for 25K is unexplainable, but clearly CO has the ability to re-check the 'pricing' & caught the mis-pricing. I agree that the only way you would have seen this problem is the lack of the confirmed itinerary on your CO.com account. The fact that LH has a record of your 'reservation' -- is a separate step in the process, as that is an 'agreement' b/w CO & LH. I assume that your 2nd reward tkt priced correctly, in terms of miles, so it was ticketed promptly.

There are many incidences reported where things happened to confirmed itineraries & no notification is sent, & the only way to be aware of it, is to check the itinerary on CO.com.!:eek:

Not sure your awareness comment is appropriate since the OP not only checked online but CALLED to check on the itinerary and was never told that a ticket wasn't issued.

I would ask to speak with a Supervisor about the issue, but expect the 45K 'price' to hold. You could send in a complaint letter to customer relations and maybe they will throw 5 or 10K your way as an apology.

Did UA start instantly issuing tickets? I would swear that I still get two different e-mails, often a few minutes apart (which is just like CO).

No, it's been instant for as long as I can remember - one ticket / email only.

Yup. Only one email with e-ticket and PNR info.

Yep! I've always hated the 2 email, wait and see attitude of CO. I want one email (not 2 clogging my inbox) that has everything, kinda ridiculous if you ask me.