My son (A3 Gold) was booked ZRH-ATH-HER last Sunday, flying with two separate tickets (the first leg was an Aegean Pass one). He had checked in early since he was supposed to meet his mother, who was connecting at ZRH, flying a different airline. While waiting with her in the lounge, he found out that his first flight was very late and that he would miss the one to Crete (the last flight of the day). Having seen that there was a non-stop ZRH-HER A3 flight later that evening, he went to the CI counters to see whether they could put him on that one. He was told that his Pass ticket would not allow them to do this, even if he paid the price difference. Moreover, it would be a �hassle� if they had to �search� for his checked piece of luggage and bring it to another cart to be loaded onto the �new� plane (the non-stop one), which was due to arrive 40 minutes later. But they also told him not to worry, as they would rebook him on the first flight out of Athens at 6:30 am, upgrade to business on both flights for free, and arrange (and assume the cost) for a hotel and a taxi!

So, he arrived in Crete 6 hours later (at 7:30) after having gone to sleep at the Nea Makri hotel (~20 km from ATH) at 1 am and taken the reserved taxi back at 4:30. In other words instead of zero cost to A3, the delay cost the airline about 100� for the hotel and 2x40� for the cab (no cost for dinner and breakfast as he ate at the lounges in ZRH and ATH). The interesting part is that they did not have to pay anything since he was on different tickets and there was no �duty of care� involved. It was just a very nice thing that they did for him�

I know from the times I was a frequent flyer myself that airlines would try everything possible to save money, and Aegean often bent the rules if it would be profitable for them (and the passenger). In this case, their cost was higher than what my son had paid, simply because they refused to put him on another one of their flights (seats were available).

Anyway, no big deal after all, but just an example of a combination of good service and sheer stupidity.

Probably no A3 staff at ZRH, just 3rd party ground staff playing by the book? Quite common to be refused "simple" fixes in these cases (i.e. same day change to earlier flight, etc) as staff don't have access to the proper systems.

Sad to say, but these days indeed the illogical actions/decisions taken often don't make sense - especially when you factor in the cost. It's just following the rules blindly. Although it is interesting that on separate tickets they had been taken care so well - which I would have not expect.

I do wonder if he had called up A3 itself, would they have done the "wise" thing.

Cheers!

Perhaps the agents chose the easiest path for themselves even if it wasn't optimal for A3

A3 definitely restricts actions that agents can take, I had a curious case of IRROPs in SKG where local A3 agent said he could not put me on a different flight due to my booking being "locked" somehow. It was due to weather, so by the time I reached phone support, seats on a flight I wanted were already gone.
I never had any issue asking A3 own agents to make any changes to my booking, so I have no reason to suspect that agent just wanted me to leave him alone with the rest of the pax from that cancelled flight.

I don't know if other pass holders have had other experiences in similar (and I do want to stress "similar") cases, but I personally don't see anything "wise" or "logical" about changing a very restrictive pass ticket to a "regular" ticket on a totally different route. I am pretty sure there is no way to do this other than to cancel/change the pass ticket and simply purchase a whole new ticket for the other flight, which I would presume would have been at least as expensive as what Aegean paid for their good will gesture (which they will make more often than not if not nearly every time, even when on different tickets trying to "connect" two flights, well, at least the accommodation part, not the whole "free upgrade" part) and I will also assume that Aegean (or at least the employees at the airport) wouldn't just issue him a "free" ticket for that flight.

I personally don't find what they did illogical (though certainly very customer-friendly), but I do understand why it could be considered to be the least effective solution.

As said there was no requirement for Aegean to honour that connection at ATH. Therefore I find it a completely logical decision to not rebook onto another flight either.

Even if changing a Pass flight destination could, maybe, theoretically be possible � Frankly, why would they? Purchasing separate tickets means that the buyer assumes the risk of misconnecting.

What normally would/should have happened (following the rules) is for this pax to have been stranded at ATH, overnight at the airport or at a hotel at own expense, and book another flight last minute - also at own expense - at much higher cost. That�s the risk of travelling on separate tickets. IMHO Aegean has shown quite a lot of goodwill, and have gone far beyond what they were required to do - at their expense.

Therefore i�m surprised by the negativity, which I consider rather unwarranted. Also removed the profanity from the thread title for reasons that I hopefully don�t have to go into. Please keep things civilised.

I do agree with some points of view that are not in... agreement with what I expressed in my post and I can offer some "but..." in response:

* In this particular case, if one ticket had been bought instead of two, A3 would have had to pay even more (+ EU 261 comp)
* I agree that, in spite of not doing the "obvious", they did much more than what they were required to; which is why I wrote: ...example of a combination of good service..." in my last sentence.
* "...changing a very restrictive pass ticket to a "regular" ticket on a totally different route..." ZRH-ATH-HER to ZRH-HER is not exactly a totally different route!

Anyway, I will not continue. Thanks to Xandrios for changing the thread's title, but I could not find one that fits better. My excuse is not that (as an ex medic?) I did not consider the term to be a profanity (not worse than... headache), but I even checked the Wiktionary, which, as a second meaning, says: Failing to make a point or reach a conclusion; stifled.

If the original *ticket* had actually been ZRH-ATH-HER and Aegean had still gone the same about solving the issue, then yes, I'd totally agree with your view on this (and, like you mentioned) there would also be compensation involved.
I would also be willing to bet my right hand, that Aegean would have either put the passenger on the direct flight or suggested a different, more "direct" solution.

However, that was not the ticket that was issued (it might be a bit hard to understand, depending on what your point of view is, but that's just the simple truth). It is more of a technicality in its core, but it certainly does pose practical issues for Aegean's (and the airport's) employees (in short: the way it was originally ticketed, the "pass" being a major factor here, most likely left them without any other options).

It might help with your perspective into this if you compare what it looks like (also ��-wise) to book a ZRH-ATH on a pass and then a regular ATH-HER, to booking both ZRH-ATH and ATH-HER without a pass (but still separately) to booking ZRH-ATH-HER together in a single booking (or any similar combination of a pass destination/origin and connecting flights).

What some times seems logical for us, doesn't for the airlines.
Separate bookings bear always the risk of misconnections, hence we are (including myself) willing to take the risk when we book these kind of tickets to reduce cost hefty cost.

+1 for Xandrios.

Last but not least, a travel insurance can most of the times cover some of the hickups caused by our decisions.