Hi there,

I have been reading this thread for months and finally have something to post.

Sorry for the long 1st post

I was a Delta GM for years and then suddenly stopped flying shortly after 9/11/2001 due to a job downsizing. I started flying again early last year and have flown well over 100K/year since about January 03.

Early last year I gave the robots at Delta two chances to keep my business as I was about to loose my gold medallion status. I asked for an extension of my expiring gold as they could see that I had over 10,000 miles in Jan and Half of Feb �03, of course I was denied. I asked for a comp silver and then let me earn my gold back. Denied!! From that date, I have only 500 miles on Delta.

United matched my Gold right before it expired and I did my 50K+ with them in 2003.
In July, I wanted a backup as I was flying to LAX and SNA a lot and Continental matched my UAL Gold instantly. I had over 40K with them in �03 and have over 25K with them this year already. The kept me a gold thru 2005 as their policy is that after July when they match someone, they give them a year and a half.

I like having the backup of a second carrier, although my 2004 plan, (I know most of you prob have one as well) was to go for Plat in CO and Silver in UA in 2005.

If you have to fly coach, UA is the best with the Econ Plus, but CO is the best when you get free upgrades. I think of it like gambling.

Up until last week I loved CO. The planes are clean and about half a time I get upgraded when I travel to the west coast from my home base in MCO. The rest of the time the city ticket office gets me aisle emergency exit row.

Here is what really tweaked me and I have yet to get resolved.
I had booked online several different itineraries the week prior to booking and let them all expire as I was trying to dcide on a DL/El-Al codeshare or the CO flights. When I first made the reservation it was in mostly K and B classes, but when I went to look at it it has switched mostly everything to H. See below.

Route - Fare
5/31/04
MCO-EWR H
EWR-TLV H

6/9/04
TLV-EWR H
EWR-IAH H
IAT-SAT X

6/14/04
SAT-IAH X
IAH-MCO H

Price $1273

The price did not change, but the fare class went up.
In seeing this, I bought the ticket at the $1273 price. It was the final thing that made me buy the ticket.

I thought that this was great because now I could use miles to upgrade w/o having to pay $200 each way. Not to mention the huge EQM bonus. I even called my local ticket office and they said it was a good deal and for me to book it.

However, I then got an email saying that there was a ticket issuance delay and that there would be a delay.

Now they rebooked me back down to K class.
They eventually sent me a final confirmation email and everything was back down to K class.
When I called to ask why I was sent back down to H class they said that if I wanted to fly in H class that I would have to pay for the fare at H class prices ($1557 price vs $1273 for K) .

I have proof both in email and printouts that show that what I paid for was H class including the link that says �complete this purchase now� (prior to purchase) and the �your purchase is confirmed� printout after purchase, with the H fares. I am awaiting a call from a supervisor to resolve this.

They say that this is a known problem. I am asking the group. What would you do if you were me? I defiantly want to fly in H class. Should I fight the extra $300 on principle?

Jason
.

First, welcome to FT!

Last year I had a similar problem on a domestic itinerary. It priced out as a B fare on the CO.com web site but they decided to ticket it as a deeply discounted one. It sounds like the fare category listed was a large part of your decision to purchase. I suggest you call Continental and ask them to fix the problem. If you were using the CO.com web site then make sure to call the CO.com support line. You should be polite but insistent as it will likely take some amount of convincing. They obviously have a problem with their system, but that should not be your problem.

This kind of stuff happens on their website all the time. I honestly don't think it's deliberate. I just think their web folks are inept (yes, they're that bad).

You may also have luck getting your CTO to change it for you based on the printouts.

This same exact thing happened to me recently...

I booked a B fare and ticketed it, but then after I rec'd a confirmation e-mail, I got another e-mail saying there was a ticketing delay. After 1st call to CO web support, I check my itnerary online, and it showed all S class!

I called back, and they were able to see where the website had shown me the inproper class, but said that they would honor what the web said, and re-booked me in B at the same price.

Just keep after 'em and they should book you in the class that the web showed...


K

No dice.

They held to their guns and absolutely would not give me the H class ticket for the "K class price" they quoted me. They insisted that it was a fare mismatch and that they choose the lower price point.

The told me that if I wanted the H class ticket that I would have to pay the $269 difference between the two classes.

The customer service rep was very apologetic, but the Co.com rep was a real jerk to me.

Way too much time lost over such a small amount.

I plan to send a letter to Kellner but I do not exect anything.

On the bright side I just booked my next trip on UAL.


J

Had the same thing happen to me. CO.COM screwed up a booking, and CO re-booked in a lower fare class. So far, no satisfaction.

In Jan. I tried to book a trip to Europe for summer on CO, I was told that there was not a single seat on Standard reward to anywhere in Europe on any day during summer, eventhough at that time I was gold elite. In fact there were no seats to Rome even for November. This looks like a scam and the only seats available was on easy pass. I was so frustrated that I complained to one pass who advised me to book easy pass. Even to Hawaii it is very difficult. Finally I got 4 seats for Hawaii around spring break (return to IAH via LAX), outbound was non stop. Absolutely CO has become worse every year.

I sent an email into CO HQ.
Got a nice response.

The brass was very apologetic and was very helpful.

It looks like they are going to send me a refund (co certificate) for the extra $$ and will put me back into H class.

Way too much effort and time to do this, but worth it in the end.

Thanks to all for their suggestions.

Jason

jason, I dont wish to dampen your spirits BUT if you are NOT already CONFIRMED in BF for your trips DO NOT COUNT ON IT even if you purchased a "Y" fare. I just did the same and my flight in 2 weeks is already way oversold. CO has really cheap BF fares that orginate in TLV so they arent giving anything away for nothing. My outbound from EWR I learned has all of 2 Free BF seats filled and 2 were upgraded. Now theres no way to know if those 4 people got it by paying with double miles or not. sorry for the bad news.
In GENERAL if at the time you're buying the tkt they cant confirm you in BF with an up then buy the cheapest possible tkt you can since its NOT gonna happen (the up) so you should save the bucks. Many Arabs use CO since they dont want to fly on ElAl as wellas Israeli's who want to fly on Fri night/Sat which ElAl doesnt so CO fills its flights up to TLV almost all the time, even if its not a Fri/Sat flight.

Just a quick update.

I finally got with someone in corporate who really turned things around.
Larry Kellner responded to my email the same day and got me in touch with the right person who could fix things.

I faxed into HQ all of the paperwork I said I had and they swept into action.

I am now very happy with how CO eventually responded!!!
I GUESS IT PAYS TO BE NICE.

So far the following has happened...

Everything is back into H class.
Electronic certificate refund for extra $269 amount charged to my cc. = Fare back to $1286

On their own and without suggesting, CO upgraded me on all flights except EWR-TLV AND TLV-EWR, including domestic.

EWR-TLV has since cleared in BF. We will see on the return, but I was more concerned about the outbound due to my schedule.

Manager from CO.com called me to apologize (on a Saturday).
He said that he was really sorry for the problems and steps were in place to help rectify this problem going forward. Looks like some people had to write reports on what happened and why they would not fix it before it got to the top. He also offered up a few nice perks as a goodwill gesture.

I really want to thank everyone on the board who posted with comments and suggestions.

Especially xyzzy.


Thanks again...
Jason

A couple hours ago I bought a TLV-EWR-PBI-EWR-TLV ticket for my fiancee to attend her friend's wedding in Florida..

I've been following the fares for a while, and TLV-PBI/FLL/MIA has been pricing at at least $1100 on all carriers for the dates she wants. TLV-EWR alone was at least $900. Last night I noticed that TLV-EWR was $612 in T class for the exact dates she wants.

I played around and found a ticket TLV-EWR-PBI for $845, which is a great price for early April--in V class, too. Yes, I could have done TLV-EWR for $612 + a separate NYC-FLL ticket for $150 on AA or FL, but for the sake of having a single ticket and getting full miles, it seems well-worth pricing it all-in-one.

I reserved it, and called her this morning to ask if she wanted it or not. She said go, so I pulled the trigger and "completed the purchase." But the e-mail I got was the "Ticket Issuance Delay" e-mail rather than a confirmation e-mail.

From reading this thread, it sounds like there's a decent chance we'll get to keep the ticket, but get bumped down to a lower fare class, which sucks, because the miles are going to NW and 50% EQMs will be a big hit on this long itin. Or worse, we'll have to pay more to keep the ticket altogether.

I just did some more searching on continental.com, and I can still get the $845 price for the same itinerary in V class. So I've printed that to show what I was buying in case there's a problem later.

I also just discovered that $845 in V only comes up when searching by schedule. Searching by price pulls up $981 for the same itin, with V on TLV-EWR-PBI, and a combination of I and T on PBI-EWR and EWR-TLV.

So clearly there is some sort of glitch in the way their website was/is pricing this.

Is there anything else I should do to protect the $845 ticket in V class other than printing the "Review Ticket Details" page that shows the class and price?

Should I call web support now, or wait for them to contact me?

I'd call them. Why wait? Let us know what happens!

So I called, and it was as expected.

I offered the confirmation number and CO.com support immediately asked me what price I was quoted. I told the guy, and he quickly said the problem was that the fare was now $1109 instead of the $854 I was quoted (above $845 is a typo of mine--it was $854). Then he put me on hold for a very long time.

Eventually the guy came back and said he can issue it at $854, but he'd need my credit card again. Before giving him my digits, I asked what the fare class would be, and he said T and I. I asked about the V fares I thought I'd bought (of which I have a printout to prove). He put me on hold for a while longer, and came back saying that the V fares were $1109 and the $854 price was for T and I, and I could not have V for $854. I asked if he could issue the V at $1109, then refund the difference afterwards, but he said there's no way to do that. Even though I was quoted $854 for V fares I have to choose either the T/I fares for $854 or the V fares for $1109. He put me on hold again, and came back and said the rate desk wouldn't let him do it. I explained why it was important (6700 EQMs!), but he was adamant. Because I didn't have time to bicker further, I asked if they can just hold it so I can consult my fiancee in the morning (it's the middle of the night right now in Israel). He said that's fine.

I think I may just call back tomorrow and have them issue the ticket at $854 so at least we have the ticket. Then I'll try to fax in the documentation showing that I bought V fares (good thing I printed it!). I feel like if I'm persistent enough, I should be able to prevail, since it doesn't really cost them anything more to give me V rather than T/I (the only difference is in the EQMs NW awards, which aren't even redeemable for anything). I guess the question is how much time and effort 6700 EQMs are worth to me. I'll have to talk to my fiancee to see what she thinks, since it's her elite status that's in jeopardy.

Such a pain.

A flash from the past.

What is it about TLV.

Advise for a positive outcome here.

1) document everything.
2) Be nice to the people one the phone, I can assure you that if you escalate this, they will have to write a report about it. The last thing you need is for them to be able to say that you were rude and condescending.
3) book the ticket so at least you have a seat. You can always change the fare class later.
4) did I say "be nice"

At the end, I got my extra $$$ back and it worked out well. If you have problems, either I or xyzzy (sorry to speak for you) can pm you Larry Kellners email.

I would not have solved this without xyzzy's advise.

Jason

Unfortunately, this is a common problem THEY ARE TRYING TO FIX. Most of the time when there is a fare-mismatch MOST people want that lower fare unless you are an elite and want that class of service for obviuos reasons.
The way to handle this is to do what you have done above. Always search by schedule with price and make copies. I usually understand the elite's problem and will try, if I can, to make it work. Absolutely be nice and follow the above. NICE NICE and DOUBLE NICE!!