HajoFlyer

On 13/12/2002 I booked an award flight for a friend, travel dates 26/12/2002, 04/01/2003 and 10/01/2003 respectively. Despite several requests, I never received an email confirmation for this booking, but my friend picked up the ticket in GVA and paid the fees, so I know everything went ok up to that point.

Now returning from holidays, I see there has been further activity in my account regarding that ticket, for which I was neither contacted nor did I authorize any further transaction.

The afore mentioned ticket was cancelled on 24/12/2002 and a new ticket issued for the same person on the same day.

My friend is currently unreachable in Albania (or so I have to believe), so no clearification on that side.

Calling Travel Club (the typically unhelpful Aussie call center), I was told to wait in the line for fifteen minutes for them to find out what happened with the booking. A request to call me back was refused. I declined waiting, as currently there are no local contact numbers available and I am not prepared to pay for a 15 minutes international phonecall and waste valuable working time when IMHO it is clearly in Travel Club's responsibility to explain what they did in my account and to resolve the issue. I was told - in a rather rude way -that if I was looking for a more cost/time efficient method, then I should send them a fax.

As for the booking itself, I suppose that if it was only a date change, they wouldn't have had to issue a new ticket. This leads me to believe that some greater changes were made. I had donated that ticket to my friend for a particular purpose which I regarded as charitable. This cause may or may not have been obstructed with the new ticket.

In any case, I don't see how Travel Club can issue new tickets through my account without my authorization. Am I right to believe that I can require them to recredit the miles?

On the one hand, I want to make sure that my friend returns save from Albania, before Swiss messes around with her ticket once more. On the other, I want to know what's happening, resolve it, and possibly ask for recredit.

airoli

Hajo,

I'm not sure if I can be of any help here, but let me at least give you the local TravelClub numbers:

Germany <edited>
Switzerland 0848 85 2000

Also, while I don't know your specific case it has happened to me that when I requested changes to an award ticket (different dates, flights etc.) the agent chose to do that by cancelling the old award ticket and issuing a new one, resulting in a mileage credit and new deduction from my account. She said it was much easier that way than to "modify" an existing booking. As I don't know the sometimes very oldfashioned-looking booking systems, I can't verify that claim.

Nevertheless, I think they must have a record of the current award's all details. You as mile donor should certainly be allowed to access that information? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

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airOli, the Swiss Air Line. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by airoli (edited 01-08-2003).]

HajoFlyer

Thank you airoli, for your advice. I couldn't find the German number on the website nor in the printed timetable.

Calling the German number provided for a swift and surprising answer.

Original ticket booked by me for my friend:

27/12 GVA-BSL-VIE
04/01 VIE-ZRH-TIA
11/01 TIA-ZRH-GVA

This ticket was cancelled and a new ticket issued - WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION:

27/12 GVA-ZRH-TIA
11/01 TIA-ZRH-GVA

Indeed, the original purpose I wanted to support with the donated ticket, a family reunion in VIE (to explain the whole story of a personal tragedy in Albania and Geneva would take to long here) was not fulfilled, but that's a personal matter I have to sort out with my friend.

However, it strikes me that TC issued a new ticket without my authorization, and I will take this up with them.

My problem now is that I can't really do anything right now, because this would probably lead to the ticket being cancelled and my friend stranded in Tirana. Then again, I am so angry now that I couldn't care less.

airoli

Glad to help. I've edited the German number out again since I found it on the TC Gold website and am not sure if it's an elite number, the general rule on FT being not to publish those.

I am not sure what the rules are for making changes to a ticket donated by someone else - and essentially, that's what your friend has done. I imagine they just issued a new ticket since it was easier for them. Anyway, please keep us up to date on how this evolves...

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airOli, the Swiss Air Line.

HajoFlyer

airoli,

to me this looks clear. Route changes are not permitted on award tickets. Thus a completely new award ticket. And that would have required my authorization (which, due to the particular circumstances of that private story, I would have denied).

Rudi

I understand Qualiflyer/swiss. I also understand your point of view, but I 'value' higher/more how Qualiflyer/swiss did efficiently proceed in such a case in favour of they flying passenger, based on a 'normal' assumption that as long as the mileage balance for the account holder remains the same at the end, the costumer would not mind.

They don't know anything about the private relation/purpose/whatever between the 'parties involved' - and they served the flying passenger fast/efficiently and without any burocracy.

I would put 80% of the blame upon my (former?) friend, 19% on me (for having falsly'judged' my 'friend') and may be 1% on Qualiflyer/swiss.

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 01-08-2003).]

Guy Betsy

HajoFlyer, it seems to me that you're just trying to track your friend whom you seem to have lost. She might have not wanted you to know her routing, but in all fairness, the final destination and return is excatly the same as originally booked, except that she is not going through Vienna now. So Travelclub assumed that the original routing is no longer required but as dates have not been changed, they just issued the ticket. Looks like you should be taking this up with YOUR friend and not Travelclub.

Your authorisation was on the original ticket/destination. HAD there been a different destination, and return date, MAYBE TravelClub might have asked for a clarification. If there were MORE miles involved, Travelclub will definitely call you before issuing the ticket. But in this case, it is not necessary as passenger decided not to go through VIE for various reasons.

If you are 'donating' a ticket, Travelclub can only assume that you had 'okayed' on the routing and miles to be deducted. They have more things to do than to track you down and ask if its okay if your friend takes the evening flight, morning flight, routing via VIE or ZRH. They see the final destination, miles the same.. okay just issue.

FYI - calls to any TravelClub number is tollfree and routed to call centres in either Brisbane or Capetown. I don't know where the other one is.

f4free

There are no toll free numbers for Travelclub or Swiss in Switzerland, unfortunately.

0848 numbers are domestic long-distance, and most carriers don't have local calling prices anymore, so 01 numbers are also domestic long distance from within Switzerland.

Concerto

Hajoflyer, you made a ticket that is "illegal" in Qualiflyer rules. Here's what happened: your points of origin and return are in Switzerland, with the destination being TIA. I presume the routing through VIE implied a stopover in VIE.

Now, you can't do that. Your routing is leaving Switzerland, making a stop in Austria and coming back through Switzerland en route for Albania, the destination. You are not allowed to pass back through the country of origin (having left it to go to Austria) on the way to the destination.

I had this a couple of years ago when I tried unknowingly to do GVA-CDG-ZRH-HKG. The system automatically canceled and rerouted me.