Red '74 TR6

Earlier this month we were flying LHR-LIS-SFO with a five day stopover in Lisbon. Booked paid Biz class seats nine months earlier and for best price got flight at 18:30 leaving LHR with a moderate hope of getting an earlier flight that day. Another couple we were traveling with had managed to book a flight at 12:30 so we went to the airport with them. TAP has six flights per day on that route. Check-in attendant told me that I would have to go to the TAP customer service desk on the other side of the hall. Woman at customer service was not nice. I was pleasant and did not make a scene. We offered to sit anywhere on the plane but no go. She agreed that most other airlines allow it but TAP does not unless I wanted to pay a £900 change fee on each ticket. End of story. No ifs, ands, or buts.

So we flew out at 18:30 after waiting around eight hours. Our friends reported their plane at 12:30 left half full with plenty of seats, front and back. I know that rules are rules but if they could see that the earlier plane was leaving half full anyway why not please the customer without costing TAP anything. It's called good PR.

Otherwise, flights were fine. Attendants were great. Nice aircraft. Last shortcoming was a full hour wait at baggage carousel at SFO for our luggage. Wrote to TAP and they reiterated their same day flight change policy and offered nothing for the ridiculous baggage wait time.

Palal

European carriers do not have same-day-standby as many US carriers do. They're also pretty strict about rules.

TPJ

Same day stand-by is the US/Canadian thing. With European carrier I was lucky once - with BA - when my flight was oversold and the previous flight half empty.

The ticket desk agent was probably an outsourced Menzies or Swissport agent. Yes - they can be rude...

LondonElite

Rules are rules except when they apply to me, right?

European carriers generally do not have same day standby (of course there are some exceptions) the way US carriers do. The simple reason for this is that if you want flexibility (which has a cost associated with it) you have to pay for it. If it were free or the rule not enforced, the natural consequence would be that almost everyone would book the last flight back and hope to score an earlier flight for no change fee if that suited them. Since that doesn't work, cheaper tickets do not have this flexibility, though you are generally welcomed to open your wallet and pay a change fee and fare class difference, depending on the ticket you bought. A fully flexible ticket is just that, fully flexible, but also quite a bit more expensive. Not to be blunt, but TAP owes you nothing and writing to CS won't achieve anything as you have no leg to stand on.

Red '74 TR6

I didn't know that most European carriers don't allow it. I would think that most US carriers are just as money hungry as Euro carriers yet they allow it and I doubt many pax are booking the last flight of the day to game the system.

LondonElite

Well, right or wrong, it is the way it is, and for the most part you’ll just have the rules read back to you!

Red '74 TR6

Thank you LondonElite. I now won't need the rules read back to me. Your helpful and informative post has made them perfectly clear to me. You're very helpful!

Bear96

Even with U.S. carriers, same day standby is only available to those with status.

I once did SFO-ATL-TPA on DL when I had no DL status. DL has hourly ATL-TPA service. I arrived ATL in time to make the TPA flight one hour earlier than the one I was booked on, and it was wide open. I asked at the gate if I could just take that flight instead and get home an hour early, and they wanted to charge me hundreds of dollars.

Antonio8069

Last December, I had a similar experience with an outsourced customer service representative in AMS. It was so bad I reported it to Customer Service in Lisbon. Their reply was meh. Now, I escalated to the CEO's office. Wating to hear back.

LondonElite

You mean they stuck to the rules of your ticket and you didn’t like it so complained to the CEO?

Antonio8069

No, similar means "rude". Est tu?

warakorn

No wonder! Menzies!