jimig

We have reached a dead end with our support case on a Star Alliance reward booking (LOT).

I booked a reward ticket with myself and an infant. A month before the outbound flight, it was cancelled and we accepted to be moved to a later flight that day.

Fast forward to the OLCI, and I noticed my daughter did not appear on the booking anymore. I contacted both LOT and TK. LOT said they had confirmed her ticket and it was ok. TK said to speak to ground staff at the airport. The next day at check-in, it turned out that my daughters ticket was still connected to the cancelled flight, whereas mine was moved (how this is possible is beyond me). LOT desk staff refused to re-validate/confirm her ticket since they were not the issuer. I called TK and they said they would rectify it but never did. We missed the flight and I was forced to rebook with cash the following day.

There were a large amount of costs incurred due to this error outside of my control. But the most ridiculous part is that TK closed the case saying everything was dealt with according to their processes and I was marked a "no show" by LOT. I've tried to escalate but dead end. LOT say not their problem. The whole process has been abysmal.

I want my reward ticket refunded, and ideally some form of compensation. Do I have a case and if so, where do I go next?

SK AAR

Just to rephrase your post a bit, I believe you mean that your daughter's ticket had not been reissued (with new ticket No.) whereas your ticket had been reissued following the (invol) rebooking. It is a classic issue following a rebooking like you experienced. One needs to make sure that the tickets are reissued which is easy to spot because the ticket No. will change.

There is no doubt that this a TK issue rather than with LOT (because not reissued meant that your daughter had no valid ticket for the rebooked flight) but good luck in progressing this with TK. LOT was right in declining to reissue the ticket as it is an award ticket issued by TK (which LOT can't/will not touch).

jimig

Thanks, yes your explanation makes more sense. The LOT checkin agent was begging the TK agent (on my phone) to "revalidate" the infant ticket, but as we now know, neither really seemed to have a clue what to do to rectify it.

SK AAR

Yes, it would have been quite easy for a skilled TK agent to revalidate or reissue the ticket - provided that the agent understood what the issue was; most likely the TK agent just saw the ticket No. for the infant but failed to understand the mismatch/no-sync between the ticket and the (new) flight reserved and didn't realise the need to revalidate or reissue the ticket. Clearly the LOT agent(s) understood the issue but didn't have the possibility to fix it as it was TK M&S award ticket.

TPJ

I recall a thread on this forum where someone reported they contacted all possible TK officials found on LinkedIn and only then their case was finally properly handled. Use search facility, read what this person exactly did and follow their action.

Alfredbali

Aha finding a skilled TK agent is like finding a needle in a haystack in my experience

SK AAR

Unfortunately that is true.

nacho

Did you check whether the infant ticket was attached when TK re-issue the ticket?

If you didn't, make sure you check all the details of the ticket, every time there is a re-issuance of a ticket, there is a risk of something goes wrong.

SK AAR

Normally after a rebooking (vol. or invol) pax will receive the (updated) eticket receipt by email when the ticket has been reissued. The eticket receipt will reflect the new flights or dates. If no such eticket receipt is received it is a red flag that the ticket has not been reissued. I bet the OP only received the updated eticket receipt for herself, whereas no eticket receipt was received for the infant. It is very unfortunate that the pax didn't understand the consequences of the ticket not being reissued for the infant.

nacho

It's tricky with infant ticket - an airline needs to manually attach the infant (at least when I was travelling with infants).

craigthemif

It doesn't help the OP now, but my number 1 rule for 2 years was "no partner rewards with a lap infant".

Too much can go wrong when the operating airline can't touch the adult ticket.

nacho

Some might say #1 rule is "no partner award"

I wonder if OP checked the ticket after it has been re-issued.

SK AAR

Admittedly I have zero experience with INF tickets, but wouldn't TK also send out separate eticket receipt by email for the INF once ticket has been reissued? (in the same way as for ADT)

nacho

AFAIK, an INF ticket is attached to an adult ticket. Many years ago I booked INF ticket I had to buy the actual adult ticket online, got the ticket issued, then contacted the airline to add an infant to an existing ticket, and I was told "n" times that the infant had to be under 2 during inbound flight. At check-in, the idiotic check-in people at CPH tried to figure out the age of our back then babies - even when they were holding and looking at their passports. Then some more confused check-in agents asked when we would return (we had return tickets) because they need to make sure a 8 months old wouldn't turn into a 2 year old after 2 weeks...