jason8612

My ticket was downgraded. Time to email them and start the refund process.

jms_uk

Keep in mind that Alitalia has no staff whatsoever in DUS.

Handling agent does the check-in and is not empowered to do anything else.

Ticketing is done also by handling agents [who are there on behalf of Air Berlin] by calling a general AZ customer line in Germany.

If you see that you've been downgraded, check-in agent will see that as TNO [ticket not open] and won't be able to do anything. AZ call centre [in Albania] will only offer the transport in Economy or a cancellation/refund [they are aware of the 8-9 July issue].

This all from yesterday morning's experience in DUS while to trying to check-in.

ottorockit

Also got true today, refund will me made after 14 days.

RTW1

Having the opportunity to fly as soon as possible was probably what did the trick for me.... no problem also flying the return in J.

A bit of a lazy crew on the way back and not that much fun having to do an Air Berlin economy flight plus late drive home to AMS but still a great bargain for a short trip to Japan and to earn some miles as well :-).

irishguy28

Glad to hear it! I was beginning to think that you had been/would be downgraded.

Please let us know if your mileage posts as expected (which Skyteam/EAP programme are you posting the miles to?)

You flew AB in Y to DUS? None of the itineraries I saw had anything other than Alitalia J to DUS...did you connect via MXP/LIN?

RTW1

The miles from the outbound (for J) have been posted to KL/FB. Not that I'm using FB much but it might come in handy for a future award. I guess I was very fortunate with my timing, did OLCI as soon as I could and they didn't touch my tickets at all (Travelgenio was the OTA, never heard from them either).

Yep, AB in Y for FCO-DUS.... the only option available without having an overnight in FCO, something I didn't care for since that would cost me another vacation day.

Culture Guru

Fantastic - hats off to you ^

Hanoia

Hi, first post here. Have read the whole thread. Just wanted to ask everyone's opinion on this.
Booked 2 tickets through Omegaflightstore for December. LHR-FCO-NRT with AZ in J class. Tickets confirmed in business class with Omega. I can sign in to look at flight on Alitalia site but no mention of which seat class.
Also this message shows up: flow.message.retrieveBookingPaymentUnknownFailure. message

Heard nothing from airline or Omega about downgrades but feel like it's only a matter of time.

Is it a lost cause or should I just keep quiet and wait? We don't want to turn up at the airport and have downgrade forced upon us.
Opinions of the experienced greatly appreciated!

RTW1

Use the Saudi airlines website to look at your ticket and booking class will be shown on that.... but reading that tickets with departures a few days after booking were already downgraded or cancelled I wouldn't hold out much hope.

irishguy28

But bear in mind that the e-ticket number you have is the one that you originally booked, and Alitalia may have, in the meantime, re-issued the ticket and not communicated the new e-ticket number.

If, on the Saudia website, the status of the sectors is something like "Void" or "Exch/Reissued", then the e-ticket number you have is no longer valid, and whatever class it states on that e-ticket is of no relevance.

If you can see your booking on the Alitalia website, try to find the e-ticket number there [as it may have been changed from the one that was communicated to you by your OTA], and then look that one up on Saudia.

(From the last Alitalia "sale" in December, I can still look up all of my cancelled and refunded tickets on the Saudia website using the original e-ticket numbers. In each case, Alitalia took control of those bookings and exchanged/reissued the tickets, though I was never informed of what those new e-ticket numbers were. It was also not possible to find the new e-ticket numbers via the Alitalia website, though the "new" tickets were all in economy and had a number of other changes in dates/times, they weren't simple rebookings of the existing flights in the original ticket.

for my ticket in the current "sale", Saudia shows the e-ticket as "void". The e-ticket has been refunded - or, rather, the pending charge that the OTA made for my ticket dropped off without ever properly hitting my credit card account. No refund necessary!).

ottorockit

My ticket showed on saudi website als "open" in J, but when I loggen in to the Alitalia website I saw the downgrade in when selecting seats.

Try to select seats, then you find out. Good Luck!

irishguy28

Depending on how the ticket was booked, it may not be possible to select seats on the Alitalia website, or by the other workaround that was used above (the Air France website, which would require an Amadeus PNR rather than the Sabre PNR that Alitalia and some TAs use).

For OTA bookings made directly in Sabre, you will see minimal information about the ticket on the AZ website, and have no way of selecting seats prior to OLCI (unless you ring up and ask for seat selection - or ask at an Alitalia ticket desk when passing through the arirport - neither of which I would not advise in the present case).