nldogbert

Hi,

Would like to get some advise here for my situation. Early this year I had quite a number of miles expiring so I booked 2 seats in Biz with Air Serbia to Belgrade for travel 2 weeks ago. Due to sudden illness, my travel companion could not travel, so I tired to change the dates which was ok since I was >24 hrs to my departure.
My problem is that I am not able to find 2 biz seats for all the different dates I tried. I had a nice supervisor have the tickets changed to open status. However my ticket is valid till Feb, and trying all possibilities until that time, there are no 2 biz J seats open with Air Serbia. Since I am
- not able to redeposit the miles (I am told if I do that, they expire immediately)
- routing cannot be changed

What are my possibilities here? I have been calling close to daily to check availability for 2, but sadly nothing is being released for 2 until Feb (mainly weekends travel dates).

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

MaxVO

You didn't specify which route. Is that an intra-Europe flight? If so, I would first check if it even has a business class. I discovered that although EY prices out and sells 2 cabins, many flights are actually single cabin.
In any case, it may be preferable to take coach than waste the tix.

nldogbert

Sorry, assumed that it'll be seen as an intra-EU flight since it was Air Serbia (yes, I know they fly to JFK), but it's AMS-BEG operated by an A319.

I really feel that I am hitting a wall with this here from availability point of view as no 2x J redemption is available for all my possible weekend.

MaxVO

Looks like your flight has only row 1 designated as business, and it's only a 2:15hr flight. I would request a voluntary downgrade and pick whatever date is still available in coach. If availability in business should open up later, you can always request a free upgrade (as it's already paid for in the original purchase).

nldogbert

Thanks for the idea. Called and luckily they were ok with it and even proposed to just keep it as a reservation and check frequently before departure if they will release another redemption seat. So far I am glad that they are understanding. Though a bit irritated that took me 5-6 different calls because only supervisors are allowed to authorize this and they are not easy to come by. Furthermore I also need to be connected back to the same call center that initially helped me with this....

Cheers!

DatBoi

Doesn't Air Serbia have a real J class on their a319's?

flyingislove

An extra note: for anyone trying to book SAA with Etihad, the surcharges charged are often absurd. For the flight from JNB-MPM, it costs almost as much in taxes an fees as buying a ticket outright! Best to book UA/VS.

brsm

Not anymore. Just a blocked middle seat, and better food.

DatBoi

Not anymore? Did they downgrade their seats?

brsm

Yes, the whole plane is refitted with new Recaro seats (3+3 throughout) now and they just block the middle seat if you buy the business. So only the flight to New York has a proper business class nowadays.

DatBoi

Well there goes their USP

jiaogulan

Just had an excellent experience making a partner award booking for a ticket on Virgin Australia. DPS-SYD-AKL one way in economy.

Called the US call center, and was transferred to their Serbian call center. I had not even checked availability on the flights before calling, but after giving her my origin, destination and dates, the agent quickly figured out there were seats open and processed the ticket within 15 minutes or so.

Taxes on the ticket were $40 USD.

Posting this as I've heard countless horror stories about the process, but this one couldn't have been easier.

leroy11

Has anyone had any luck using EY Guest points for flights on Garuda? I called twice today trying to book seats on GA SYD-DPS on a flight where Delta showed multiple seats as did NH but EY had access to none.

Recondite

Seat availability is not always the same, but I'd try running a few times; partner awards usually come down to whom you are (un)lucky enough to speak to. Manchester call center is reportedly excellent.

schoppy

In 2015 I've booked 2 Seats in J CGK-TJQ-CGK-DPS.for flights in 2016. A painfull process on the phone but in the end it worked well. In my case they had the same availabilty as Delta showed. You should call to UK.

Etihad Call Center Germany : what a mess...good luck !