My apologies for the length of this request. I recently used 40k OnePass miles (most of which were Membership Rewards miles transferred specifically for this purpose) for the following itinerary:

28JAN00 HP2027E ATL PHX
28JAN00 HP2788E PHX PDX
01FEB00 HP2544E PDX PHX
01FEB00 HP 612E PHX ATL

Unfortunately (as I'll explain) here are the flights I actually was able to travel on:

28JAN00 CO1473A ATL IAH
28JAN00 CO1043A IAH PDX
01FEB00 NW 286F PDX DTW
01FEB00 NW 812F DTW ATL

Here's the deal. I booked the flights on HP to ensure that I'd avoid any airports that might have weather-related problems, and I also wanted to be on flights which offered movies. Although I have more miles on NW than any other airline and could've easily used them instead, I most of all wanted to NOT be on NW. You get better service in Economy on other airlines when travelling across the country. NW doesn't even offer music on long flights, whereas DL and UA offer free headseats on short (<2 hour) flights. And of course, we know how much fun going to ultra-mod DTW is in good weather, much less when it's snowing...

I arrived in plenty of time for my outbound HP flight, walked all the way to their counter (quite a hike) and stood in the First line as the agent spent 10 minutes with one customer. Finally I made my way forward and the agent pulled up my record. Only problem was, CO had not actually issued an ETKT on HP, only a reservation. The HP agent claimed to not have a phone to call the CO counter, so I was forced to walk half a mile (literally) back to the CO counter. At that point the CO agent pulled up the record and started complaining that he couldn't do anything with it since it was on HP. After talking with co-workers, he finally picked up the phone to call their service center to determine how to handle this. After a long hold time, he was eventually told to call OnePass instead. At this point I realized that the chance of my getting on the HP flight at all would be all but impossible. As the clock passed the 10-minute window and he was still on the phone, I took the long hike down to the HP counter to retrieve my bags and return to CO again.

He was of course still on the phone, now working on getting me booked on the next CO flight 1.5hrs later. So I had raced in traffic to catch the early flight only to learn that I'd be waiting instead. Unfortunately, as I discovered upon checking their flight schedule, I was about to be on two MD-80's. Not only do I not enjoy being on those planes for long flights, but it defeated my plan of being on a flight with any entertainment. It also meant I was hungry since I wouldn't be getting breakfast in flight. But at least I'd only be getting to PDX an hour later and would still be up front. The rest of the day pretty much went as planned; disappointing but uneventful.

Yesterday arrives, and I'm back at the airport bright and early for my return, this time with a printed ETKT to avoid problems. Well almost. As the HP agent checks me in, she nonchalantly notes that my itinerary has changed. No big deal, she says, I'll just be on a different flight from PHX to ATL: one that just happens to require a 3.5 hr layover instead! I asked why they didn't call me to indicate this, and she said she really didn't know. Upon further investigation, it seems that they had no contact number for me. Not a single one. Now normally I might think this was somehow possible, but I have the printout of the CO record locator which clearly lists three contact numbers. Only problem was, as I later learned, CO did not pass that information to HP like a travel agent would. Nevertheless, we began the rebooking process again. This time the option was to take a NW flight leaving in 20 minutes or wait 5hrs for a CO flight. Unfortunately I made the wrong choice in somehow thinking it ever makes sense to fly NW. So I walked down to NW, where they informed me they couldn't do anything with the CO ETKT without it being reissued. Back to HP again, where the agent struggled and finally ended up handwriting a ticket. Back to NW where I was ticketed and everything sounded great. As I walked away I noticed I was booked in Y. It turns out that's how the HP agent had written the ticket. So we had to go through the process again with NW telling me they had no room in F. Eventually they conceded that I might be able to standby for the one available seat, and I agreed but indicated I'd be back if it wasn't available.

Sure enough they gave me the seat and we were off. Yes, here I was on an A320, yet NW is too cheap to even offer inflight music, much less a movie. We were then served ice-cold quiche and cold bagels. Interestingly enough, I (in 2D) was the first to complain about the food. The FA then polled the 6 people he had already served and learned that they all had cold food as well. I figured they must be regular NW flyers who don't expect any better. The guy next to me requested a sandwich from coach since they were actually hot (true). The FA apologized and started heating up more food, but it was a very dissatisfying situation. He later said he thought there must be a problem with the oven since the second batch was no better. Even the coffee was lukewarm. Best of all, we had an almost unlimited supply of turbulence, which was what I had actively sought to eliminate by flying through PHX. This was also one of those annoying FA's that would make frequent announcements about where we were passing over, even though nearly all of our cabin was asleep and had the right shades closed to block the view he kept referring to. He added insult to injury by forcing everyone to shake his hand at the end of the flight as he thanked us for our business.

One fact I haven't mentioned is that I'm a vegetarian and had meals reserved on my HP flights. Naturally this meant that I was unable to have the veg meals on the flights I was actually on since they could not be requested at that point. At least CO usually has some available options you can work with, whereas NW served a chicken sandwich with no possibility of getting anything else.

So instead of having a comforting and relaxing journey with movies and music, I had excess stress, two mediocre flights and two bad ones. After the outbound CO flights, I was planning to request that 10k miles be put back in my OnePass account, but of course it went downhill from there. The whole experience was so disappointing (and so clearly CO's error) that I'm wondering if asking for a $300 voucher would be better.

Anyone have suggestions on what a fair request would be and the best method to obtain it? I've been extremely pleased with CO recently and hate to complain, but this was a highly unacceptable experience in my book. Thanks much for your thoughts.

IMHO you should have all of your award points returned, as you didn't get what you paid for.

In the past, CO would have done this without thinking. Alas, they probably will not now.

The prevailing thinking at CO has turned from "you deserve the best we can do" to "we got your stinkin' butt there, what's the problem".

Write to customer care, do not indicate what you think compensation should be, other than saying that if you had paid for the tickets, you would dispute the charge and ask for a refund, but since you used miles, you have to rely on their good judgement as to how many miles the trip and service was actually worth.

Sorry to ramble...it's a sore point.

[This message has been edited by NJDavid (edited 02-02-2000).]

This is slighly OT, but it relates to the problem with ETKT on award travel. ETKT on award travel can be trouble.

I had a reservation on CO for my family (four of us). It was complex due to the fact that we weren't all able to get FC reservations on all segments due to yield management not yet releasing the FC seats (we all ended up with FC for all segments).

I had booked very carefully (I have earned about 3 million miles on all airlines combined, and I always do all my own reservations), and it was set for "time of flight" ticketing.

I was, by coincidence, at the airport two days earlier, and I decided to avoid any last minute hassles by getting the ETKT converted to a paper ticket. Good thing! Over the next two hours (it was a slow time, so the entire two hours was "working" with no "waiting"):

1. I was advised that it was, indeed, set for time of flight ticketing. However, it had been set up by OnePass as a reservation, and didn't have the coding necessary for actual ticketing.

2. Had to leave the counter, go to the telephone, and find a supervisor in reservations (OnePass was closed) who knew how to make it available for ticketing.

3. Went back to the counter. On the return trip we had FC on one segment, Y on the second (waiting list for FC), all FC on the outbound. I was told the system won't issue that ticket. Instead, the ticket needs to have a single class of service in each direction, and then the boarding pass can be for the correct class. So the ticket would show F on the outbound, Y on the return. She issues the ticket and, because I am careful, I ask for a paper copy of the reservation to show that the F has been confirmed for one of the two segments. What does it show? She *cancelled* the F seats, and substituted Y seats. (We can skip the dialogue when I asked her to print the history, showing that we had the F reservation at one time, which she refused to do.) The problem is that even though there are F seats on the flight (luckily), due to yield management, the ones eligible for award travel had disappeared.

4. Back to the telephone to talk to a supervisor in reservations. She looks at the history, understands the mistake by the airport ticket counter, and reinstates the FC reservation on that segment.

5. Back to the counter. Get the tickets and the copy of the reservation record showing confirmed FC on most segments.

When you write to CO, etc., about the flights and the schedule changes and out of the way places, above all do NOT berate them or say anything about the "lack" of something, except maybe the food. If you can make your request very factual with no editorializing, you will probably be compensated in soem way. As NJDAVID said, do not be specific about compensation, but talk about "if you had paid for the ticket", etc. You will probably get the miles returned to your account.

One piece of advice I got from another thread in FlyerTalk is to write the complaint letter like you're writing your mother.

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The only difference between ordinary service and extraordinary service is a little EXTRA.

-- Bob

I agree with NJDavid: I think you deserve full compensation. I also agree with the others on how to phrase the letter. Go for it!

Everyone, thanks for all the great advice! (and thanks for listening to me vent!)

carl -

i have been gold elite on CO for the last 2 years. anyway, i also agree with all of the advice given. i know it's hard - but i would stick to the facts as much as possible (emplasize the part about having to wait around for hrs., etc.). towards the end of the letter , i would write 1-2 sentences re: you like CO, and appreciate their new fleet (i.e. 777's). they love that stuff - as Bethune is really proud of it.
also - i would remind them (tactfully) towards the end of your letter of your elite status somehow. MAKE SURE ONE PASS # IS INDICATED TOWARDS THE END OF THE LETTER AS WELL - this may put a "hint" out to Customer care.

Good Luck - keep us posted.