Swiss award cancelled automatically

Old May 21, 2012, 9:43 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: UA 1K, Hertz 5*, IHG RA, Hyatt Diamond, Amex Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 717
Swiss award cancelled automatically

Seems like there is alot of Swiss C award availability this week and next. I booked 3 tickets for SFO-ZRH on Thursday last week but when I checked on Saturday, they were cancelled (not by me) and I called UA and they had no idea why it was cancelled. They said that Swiss may have accidentally cancelled the tickets.

They were able to rebook the flight but when I logged in today to check, cancelled again! Not sure what is going on and if there is a glitch? I have the email confirmation that the awards were ticketed.
silver-tls is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 9:48 am
  #2  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,067
It's not LX cancelling them, it's some interconnection issue with CO's systems and LX.

After rebooking and reissuing, get LX on the phone and have them verify they see everything, including ticket numbers. If not, get UA back on the phone until they do.
channa is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 9:57 am
  #3  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: UA 1K, Hertz 5*, IHG RA, Hyatt Diamond, Amex Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 717
Thanks - on hold with UA now but they're saying its not their issue and there are only 2 seats available on LX instead of 3 now. Waiting for a supervisor but an agent has already hung up on me saying they cannot force a seat open.
silver-tls is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 10:27 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,645
Originally Posted by silver-tls
... an agent has already hung up on me saying they cannot force a seat open.
I love it. Can't wait until the next quarterly earnings call where we'll listen to $mi$ek talk about continued improvement in operational efficiency (i.e. hang up on customers to get them off the phone more quickly than keeping them on hold as long as needed to actually resolve a problem. You have no doubt contributed to improving this metric, which I'm guessing will contribute to $mi$ek meeting the targets needed to get his bonus. Nice.
FlyWorld is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 10:32 am
  #5  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,067
Originally Posted by silver-tls
Thanks - on hold with UA now but they're saying its not their issue and there are only 2 seats available on LX instead of 3 now. Waiting for a supervisor but an agent has already hung up on me saying they cannot force a seat open.
You'll need to conference in LX.
channa is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 10:43 am
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: UA 1K, Hertz 5*, IHG RA, Hyatt Diamond, Amex Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 717
Not having any luck and extremely frustrating because I have my return and intra-europe all booked. Now I can't get to Europe and UA basically saying i'm SOL because the seats aren't available anymore. On hold for a supervisor now.
silver-tls is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 11:02 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: United Arab Emirates & Arizona, USA
Programs: UA MM/1P, EK Au, QR, TK, Marriott Life Ti, Hilton Dia, IC Dia, Hyatt Glob, Accor Pt, Shangri-La
Posts: 4,521
Originally Posted by channa
It's not LX cancelling them, it's some interconnection issue with CO's systems and LX.

After rebooking and reissuing, get LX on the phone and have them verify they see everything, including ticket numbers. If not, get UA back on the phone until they do.
That could be difficult, given how long it takes to ticket -- it's bad enough on a UA ticket, but on partners it's been even worse since the merger.

I booked an award SIN-HKG-SFO, with the first segment on SQ C, and I never got the confirmation e-mail. I finally called three days later, and the agent realized that the ticket was never issued, started over and managed to book it (it still took a day). Not quite as bad as the OP's scenario, and I know that SQ is especially difficult, but typical.
mecabq is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 5:11 pm
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: UA 1K, Hertz 5*, IHG RA, Hyatt Diamond, Amex Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 717
This is turning into a huge mess. United says they didn't cancel my tickets but rather LX did because they decided to pull back the award space. LX said they don't see any reservation.

14 day trip with multiple intra europe non-refundable flights booked and UA says that I am SOL and nothing they can do. I asked for an explanation on why/who/how it was cancelled but nobody had an answer. The best they could come up with is: it happens. if you'd like to pay $7200 per ticket, happy to book for you, otherwise forget it.
silver-tls is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 5:19 pm
  #9  
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: LAX
Programs: UA MM | BA Silver
Posts: 7,192
Originally Posted by mitchmu
I love it. Can't wait until the next quarterly earnings call where we'll listen to $mi$ek talk about continued improvement in operational efficiency (i.e. hang up on customers to get them off the phone more quickly than keeping them on hold as long as needed to actually resolve a problem. You have no doubt contributed to improving this metric, which I'm guessing will contribute to $mi$ek meeting the targets needed to get his bonus. Nice.
that happened to me!
anc-ord772 is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 5:21 pm
  #10  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 24,153
Originally Posted by silver-tls
This is turning into a huge mess. United says they didn't cancel my tickets but rather LX did because they decided to pull back the award space. LX said they don't see any reservation.

14 day trip with multiple intra europe non-refundable flights booked and UA says that I am SOL and nothing they can do. I asked for an explanation on why/who/how it was cancelled but nobody had an answer. The best they could come up with is: it happens. if you'd like to pay $7200 per ticket, happy to book for you, otherwise forget it.
I assume like me that you printed out your res from UA that showed that you were in fact booked and tkted.

About your best bet now would be to send it all to a UAInsider, a few yrs ago when I was with CO and something similiar happened Scott was able to trace everything and saw that CO messed up and in turn simply opened up reg inventory on CO flights to accomadate me.

I know things have changed but you have nothing to lose. If however you dont have a paper trail or LX never Confirmed everything from their side & you never in fact were tkted by UA, then CO may be right and you are SOL
craz is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 5:30 pm
  #11  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Los Angeles / Basel
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 26,910
Just booked a LX award today that has still not ticketed. Will call to check on it...
MatthewLAX is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 5:45 pm
  #12  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: UA 1K, Hertz 5*, IHG RA, Hyatt Diamond, Amex Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 717
Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
Just booked a LX award today that has still not ticketed. Will call to check on it...
Definitely check. The agent at UA who booked it failed to notify LX or something like that. Even though I am looking at the itinerary and ticket numbers, the UA supervisor said they are doing me a favor by putting me on a UA flight instead - which IMHO is an inferior product and no apology
silver-tls is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 5:48 pm
  #13  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Los Angeles / Basel
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 26,910
Originally Posted by silver-tls
Definitely check. The agent at UA who booked it failed to notify LX or something like that. Even though I am looking at the itinerary and ticket numbers, the UA supervisor said they are doing me a favor by putting me on a UA flight instead - which IMHO is an inferior product and no apology
It is certainly an inferior product. Sorry to hear. I'm still on hold...they're telling me the agent did not "reserve" the flights correctly...
MatthewLAX is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 5:49 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: New York, NY USA
Programs: UA Gold = nothing, UA Million Miler; Alaska MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 315
Same!

Identical incident happened to me pre-merger CO (go figure). JFK/ZRH/ATH in C (2 seats) dropped off. CO blamed LX; LX blamed CO. CO had a weak argument, whereas, the balance of the itinerary remained intact. When I tried to conference in LX with CO, the supervisor (CO) hung up on me. No effort on CO's side to fix the situation. Finally, found an agent who routed us thru FRA on LH in F (awesome experience). Arrived in FRA, the flight to ATH was oversold, they gave my partner and I each 500 Euros to wait an additional two (2) hours. Not bad.

-Jim
FragranceMarketingGuy is offline  
Old May 21, 2012, 5:56 pm
  #15  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Los Angeles / Basel
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 26,910
UA just fixed my LX booking (took 20 minutes on hold)--I can now pull up the reservation on swiss.com and ticket numbers show!

Thanks for alerting me, OP!
MatthewLAX is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.