[PREM FARE GONE] AF Business Class LAX - LHR $1515
#752
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 7,380
#753
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Loud, dark, warm, lots of ethernet cables, and in some rack space.
Programs: AA:EXP
Posts: 369
#754
They should cover the entire stay. Your 95% figure is awfully skewed; no way 95% of the people booking on any airline website know anything about fares or fare rules
Goodwill gestures are absolutely necessary because this airline is saying that they can randomly decide to cancel tickets after issuance. When we make errors, we have to pay at least $200. Why don't they get held to at least the same standard? And guess what? I'll be letting AirFrance know that I'll be directing my team's travel never be booked on them again for lack of reliability.
Finally, no - negotiating for J without downgrade compensation is not fair. These tickets were booked in F class. It befuddles me how you all think an airline charging an obscene $16K for a ticket is ok - as long as the amount is egregious - but if it starts to seem too low to any such apologists out there given some random line in the sand they draw - then we must all be clairvoyants upon booking.
Goodwill gestures are absolutely necessary because this airline is saying that they can randomly decide to cancel tickets after issuance. When we make errors, we have to pay at least $200. Why don't they get held to at least the same standard? And guess what? I'll be letting AirFrance know that I'll be directing my team's travel never be booked on them again for lack of reliability.
Finally, no - negotiating for J without downgrade compensation is not fair. These tickets were booked in F class. It befuddles me how you all think an airline charging an obscene $16K for a ticket is ok - as long as the amount is egregious - but if it starts to seem too low to any such apologists out there given some random line in the sand they draw - then we must all be clairvoyants upon booking.
If you are saying that you 100% believed this fare was totally normal and there was no risk to cancellation as a result, then I think you may have a point as for "randomly cancelling", yet, AF was cancelling/notifying very quickly, definitely within 24-48 hours, so it's not like they kept us in limbo for a week or more. (And I find it hard to believe someone participating in this thread would have been one of the smaller number of people who had no idea this was a unique situation)
Lastly, why should they pay for your entire stay? What's fair is to make you whole. That means, if you now need to change your dates because you need to rebook flights, they should pay change fees or penalties for changing. If you need to cancel, they should pay any penalties. Most flights you can change with a fee. Most hotels will change dates with a penalty (or even for free if you ask nicely) especially if you just booked a couple days ago.
#755
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 3
How about for those of us that actually took over 80 hours for them to cancel the reservation and as of yet have not eve received an email or phone call directly from AF? Actually, when I looked after 24 hours, 8/9 seats where sold. After 48 hours everyone except my reservation was cancelled. After 72 hours, my reservation was still active. At this point I booked a train ticket to go to York, and 3 nights of hotel (1 in York and 2 in London) at the usual hotels I stay at. I did not go over board. Then few hours later the reservation stopped showing active. I had to call AF in Paris where they declined to do anything as I booked thru Expedia. They said I need to call them so they can call their AF Liaison. I have not been on the phone with Expedia for 3 1/2 hours and AF is hiding under DOT regulations on why they will cancel the ticket. Unfortunately they seem not to want to read or understand the full DOT regulation regarding Mistake Fares when it gets to having to pay for expenses. They told the agent that the best they can do was to refund the ticket fully. How generous of them! I pulled the policy and forward it to expedia. The manager at expedia read it and completely agrees and says it is very clear what the rule says. He is calling AF as I am typing this again to tell them what they must do. So do I believe they are handling it right? Absolutely not. I did not ask them to sell me a wrong fare. They shot themselves by publishing this fare and then hiding under DOT regulations. Now they just told the poor expedia agent that they need to contact Corporate Support in the US. They have no idea what they are doing. What should I do t force them to pay for my expenses? DOT complain?
#756
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Dia, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,178
DL charged my credit card on Dec 20. Both refunds appeared today, back dated to Dec 22nd. Much better than the AZ nonsense on the DUS-FLR tickets.
#757
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: VNY | BUR | LAX
Programs: AAdvantage | MileagePlus
Posts: 19,474
For starters, having the calls made by representatives who provide correct information - the flight which I was booked on was not canceled - and are able to go beyond merely reading an inaccurate prepared script.
#758
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: 🇸🇬 🇭🇰 🇫🇷
Programs: Many
Posts: 4,749
Have fun!
#759
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 7,380
#760
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 3,921
This was a fully flexible and refundable fare. We were free to make changes and cancel without penalty. While agreeing that some goodwill gesture is appropriate, I think this approach is flawed for this particular error fare.
#761
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 27,841
Not at all. In many European countries - DE & NL for example - paying by direct bank transfer [Sofort Überweisung; Ideal; etc] are favoured by many agents, meaning they are the cheapest means of payment
#762
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 27,841
To now make further non-refundable purchases therefore is either foolhardy or spiteful.
Happy Christmas though.
#763
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 27,841
Finally, no - negotiating for J without downgrade compensation is not fair. These tickets were booked in F class. It befuddles me how you all think an airline charging an obscene $16K for a ticket is ok - as long as the amount is egregious - but if it starts to seem too low to any such apologists out there given some random line in the sand they draw - then we must all be clairvoyants upon booking.
For the people who genuinely stumbled upon this fare - seeing that First was substantially cheaper than two "lower" classed - or for those who selected First in the booking tool because that is their usual class of travel - it would have been obvious that something was not quite right.
For everyone else - myself included - who piled in thanks to the blogs in the hope that it may be a Christmas miracle - sorry to break your bubble, but our "intelligence" at following fare alerts doesn't entitle us to "punish" the airline for their lesser intelligence.
If you feel so aggrieved at all this - fine, exact your revenge. It seems a petty and mean thing to do.
#764
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,808
Fair enough. But my original post was in response to people concerned about not getting their money back on their cc for 1-2 cycles.
#765
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: AMEX Platinum, Hyatt Diamond, RC/Marriot Platinum, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 388