Suspended
(actually it was from Raleigh/Durham, not Hell, Norway, but it's close enough...)
A quick recap of my trip so far:
1. Yesterday booked IAD-ARN R/T (leaving today)on the web (50 k points in economy)
2. Decided to travel from Raleigh instead, even though the total cost would be 70 k points instead. The US EB line wassn't open yet so I called the Swedish EB customer service. The helpful agent told me he needed to book that trip in a different system since the original booking had been online and I would get the new itinerary withing an hour. No problem
3. After an hour checked my reservation and got a weird error and decided to call the US EB that just opened. Got transfered to Talinn and the agent confirmed my itinerary and told me the trip would be ticketed the same day (yesterday).
4. After a couple of hours the booking still didn't show up properly and I called the US EB line again. The NJ based agent confirmed my itinerary but discovered that the payment info was missing. I gave him the CC number and was told that everything should be okay. Sure...
I was told to call back around 4 pm if the trip hadn't been ticketed by then.
5. No ticket at 4 pm, called US EB line again. Got transfered to Talinn again and the agent discovered that the ticket was scheduled to ge ticketed the day after, and it could probably only be done by the Swedish EB office (now closed for the day).
6. Reservation shows up as ticketed as a paper ticket... Not good considering I was traveling the day after and wouldn't get the mail in time.
7. Called the SAS hotline and was told that they could reissue it as an electronic ticket within 30 minutes
8. Two hours later, no ticket. Called the hotline again, was now told that they couldn't issue the ticket, only EB Sweden or Internet sales (where the original booking was made) could do this.
9. Called Internet sales when they opened. Was told that only EB Sweden could issue the ticket.
10. Called EB Sweden at 7.15 am Swedish time (before their official opening time). The very helpful agent got everything straightened out. She had no idea why my booking status page showed that the ticket was issued as a paper ticket becuase that's not what her computer said.
11. Got the e-ticket receipt and the e-ticket number
12. Checked in at RDU
13. RDU-IAD flight suddenly shows 'canceled' without any warning. No weather problems at RDU or IAD, but ORD had some problems.
14. RDU-IAD flight suddenly reinstated without notice
15. Arrived ar IAD, went to SK gate and got my IAD-CPH BP, but they couldn't give me the CPH-ARN BP for some reason. After a lot of poking around the GA discovered that UA in RDU had screwed up and my status showed me already having flown CPH-ARN, but not having flown RDU-IAD yet...
16. Problem sorted out (kind of...) I have to get the CPH-ARN BP at CPH (I'm still at IAD), and I will get a paper ticket for the rest of my trip since the e-ticket was pretty screwed up.
All-in-all, a whole lot of trouble, one flight down (even though it was supposed to be canceled), five more to go...
Aaah, the joys of traveling
A quick recap of my trip so far:
1. Yesterday booked IAD-ARN R/T (leaving today)on the web (50 k points in economy)
2. Decided to travel from Raleigh instead, even though the total cost would be 70 k points instead. The US EB line wassn't open yet so I called the Swedish EB customer service. The helpful agent told me he needed to book that trip in a different system since the original booking had been online and I would get the new itinerary withing an hour. No problem
3. After an hour checked my reservation and got a weird error and decided to call the US EB that just opened. Got transfered to Talinn and the agent confirmed my itinerary and told me the trip would be ticketed the same day (yesterday).
4. After a couple of hours the booking still didn't show up properly and I called the US EB line again. The NJ based agent confirmed my itinerary but discovered that the payment info was missing. I gave him the CC number and was told that everything should be okay. Sure...
I was told to call back around 4 pm if the trip hadn't been ticketed by then.
5. No ticket at 4 pm, called US EB line again. Got transfered to Talinn again and the agent discovered that the ticket was scheduled to ge ticketed the day after, and it could probably only be done by the Swedish EB office (now closed for the day).
6. Reservation shows up as ticketed as a paper ticket... Not good considering I was traveling the day after and wouldn't get the mail in time.
7. Called the SAS hotline and was told that they could reissue it as an electronic ticket within 30 minutes
8. Two hours later, no ticket. Called the hotline again, was now told that they couldn't issue the ticket, only EB Sweden or Internet sales (where the original booking was made) could do this.
9. Called Internet sales when they opened. Was told that only EB Sweden could issue the ticket.
10. Called EB Sweden at 7.15 am Swedish time (before their official opening time). The very helpful agent got everything straightened out. She had no idea why my booking status page showed that the ticket was issued as a paper ticket becuase that's not what her computer said.
11. Got the e-ticket receipt and the e-ticket number
12. Checked in at RDU
13. RDU-IAD flight suddenly shows 'canceled' without any warning. No weather problems at RDU or IAD, but ORD had some problems.
14. RDU-IAD flight suddenly reinstated without notice
15. Arrived ar IAD, went to SK gate and got my IAD-CPH BP, but they couldn't give me the CPH-ARN BP for some reason. After a lot of poking around the GA discovered that UA in RDU had screwed up and my status showed me already having flown CPH-ARN, but not having flown RDU-IAD yet...
16. Problem sorted out (kind of...) I have to get the CPH-ARN BP at CPH (I'm still at IAD), and I will get a paper ticket for the rest of my trip since the e-ticket was pretty screwed up.
All-in-all, a whole lot of trouble, one flight down (even though it was supposed to be canceled), five more to go...
Aaah, the joys of traveling
hahaha, what a good story and I must say that art of travelling demands loads of patience, it seems that you have what it takes! well: get a, or any ticket, find nearest lounge, make yourself a GT. things will usually be fine. Or at least end up fine.
Suspended
The fun continues...
17. The IAD ticket office decides to print paper tickets for the remaining outgoing flights (IAD-CPH-ARN) and the return leg (ARN-CPH-IAD-RDU) but when I get the tickets there are only two tickets, the IAD-CPH flight I'm supposed to board in 10 minutes, and the first flight for my return trip.
I asked about this and was told that the CPH-ARN leg is now suddenly back being an e-ticket leg (but they can't issue the BP) and the last two flights on the return are also e-tickets.
So here's the lineup of flights:
Outbound:
RDU-IAD: Physically flown, but not according to the computer...
IAD-CPH: paper ticket
CPH-ARN: e-ticket
Return:
ARN-CPH: paper ticket
CPH-IAD-RDU: e-ticket
Nothing like a good mix of ticket types, right?
18. Get to CPH, so to Scandinavia lounge and get my CPH-ARN BP (apparently I was already checked in, but IAD couldn't print the BP)
19. The CPH-ARN flight, scheduled departure time 8.25 (boarding at 8.00), doesn't start boarding until 8.20, and everyone has to go through a security control where the metal detector triggers on 99% of the passenegers...
Push-back at 9.00.
Since the security personnel were at the gate around 7.40 and the GA must have known that the extra security control would take extra time, why delay the start of boarding compared to the original scheduled boarding time? Heck, the GA was in the area long before 8, so they could at least have started the boarding on time and starting even a little earlier would have been useful.
20. Arrived at ARN at 10.05 (scheduled arrival 9.40), got my bag at 10.20, ran across the baggage hall, walked through customs, ran to the SJ train ticket machine at SkyCity, pushed people out of my way (*) on the way to Terminal 4 and somehow makes it in time for my 10.30 bus departure to Bålsta (where train travel took over)
(*) If you are walking in a passage that can handle about no more than 5 people in width total (both way traffic), why on earth do people choose to walk VERY slowly 5 people abreast and then complain when people in a hurry (going both directions) are trying to get past them? Polite methods didn't work, so pushing was the final resort in order to make my bus.
17. The IAD ticket office decides to print paper tickets for the remaining outgoing flights (IAD-CPH-ARN) and the return leg (ARN-CPH-IAD-RDU) but when I get the tickets there are only two tickets, the IAD-CPH flight I'm supposed to board in 10 minutes, and the first flight for my return trip.
I asked about this and was told that the CPH-ARN leg is now suddenly back being an e-ticket leg (but they can't issue the BP) and the last two flights on the return are also e-tickets.
So here's the lineup of flights:
Outbound:
RDU-IAD: Physically flown, but not according to the computer...
IAD-CPH: paper ticket
CPH-ARN: e-ticket
Return:
ARN-CPH: paper ticket
CPH-IAD-RDU: e-ticket
Nothing like a good mix of ticket types, right?
18. Get to CPH, so to Scandinavia lounge and get my CPH-ARN BP (apparently I was already checked in, but IAD couldn't print the BP)
19. The CPH-ARN flight, scheduled departure time 8.25 (boarding at 8.00), doesn't start boarding until 8.20, and everyone has to go through a security control where the metal detector triggers on 99% of the passenegers...
Push-back at 9.00.
Since the security personnel were at the gate around 7.40 and the GA must have known that the extra security control would take extra time, why delay the start of boarding compared to the original scheduled boarding time? Heck, the GA was in the area long before 8, so they could at least have started the boarding on time and starting even a little earlier would have been useful.
20. Arrived at ARN at 10.05 (scheduled arrival 9.40), got my bag at 10.20, ran across the baggage hall, walked through customs, ran to the SJ train ticket machine at SkyCity, pushed people out of my way (*) on the way to Terminal 4 and somehow makes it in time for my 10.30 bus departure to Bålsta (where train travel took over)
(*) If you are walking in a passage that can handle about no more than 5 people in width total (both way traffic), why on earth do people choose to walk VERY slowly 5 people abreast and then complain when people in a hurry (going both directions) are trying to get past them? Polite methods didn't work, so pushing was the final resort in order to make my bus.
Suspended
Quote:
No SK lounges at RDU (no *A at terminal C) nor IAD. The gate staff at IAD did their best to fix the situation once I got there, but it proved to be a very hard task.Originally Posted by movingalong
well: get a, or any ticket, find nearest lounge, make yourself a GT. things will usually be fine. Or at least end up fine.
If I had stopped at point 2 or 3 above and then assumed that everything was okay, I would have showed up at the airport and found out that I had no ticket. And since the Swedish EB office would have been very close to closing time, it's not sure that anyone would have been able to issue the ticket in time.
Of course, stopping at point 2 or 3 above and assuming that everything would be okay would mean that I would expect SAS to do their job properly. Good thing I didn't make that assumption, because then I would still be stuck at RDU...
Suspended
Quote:
For future reference, *G and business class passengers flying SAS from IAD are welcome in the NW World Club, Terminal B, opposite gate B20.
Given free wi-fi, I'd take the NW WC over a UA RCC, so thanks for that info .... for when I show up early enough to head over. Originally Posted by tommy777
Waoh. Reading this made me dizzy.... What a messFor future reference, *G and business class passengers flying SAS from IAD are welcome in the NW World Club, Terminal B, opposite gate B20.
