Completely Unacceptable CO Booking Error
 

I was scheduled to fly CDG-JFK-CDG on AF, booked through CO using OnePass miles this Friday. I called to change my AF outbout flight to a later time, agent says ok, no problem, and emails me a new confirmation showing the new flights and everything is OK.

Then, today, I call AF to make seat assignments and they say I have no outbound reservation.

I call CO to figure out what is wrong, and they tell me that there is no reservation outbound either. Upon further research, the agent who changed the time of my flight failed to re-issue the ticket and thus my reservation was cancelled. Now, of course, there are no more reward seats on the AF flight that I need to take. CO told me that they have "requested" that AF release an award seat for me, but that this cannot be guaranteed and I have to check back in 24 hours. As someone who flys AF 2x per week, I give a very small chance that AF is this nice. I made very clear that this was 100% an error of Continental and that I expected this to be resolved, however they told me that all they can do is try and they cannot promise that theywill book a paid seat on this flight if AF will not release it.

To me, this seems totally absurd. I fly 5K miles per week on CO & AF combined, and have plat with both airlines. This is not a way to treat your best customers who spend hundreds of K / year with you. I fully would expect that Continental should buy me a ticket on this flight, as this booking error was fully theirs and theirs alone. I understand human error is unavoidable, but taking responsibility for the error is very important.

Anyone else every had problems like this ??
Any suggestions on what I might do ?

this is always a problem with AF, they unassigned,remove segments etc all the time. The agent is not at fault most of the time, as you can confirm everything, call AF select a seat, and then a day or two later they will remove the segment.
Never experienced it, I avoid AF, terrible seats UNLESS up in first

Yikes.

If AF won't get you for whatever reason do you have a backup plan for CO or another SkyTeam partner?

sorry to hear that...reasons like this are why I will be glad to be rid of KLM/AF.

Get a supervisor and insist they resolve it. They cannot make AF open space, but they can force you on a CO flight. If you're wiling to go EWR-CDG, see if they can do that for you.

Personally, I think this is 100% CO fault and not AF.
CO agent failed to follow the established re-booking procedure (regardless of how stupid the procedure is, they shoudl be trained to follow it) :mad:

Clearly, AF is not the best in the world, but as I live in Paris, not many options

CO told me I have a seat on the earlier flight, but as I cannot make this and need to take the last flight of hte day...not much scope for backup

If something happens over and over even after being confirmed, how exactly is it CO's fault?

CO screwed up. Ok, now lets find a solution.

Option 1
Wait to see if AF will give you a seat
Option 2
Take a direct continental flight
Option 3
Take a one-stop flight and connect in some other European city
Option 3.5
Take a NW/DL flight from CDG and one connect in the US
Option 4
Travel on the following day, repeat options 1-3.5

YMMV, I have found that when calling for flights, it is always best to have specific flights in mind. This prevents agents from being "helpful" and screwing up your reservation. It doesn't always work, but it can be helpful.

I am not sure how this works if you start your journey in Europe but from the US this is the procedure....

Does your confirmed ticket show your changes as being marked OK or NN or HK? This means that your ticket is valid for travel whether or not we (the airline) is holding a reservation for you. You are confirmed and must be treated as a passenger needing a seat, subject to a DBC/IBC being issued if you are not seated on the flight.

If your ticket shows the AF segment as being LL or WL, this means that you are not confirmed on the AF segment and will not be considered a passenger until the waitlist clears and the segment indicator will then change to OK, NN, or HK.

I think the problem is that CO got the space (HK) and then never reissued the ticket (no OK notation), so AF went in and revoked the space (which is customary for awards).

Well, I have never had this happen before and have booked many tickets on AF using CO miles. To be honest, maybe in the big picture its AF fault, they have stupid procedures. But for a customer, I follow procedure and pay booking fees and book in advance, so honestly, CO can follow the procedure to be sure my request is processed

I definitely have an earlier fight on AF, but the problem for me is that I cannot leave paris before 18h, and the only way from paris to NY after 18h is the direct AF flight.

How do I figure this out ?

I have the following email from CO confirming everything

Confirmation:
AB4xxx

Issue Date: February 06, 2009





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Traveler eTicket Number Frequent Flyer Seats
GOODMAN/ROBINGMR 0052178xxxxxxxx ---/43B


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLIGHT INFORMATION
Day, Date Flight Class Departure City and Time Arrival City and Time Aircraft Meal
Fri, 13FEB09 AF8 X PARIS/CDG
(CDG) 6:50PM NEW YORK/KENNEDY
(JFK) 9:05PM

Sun, 15FEB09 AF17 X NEW YORK/KENNEDY
(JFK) 5:55PM PARIS/CDG
(CDG) 7:25AM



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FARE INFORMATION

Fare Breakdown
Airfare: 0.00 USD
France Air Passenger Solidarity Tax: 5.30
U.S. Security Service Fee: 2.50
France Airport Tax: 23.00
U.S. Customs User Fee: 5.50
U.S. Immigration User Fee: 7.00
U.S. APHIS User Fee: 5.00
France Passenger Service Charge: 22.90
Per Person Total: 71.20
USD


eTicket Total: 71.20
USD

OnePass Account Debited:
YC76xxxx

Form of Payment:
VISA
Last Four Digits xxxx
OnePass Miles Debited/
Reward Used:
50,000/CS6M


The airfare you paid on this itinerary totals: 0.00 USD

The taxes you paid on this itinerary total: 71.20 USD

Reward Rules: Additional charges may apply for changes in addition to any fare rules listed.
ONE PAX RWD CS6M/NONEND;VALID CO/COEX/AF
All changes must be made prior to the departure date, or the ticket has no value.




Additional Charges: Fri., Feb. 6, 2009/VISA xxxxxxxxxxxxx was charged 35.00 USD for the following: Reward Booking Fee - 35.00 USD/35.00 USD per record/NON REF

I think if you have a confirmation email, especially if your CC was charged, then your reservation should be honored. If that means AF or CO has to cough up a revenue seat for it, then so be it. AF should give you a seat then work out who's fault it is and make that company pay for the revenue seat.

Earlier you said the agent did not reissue the ticket.



It appears from your email that your ticket was reissued, so you should have been fine. In this case it was not a CO error, rather an AF error, so a supv can contact AF and get the flight reinstated.

Well, apparently, they jsut changed the date in their system without reissuing to AF, I dont really understand it.