Rudi, I need your help. I am really fed-up today. I decided that for my trip to JFK next week I would fly someone other than BA for a change. So I 'phoned United... two hours... that is how long I was on hold for! I should have given up after 10 minutes, but I thought what the hell.

In the end I gave up and 'phoned CO. No reply. 14 times I have 'phoned them today and each time no reply.

So by default it will be good old BA again.

So for all the Gold, Platinum and god knows what else colour pieces of plastic you carry, the service you get is still non-existant.

On my wish list for a FF program now goes "Bronze: calls answered in 10 rings,
Silver: calls answered in 5 rings,
Gold: calls answered in 2 rings,
Titanium: they call you each Monday and ask you if you would like to book anything!"
MERRY FLYER

I gave up on a travel agency two years ago and I gave up on phoning the airlines a year ago. With all the various online bonuses available for purchasing tickets online, I have purchased most flights this way.

Since I live in a fairly large metropolitan area, I also have a building about 2 miles away that has the city ticket office for 6 airlines. So...if I have a discount coupon or need to ask questions, I drive to that office. I made friends with one of the NW city ticket office staffmembers and she always finds the best seats for me, etc. I even get a nice Xmas card from Northwest thanks to her each year.

Merry Flyer--Try booking your rez on the net.
I, like "The Addict", gave up on TA's and rez lines a long time ago. I have exclusively used the 'net for the last 6 months and have not had a single glitch.

Merry Flyer

Does this mean that BA answers their phones or that you have a secret number that rings on the CEOs desk?

You should definitely book on-line through the airline's website. Bonus miles aside (like 2,000 on NW now) you get what you want quickly. Whenever I attend a meeting with my airfare paid by someone else, their travel agent never books me on the airline (much less flights) I want, even though I write it all down on my travel registration. Check out www.itn.net or www.expedia.com free for overall prices and schedules, then book your travel on the airline's site to get your bonus miles in the finest tradition of a "webflyer".

Although booking online is convenient and there are definited bonuses, if you care about price, usually a travel agent can get you the best deal. Recently, I was looking for a flight, and continued to check the home pages of the airlines, Preview travel, and Expedia. Eventually, it was my travel agent that got me the best price, by over $125. That same day, I checked the fares at these websites and they were $414, with the lowest fare available. I also called my travel agent that same day, and he found me a fare on America West for $276. FYI

Baobab, I do have a special number actually, the number I use is for Premier Club and they answer it within 2 rings!

By the way, thank for all your Internet advice, but I have to make all AIRLINE bookings direct, that way AMEX get commission when I use my Corporate AMEX card, and they refund the company the commission. Also, my ECCCA (Executive Company Corporate Card Agreement), with BA, states booking have to be done direct.

So the Internet is a non starter for me I'm affraid - but I can book hotels on-line.
MERRY FLYER

Merry

If you have access to a assistant/travel organiser (and I assume that your company will have one, as you do so much travelling), what you could do is decide which airline/itinerary you want by using www.itn.net, which gives you all the information you need including price, distance and availability. Write down all this information - flight numbers, etc, & perhaps include a second choice if for some reason your first one doesn't work out. Give this information to your assistant & ask them to book it for you.

I used to do this with our company travel agent, & it made life a lot easier for her and for me. A lot of dedicated travel agents have online access to the airline's booking system, so they can avoid the two hour telephone wait.

FYI I haven't found the BA Executive Club (US) to be too bad, though the telephone service for entry level members is definitely not as prompt as that for the higher tiers. They have a nasty habit of wanting your membership number before you speak to a person, & this can be difficult if the computer doesn't recognise you as a (US) member - I've been left in phone limbo a few times.

Merry Flyer... if you can get your company
to book your reservations that could save a lot of headaches (and they may have more
patience for waiting on the phone.)

But if you do it through the company -- make
sure the person has all your frequent flyer
and guest and car rental info. My place has
a new person and "forgot" about the numbers
when booking me for Cincinnatti. I gave her
a two minute micro lesson on the programs.

I assume that United and the other major
airlines have reservations offices in Europe.
You should not have to wait on the phone for
more than a few minutes.

Booking more of my reservations on the internet but a day or two later I call reservatons (hopefully without the long wait)
and make sure everything matches. It saves
me time and in some cases I earn miles.

So don't fear the internet, Merry Flyer.
Give it a try but double check the reservations! CATMAN

I am not at all an expert on getting tickets trough the phone. But I may very well become one now;

Till now I made my bookings in person at UA-Zurich-office, but they close end of this month. And I did appreciate (sometime I did *buy* them with Swiss chocolates) the advantages of having the sales/perosn face to face.

Merry Flyer

The AAdvantage Platinum desk answers very quickly, every time. If you try to book through a company travel agent (like we are supposed to do), they charge high prices and then give the company money back at the end of the year based on $ value (i.e. they have the imcentive to charge more, especially in an industry like mine where my clients pay for my expenses - go figure). We have a special "cheap" hotline for "administrative/education" tickets (i.e. non-chargeable to clients) ---> a scam or what?

I use the internet (Preview Travel or Cheap Fare Finder - tvllink.com) to price tickets and then, assuming one of my preferred airlines has a good priced ticket, I book on-line with them for the bonus on-line booking miles. I then, unfortunately, have to immediately call the airline to make sure I get my "preferred" seating.

When I was more naive, I used to look up the flights I wanted and e-mail my asssitant. She would call corporate travel, book the flights & seats (I would tell her seats based on aircraft configuration and airline)and ask corporate travel to rquest automatic upgrade (i.e. corporate's computer automatically requests upgrade 72 hours in advance from the airline and, in rare instances if upgrade is not avaialable, at regular intervals, continues to request upgrade until flight time, just in case a seat does become available --> I have arrived at the airport, to be pleasantly surprised that I have been upgraded when an upgrade was not available that morning).

Good luck!

Maybe roberto (i.e. "[email protected]") has a better suggestion. I have never known a person to have a position as an e-mail address (other than customer service/support) nancy_emmitt.

Travelcrazy ~ I don't know what airlines you typically use, but I can vouch for Delta's online system being very good when it comes to giving me the preferred seating my Medallion level allows me, and this is for both myself and my travelling companion ...

TravelCrazy: Roberto's e-mail address '[email protected]' doesn't relate to a company (ABC.com) - it is as far as Emmett/Nancy/Roberto have got in the alphabet!
MF

This is off the topic, but Merry Flyer's answer inspired me to do some web surfing..

WWW.abc.com is the main link to the A-B-C television network. From there
you would go to the various shows that run
on that network (It's like the B-B-C without
most of the quality shows Merry Flyer.)

Can't remember who the c-e-o of A-B-C is but
i would be very surprised if it's someone
who writes so poorly.

And now I will get back ON TOPIC. CATMAN

Merry Flyer -> Thanks for a great start to Monday morning.

Beckles --> thanks for your comment, I should probably 10011100100 (a bunch of on & offs in computer speak) an e-mail to AA.com webmaster and recommend an upgrade. AA is my "main" carrier and they certainly do not release thos lovel leg room seats over the net nor do they "block" the seats next to you either -- gotta call for those.

TCrazy