[PREM FARE GONE] Mad-scl biz $280 return
Jun 19, 2022, 11:55 pm
#736
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 15
1. Called Priceline (again) and the agent said, Latam canceled one leg (LIM-SCL) but both the MAD-SCL and SCL-MAD are still confirmed. But because Latam made changes to the booking directly, Priceline cannot make any more changes. He asked me to call the airline (Latam).
2. I called Latam - the agent told me that based on the notes, Iberia asked them to cancel the flights, and in my booking, all flights are canceled (all 3 legs). But since I booked it on Priceline, I need to call the agent (Priceline) to ask them for the next options, cause he didnt have control over my reservation. I told him Priceline told me to call the airline because the airline made changes to my booking directly hence Priceline did not have anymore control over my reservation. And then he went on ranting for a few minutes about how the travel agents will just say anything to not provide the service to their customer.. bla bla bla.. it's not my fault but it's the travel agent... bla bla bla, lol.
3. I called IB - and IB said my booking is confirmed and nothing changed, and because I booked it with a travel agent, so I should call them if I need any other services
He was able to re-read all the legs in my itinerary to me.
Maybe that's how they get back at us - make us go round in circles calling all parties and no one is able to do anything about our (probably soon to be canceled) flights lol...
2. I called Latam - the agent told me that based on the notes, Iberia asked them to cancel the flights, and in my booking, all flights are canceled (all 3 legs). But since I booked it on Priceline, I need to call the agent (Priceline) to ask them for the next options, cause he didnt have control over my reservation. I told him Priceline told me to call the airline because the airline made changes to my booking directly hence Priceline did not have anymore control over my reservation. And then he went on ranting for a few minutes about how the travel agents will just say anything to not provide the service to their customer.. bla bla bla.. it's not my fault but it's the travel agent... bla bla bla, lol.
3. I called IB - and IB said my booking is confirmed and nothing changed, and because I booked it with a travel agent, so I should call them if I need any other services
He was able to re-read all the legs in my itinerary to me.Maybe that's how they get back at us - make us go round in circles calling all parties and no one is able to do anything about our (probably soon to be canceled) flights lol...
Jun 20, 2022, 12:16 am
#737
Join Date: May 2012
Location: MCI
Posts: 165
Interesting! I spoke with Priceline (took three calls where the first two were disconnected after being on with the rep for about 45 minutes). I'm on LAN 650 from SCL to LIM (the other transatlantic flights are on Iberia) in October. The departure schedule changed in the last few days from 10:30am to 9:15am - this is why the LAN flight is erroring out according to PL. Priceline is telling me that LAN will be adjusting the reservation to account for this schedule change. Is anyone else seeing a similar scenario where the LAN schedule is now different from what you purchased this past Wednesday?
On Iberia I only see my iberia operated mad-scl and my iberia marketed lim-mad no sign of my lan operated and marketed scl-lim. Same on finnair, RJ, QR etc...
Like sfosuw my finnair email shows all 3 legs intact and ok.
No PL email yet., lan stock, and am now getting the f off message on lan's site.
I don't think I really even want to fly this, but it sure is fun doing these.
Jun 20, 2022, 12:46 am
#738
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: YVR/LAX/PVG/TPE
Posts: 759
I got 3 standard emails from PL. but the last one is different.
It comes from PL customer care instead of PL,
it says the following:
Dear BEYOUNGED,
We have attempted to call you regarding your August XX, 2022 trip to Santiago. LATAM Airlines has notified us that one or more of your flights are changed.
Your immediate attention is required. Please call us or LATAM Airlines as early as possible to discuss
other options for your LATAM Airlines ticket(s). For your convenience, LATAM Airlines phone number is 1-866-435-9526 and your confirmation number is XXXXXX. In addition, our Customer Care Team is available 24 hours to assist you at 877-477-5807 (US or CA) or +1 203-220-6946 (International callers). Please be ready to enter your Request Number XXXXXXXXXXXXX when prompted.
Sincerely,
Travel Services
trying to stay put, but the way they are doing this is so messy it is getting hard for me to plan trips in the summer.
It comes from PL customer care instead of PL,
it says the following:
Dear BEYOUNGED,
We have attempted to call you regarding your August XX, 2022 trip to Santiago. LATAM Airlines has notified us that one or more of your flights are changed.
Your immediate attention is required. Please call us or LATAM Airlines as early as possible to discuss
other options for your LATAM Airlines ticket(s). For your convenience, LATAM Airlines phone number is 1-866-435-9526 and your confirmation number is XXXXXX. In addition, our Customer Care Team is available 24 hours to assist you at 877-477-5807 (US or CA) or +1 203-220-6946 (International callers). Please be ready to enter your Request Number XXXXXXXXXXXXX when prompted.
Sincerely,
Travel Services
trying to stay put, but the way they are doing this is so messy it is getting hard for me to plan trips in the summer.
Jun 20, 2022, 3:13 am
#740
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,117
Priceline - Someone tried to change the booking. We cannot touch the reservation. Call LATAM
LATAM - Our contract is with Priceline we cannot talk to you
Oh the games
LATAM - Our contract is with Priceline we cannot talk to you
Oh the games
Jun 20, 2022, 3:18 am
#741
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: In between BRU, AMS, DUS and LUX...
Programs: AF/KL Plat, BA Gold, A3 Gold, IHG Diamond, MR Gold, HH Diamond, ALL Platinum
Posts: 1,044
I still aim to fly this deal and contacted both priceline and LATAM on twitter (yeah I know but I can afford spending hours on the phone today) to get clarification on why the IB MAD-GRU segment was removed from the booking of my girlfriend (in addition with the LA operated GRU-SCL which was removed - just like on my booking, but that we can live with). LATAM was the first to reply indicating as expected that I should check with the OTA and said that LATAM did not cancel any flights and that "two flights are operated by IB"...
Priceline replied that I should reach them by phone and that he added a note on file regarding my request...
Priceline replied that I should reach them by phone and that he added a note on file regarding my request...
Jun 20, 2022, 3:27 am
#743
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 640
1. Called Priceline (again) and the agent said, Latam canceled one leg (LIM-SCL) but both the MAD-SCL and SCL-MAD are still confirmed. But because Latam made changes to the booking directly, Priceline cannot make any more changes. He asked me to call the airline (Latam).
2. I called Latam - the agent told me that based on the notes, Iberia asked them to cancel the flights, and in my booking, all flights are canceled (all 3 legs). But since I booked it on Priceline, I need to call the agent (Priceline) to ask them for the next options, cause he didnt have control over my reservation. I told him Priceline told me to call the airline because the airline made changes to my booking directly hence Priceline did not have anymore control over my reservation. And then he went on ranting for a few minutes about how the travel agents will just say anything to not provide the service to their customer.. bla bla bla.. it's not my fault but it's the travel agent... bla bla bla, lol.
3. I called IB - and IB said my booking is confirmed and nothing changed, and because I booked it with a travel agent, so I should call them if I need any other services He was able to re-read all the legs in my itinerary to me.
Maybe that's how they get back at us - make us go round in circles calling all parties and no one is able to do anything about our (probably soon to be canceled) flights lol...
2. I called Latam - the agent told me that based on the notes, Iberia asked them to cancel the flights, and in my booking, all flights are canceled (all 3 legs). But since I booked it on Priceline, I need to call the agent (Priceline) to ask them for the next options, cause he didnt have control over my reservation. I told him Priceline told me to call the airline because the airline made changes to my booking directly hence Priceline did not have anymore control over my reservation. And then he went on ranting for a few minutes about how the travel agents will just say anything to not provide the service to their customer.. bla bla bla.. it's not my fault but it's the travel agent... bla bla bla, lol.
3. I called IB - and IB said my booking is confirmed and nothing changed, and because I booked it with a travel agent, so I should call them if I need any other services
He was able to re-read all the legs in my itinerary to me.Maybe that's how they get back at us - make us go round in circles calling all parties and no one is able to do anything about our (probably soon to be canceled) flights lol...
Both the OTA and the airline are correct and incorrect at the same time
When you book flights with an OTA, the OTA has to take care of the pax in case of schedule changes, rebookings, cancellations according to the b2b contract with the airline.
If you depart the EU or you fly with a EU carrier, EU261 2004 applies, so in case there is a schedule change, cancellations (anything involuntary), the operating carrier has to take care of you, not the ticketing carrier, not the OTA.
Most airlines ofc won't do that, because they just don't follow the law.
Voluntary changes / vol. (!!!) refunds must still be done with the ticketing agency = OTA.
Now in your case:
The airline has made a change to the booking, so the ticketing agency (OTA=PL) is not able to make any changes whatsoever, since the ticketing control is with the airline.
So PL is not able to make any voluntary changes or refunds within the GDS. To put it simply, they lost the write access, they can only read everything now. But they can still add / remove segments, just not reissue the eticket. But they could just call the b2b airline support hotline and have them reissue it. That is the standard guideline what the airlines want the travel agencies to do.
Usually you can refund the booking within the GDS with just 1-2 commands. When the airline takes over the etix coupons, the OTA can't do so anymore.
The OTA then needs to file a refund request via BSP link (in the rest of the world) or contact the airline via ARC (in the U.S.), so PL would need to go through ARC.
That involves lots of more work, filling out forms manually, looking things up, copy pasting,...
Most OTA agents don't know how this work, they haven't even heard of such a system and don't have access to it, only the higher tier agents.
Thats why OTAs just say, talk to the airline then even thou they can still refund via BSP link / ARC.
But if you ask the airline / IATA, they will say, standard guideline is, the (O)TA has to fill out the form in BSP link / ARC.
If the passenger charges a chargeback with their card issuer, then the airline receives the chargeback but will penalize the (O)TA for it since they didn't work on the refund.
But at the same time, if you're departing from the EU or fly with a EU carrier, then the operating airline has to refund you! Not the ticketing agency ((O)TA), not the ticketing airline (in case of codeshares) but the operating carrier.
Airlines have a BIG problem with that for many reasons:
They don't want to work for free
Operating carriers can't refund, there is no process for it, only ticketing carriers.
But that doesn't stop EU261 2004, the law is clear, op carrier, not OTA or ticketing carrier.
So i.e. when you fly Eurowings (EW) HAM-LHR and then LHR-JFK with UA and EW cancels the 1st flight, EW has to refund you the entire ticket HAM-LHR-JFK and return), not UA (ticketing carrier) or the OTA.
But EW won't be able to do so, so you need to sue, you win in court and then they wire the money.
By EU261 you can even request the refund for INVOL to be processed by wire, not as a refund on your credit card. Airlines won't do that unless you sue, but then again, not your problem.
The next steps depend on what you'd like to achieve.
If you just want your money back, then send an email to the operating airline (and to be safe also to the ticketing carrier since they are the one which charged your credit card and Visa/MC asks for you to provide proof you tried to contact the merchant who charged your card) and request a full refund within 7 days in accordance with EU261, put a friend / family member in BCC so you have proof you sent it and then after 7 days file a chargeback and be done with it.
If you want to fly it and won't depart soon, then wait, then at some point call the airline and ask what the coupon status is for your booking and if they don't want to work on your booking, tell them, they're obligated by EU261 / 2004 to rebook you on the next available flight free of charge.
Last edited by fuyao; Jun 20, 2022 at 6:32 am
Jun 20, 2022, 3:30 am
#744
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: WAW ✈ LHR ✈ GLA
Programs: BA GfL/GGL/CCR, HH Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,499
Checking my tickets today: IB in Firefox reports "A general error has occurred. We apologise for the inconvenience. Please try again later.", but in Chrome it opens without problems... LA site shows both bookings untouched - nothing removed/changed...
Jun 20, 2022, 3:38 am
#745
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 640
Yes MyTrip= GoToGate,
Your experience mirrors mine. I had MyTrip ticket to Brazil in Feb 2021 with TAP which was cancelled by TAP due to Covid. I called TAP and the ticket was put on hold future (invol) rebooking. When I called TAP earlier this year to rebook the ticket, I got a nasty surprise when TAP informed me that MyTrip had requested the tickert to be refunded and TAP could not rebook because the ticket had been refunded. Needless to state that I had not requested this or been informed by MyTrip nor received any refund. Now I'm waiting for the refund from MyTrip but who knows if and when I will get the money back.
Your experience mirrors mine. I had MyTrip ticket to Brazil in Feb 2021 with TAP which was cancelled by TAP due to Covid. I called TAP and the ticket was put on hold future (invol) rebooking. When I called TAP earlier this year to rebook the ticket, I got a nasty surprise when TAP informed me that MyTrip had requested the tickert to be refunded and TAP could not rebook because the ticket had been refunded. Needless to state that I had not requested this or been informed by MyTrip nor received any refund. Now I'm waiting for the refund from MyTrip but who knows if and when I will get the money back.
The airline did not ask for your written approval from the OTA, so the operating carrier still has to refund you directly.
Will they do so, absolutely not.
But by law they have to.
Here is an example of a court case in Germany where the op carrier hat do refund the pax directly even thou they refunded to the CC that was the form of payment: https://www.drboese.de/blog/ag-berli...ochmal-zahlen/
Use google translate.
Jun 20, 2022, 3:43 am
#746
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 640
I booked via Priceline for MAD-LIM (IB) LIM-SCL-LIM (LA) and LIM-MAD (IB).
IB website shows all LA marketed/operated legs are gone thus my trip is now MAD-LIM-MAD (IB).
LA website is the same "Contact Us" message everyone else is getting.
AY/RJ/QR/BA shows the same MAD-LIM-MAD (IB) routing as on IB website. AY also has a feature that allows you to email the eticket receipt to yourself and see below for mine.
So my eticket is still intact (status ok for all segments). What I suspect LA did so far was just deleting our bookings from their own flights. If no further action is taken on the ticket, IB will see that I have a confirmed (HK) reservation and a valid eticket so the IB agent at MAD will have very little to no reason to prevent me from traveling on the first leg. The issue arises with the LA operated/marketed segments which I highly doubt they will rebook us back on if they don't intend to honor the ticket. With the 2nd, 3rd segments skipped and unused, I do not encourage anyone to try to use the 4th segment because the ticket is now out of sequence which LA/IB will use as a reason to not honor the ticket.
I think LA is just taking their time to process the refund now. If you're traveling in the next few days and the refund has not been processed by the time you check in. You should be safe at least for the first leg operated by IB.
IB website shows all LA marketed/operated legs are gone thus my trip is now MAD-LIM-MAD (IB).
LA website is the same "Contact Us" message everyone else is getting.
AY/RJ/QR/BA shows the same MAD-LIM-MAD (IB) routing as on IB website. AY also has a feature that allows you to email the eticket receipt to yourself and see below for mine.
So my eticket is still intact (status ok for all segments). What I suspect LA did so far was just deleting our bookings from their own flights. If no further action is taken on the ticket, IB will see that I have a confirmed (HK) reservation and a valid eticket so the IB agent at MAD will have very little to no reason to prevent me from traveling on the first leg. The issue arises with the LA operated/marketed segments which I highly doubt they will rebook us back on if they don't intend to honor the ticket. With the 2nd, 3rd segments skipped and unused, I do not encourage anyone to try to use the 4th segment because the ticket is now out of sequence which LA/IB will use as a reason to not honor the ticket.
I think LA is just taking their time to process the refund now. If you're traveling in the next few days and the refund has not been processed by the time you check in. You should be safe at least for the first leg operated by IB.
The problem with most airline websites is, they only show the segments.
You can have all sorts of changes for the flight segments, what matters is what the eticket record shows, example page 5:
https://air.flyingway.com/books/MS-E...ick-Guide1.pdf
If the coupon status is not set to O (open), you can't fly it.
Jun 20, 2022, 3:54 am
#747
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: WAW ✈ LHR ✈ GLA
Programs: BA GfL/GGL/CCR, HH Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,499
The problem with most airline websites is, they only show the segments.
You can have all sorts of changes for the flight segments, what matters is what the eticket record shows, example page 5:
https://air.flyingway.com/books/MS-E...ick-Guide1.pdf
If the coupon status is not set to O (open), you can't fly it.
You can have all sorts of changes for the flight segments, what matters is what the eticket record shows, example page 5:
https://air.flyingway.com/books/MS-E...ick-Guide1.pdf
If the coupon status is not set to O (open), you can't fly it.
Jun 20, 2022, 4:19 am
#748
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NRT / HND
Programs: AA EXP, NH Plat, Former UA 1K
Posts: 5,665
Interesting how these play out. I think it's sounding more and more like the IB segments will be flyable. LA, probably not, but interestingly they haven't reissued the ticket after cancelling their segments, my e-ticket still has the LA segment LIM-SCL on it. Almost sounds like LA may have tried to get IB to also cancel their segments but IB declined.
Really wanting to see what happens when the first people try to fly this. I'd imagine right now the tickets are a mess and can't be checked in as they are, since the LA segments are still on e-tickets.
I'm not an expert on EU 261, but once we're inside that window, is there a way to force LA to reinstate the segment? Force IB to re-ticket us with the missing segment? Seems Fuyao provided a lot of great info above for those who want to refund, but curious to hear from some experts on how to handle it if we actually do want to fly, and assuming that the remaining segments remain intact to the window where EU261 kicks in.
Really wanting to see what happens when the first people try to fly this. I'd imagine right now the tickets are a mess and can't be checked in as they are, since the LA segments are still on e-tickets.
I'm not an expert on EU 261, but once we're inside that window, is there a way to force LA to reinstate the segment? Force IB to re-ticket us with the missing segment? Seems Fuyao provided a lot of great info above for those who want to refund, but curious to hear from some experts on how to handle it if we actually do want to fly, and assuming that the remaining segments remain intact to the window where EU261 kicks in.
Jun 20, 2022, 4:47 am
#749
Join Date: Jun 2022
Posts: 39
.
I'm not an expert on EU 261, but once we're inside that window, is there a way to force LA to reinstate the segment? Force IB to re-ticket us with the missing segment? Seems Fuyao provided a lot of great info above for those who want to refund, but curious to hear from some experts on how to handle it if we actually do want to fly, and assuming that the remaining segments remain intact to the window where EU261 kicks in.
I'm not an expert on EU 261, but once we're inside that window, is there a way to force LA to reinstate the segment? Force IB to re-ticket us with the missing segment? Seems Fuyao provided a lot of great info above for those who want to refund, but curious to hear from some experts on how to handle it if we actually do want to fly, and assuming that the remaining segments remain intact to the window where EU261 kicks in.