SHARES tries to keep me in South America
Jun 13, 2013, 1:58 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aurora, CO
Programs: Statusless and proud
Posts: 7,582
SHARES tries to keep me in South America
I know how everyone loves complaining threads, but I figured I'd post this here to see if I should bother being upset/sending off an email to United. (This will be a touch long-winded, but I promise I'll make it as short and sweet as I can)
My girlfriend and I were scheduled to fly AQP-LIM-PTY-TGU-RTB on an award. The Arequipa-Lima flight goes off great and we get to Lima around 20:30 for a 02:59 flight to PTY. Check in for Copa doesn't open until 23:30, so we hit up the Starbucks upstairs to use some WiFi.
As soon as check-in opens, we're in line so that we can get checked through as quickly as possible and spend some time in the lounge as that's far superior to chilling at SBux. We start to check in and the agent asks me for my Yellow Fever certification, not realizing that I needed one coming from Peru, we're kinda SOL and just decide that I'll try to change my flights to get back home sooner (the RTB part of the trip was a 1.5 day stopover on the way back home from Peru). So, back up to Starbucks I go, get a hold of UA, admit my error, change my flights to a nice and easy LIM-PTY-IAH-MCI itinerary, keeping my original first flight. All in about ten minutes. Great.
Now's when the nonsense starts to occur. I go to check in with Copa for the same original flight that I had (the 02:59 to PTY), and the agent says that the new itinerary has yet to be ticketed. So, back upstairs on the on the phone with UA. After 30 minutes on the phone, they tell me that I'm still checked in with CM, and to get unchecked in so they can issue the ticket. Back downstairs to CM, and he tells me that he already had unchecked me in, and invited me behind the counter to show me as such. Back upstairs to SBux, and they say they still see my girlfriend checked in, but after explaining to them that I had an agent that was quite competent and ensured that neither of us was, in fact, checked in, they went to work trying to get the ticket in sync. I began this phone call around 01:00. As of 02:15, I was still listening to Gershwin on the phone. I ran downstairs to try and check in if maybe UA had gotten it done magically and I could board my flight, but alas, not yet, so we missed the flight.
OK, I call UA back at 02:30. I explain the situation that we missed the flight that we had booked and, to add insult to injury, while I was on the phone I got a confirmation email for the new (old) flight. Thanks UA. So, I do some digging and find a 04:25 LIM-SAL-IAH-MCI itinerary that has availability. I spoonfeed it to the agent, she says looks good, let's book it. Forty-five minutes later, I'm still listening to Rhapsody in Blue, and have that sinking feeling that I'm not going to get on this flight ether. Finally the agent comes back and tells me everything is good to go except the taxes have gone up $30, whatever, here's my CC number, is that all I need? Can I run to the gate now? She says this will just take one minute and puts me back on hold. Fifteen minutes later, she comes back and tells me everything is ready. I sprint to the TACA counter and they duly inform me that the SAL flight is now closed.
To recap at this point: I've been on the phone with United from approximately 01:00 to 03:30 to get exactly nothing accomplished and having missed two flights that at some point I had confirmed seats on.
I go back onto united.com to investigate new options. Other than waiting until 23:50 for the UA flight to Newark, the only option that pops up is a LIM-SJO-IAH-MCI itinerary leaving at 10:50. I call UA back and explain this to the agent, and she seems convinced that this itinerary isn't possible and instead lets me know there's a LIM-MEX-IAH-MCI itinerary that would work just fine. OK, whatever. Book it. I'd been up for about twenty-two hours at that point, and just wanted confirmed seats. About forty-five minutes later, she says everything is good to go, we're confirmed, and that we can go check in and have a good trip. Finally. So, go down to the TA counter to check in and everything is finally good to go. I ask if they can check our luggage all the way through, and they say, no, they can only do it to Mexico City. "Fine, whatever. How long is my layover there?" "Well, this can't be right. You only have a forty-two minute layover. The minimum connecting time between TACA and United is two hours."
To steal from a credit card commercial:
200 - minutes on the phone
78 - minutes under the MCT in MEX
4 - itineraries that have been ticketed in my name that haven't resulted in me leaving Lima
The look on my girlfriend's face when I told her this one wasn't gonna work either - priceless.
So, I call back yet one more time and this time get an agent that says he's from the 1K line. Good for this Gold, maybe this guy will know what he's doing and be a little bit quicker. I explain the situation and he immediately becomes a bit condescending and tells me there's only availability on the LIM-EWR-MCI flight leaving some nineteen hours later. I tell him about the SJO flight that I found and he promptly and sarcastically tells me his name and apologizes for "not being able to make availability appear out of thin air." I hang up without another word, another twenty minutes on the phone wasted.
Finally, I get another nice agent who finally gets me booked on the LIM-SJO-IAH-MCI flight that I had found after yet another hour on the phone. And this one actually stuck, although we didn't get lounge access since we were flying LR instead of CM and it's a private lounge, but that's a gripe for another day.
So, a final recap: I'm quite aware I screwed up on the original itinerary and am quite thankful that I could change my flights to something that got me home the same day. That being said, I was on the phone for just shy of five hours to get an itinerary fixed that only took ten minutes to book in the first place (the first phone call that night). All the agents I talked to were very kind (except the 1K Line dude), but how can it be that it takes SO long to get anything done, so much so that it delays their customers almost eight hours? If I could have just booked the trip on my smartphone and had them refund the miles I would have, but I figured that'd take a lot more time on the phone.
Feedback appreciated if I have any beef, and if I do send an email, I'll obviously try to make it even shorter to get to the point. I figured a little color might be more appropriate for FT.
Chris
My girlfriend and I were scheduled to fly AQP-LIM-PTY-TGU-RTB on an award. The Arequipa-Lima flight goes off great and we get to Lima around 20:30 for a 02:59 flight to PTY. Check in for Copa doesn't open until 23:30, so we hit up the Starbucks upstairs to use some WiFi.
As soon as check-in opens, we're in line so that we can get checked through as quickly as possible and spend some time in the lounge as that's far superior to chilling at SBux. We start to check in and the agent asks me for my Yellow Fever certification, not realizing that I needed one coming from Peru, we're kinda SOL and just decide that I'll try to change my flights to get back home sooner (the RTB part of the trip was a 1.5 day stopover on the way back home from Peru). So, back up to Starbucks I go, get a hold of UA, admit my error, change my flights to a nice and easy LIM-PTY-IAH-MCI itinerary, keeping my original first flight. All in about ten minutes. Great.
Now's when the nonsense starts to occur. I go to check in with Copa for the same original flight that I had (the 02:59 to PTY), and the agent says that the new itinerary has yet to be ticketed. So, back upstairs on the on the phone with UA. After 30 minutes on the phone, they tell me that I'm still checked in with CM, and to get unchecked in so they can issue the ticket. Back downstairs to CM, and he tells me that he already had unchecked me in, and invited me behind the counter to show me as such. Back upstairs to SBux, and they say they still see my girlfriend checked in, but after explaining to them that I had an agent that was quite competent and ensured that neither of us was, in fact, checked in, they went to work trying to get the ticket in sync. I began this phone call around 01:00. As of 02:15, I was still listening to Gershwin on the phone. I ran downstairs to try and check in if maybe UA had gotten it done magically and I could board my flight, but alas, not yet, so we missed the flight.
OK, I call UA back at 02:30. I explain the situation that we missed the flight that we had booked and, to add insult to injury, while I was on the phone I got a confirmation email for the new (old) flight. Thanks UA. So, I do some digging and find a 04:25 LIM-SAL-IAH-MCI itinerary that has availability. I spoonfeed it to the agent, she says looks good, let's book it. Forty-five minutes later, I'm still listening to Rhapsody in Blue, and have that sinking feeling that I'm not going to get on this flight ether. Finally the agent comes back and tells me everything is good to go except the taxes have gone up $30, whatever, here's my CC number, is that all I need? Can I run to the gate now? She says this will just take one minute and puts me back on hold. Fifteen minutes later, she comes back and tells me everything is ready. I sprint to the TACA counter and they duly inform me that the SAL flight is now closed.
To recap at this point: I've been on the phone with United from approximately 01:00 to 03:30 to get exactly nothing accomplished and having missed two flights that at some point I had confirmed seats on.
I go back onto united.com to investigate new options. Other than waiting until 23:50 for the UA flight to Newark, the only option that pops up is a LIM-SJO-IAH-MCI itinerary leaving at 10:50. I call UA back and explain this to the agent, and she seems convinced that this itinerary isn't possible and instead lets me know there's a LIM-MEX-IAH-MCI itinerary that would work just fine. OK, whatever. Book it. I'd been up for about twenty-two hours at that point, and just wanted confirmed seats. About forty-five minutes later, she says everything is good to go, we're confirmed, and that we can go check in and have a good trip. Finally. So, go down to the TA counter to check in and everything is finally good to go. I ask if they can check our luggage all the way through, and they say, no, they can only do it to Mexico City. "Fine, whatever. How long is my layover there?" "Well, this can't be right. You only have a forty-two minute layover. The minimum connecting time between TACA and United is two hours."
To steal from a credit card commercial:
200 - minutes on the phone
78 - minutes under the MCT in MEX
4 - itineraries that have been ticketed in my name that haven't resulted in me leaving Lima
The look on my girlfriend's face when I told her this one wasn't gonna work either - priceless.
So, I call back yet one more time and this time get an agent that says he's from the 1K line. Good for this Gold, maybe this guy will know what he's doing and be a little bit quicker. I explain the situation and he immediately becomes a bit condescending and tells me there's only availability on the LIM-EWR-MCI flight leaving some nineteen hours later. I tell him about the SJO flight that I found and he promptly and sarcastically tells me his name and apologizes for "not being able to make availability appear out of thin air." I hang up without another word, another twenty minutes on the phone wasted.
Finally, I get another nice agent who finally gets me booked on the LIM-SJO-IAH-MCI flight that I had found after yet another hour on the phone. And this one actually stuck, although we didn't get lounge access since we were flying LR instead of CM and it's a private lounge, but that's a gripe for another day.
So, a final recap: I'm quite aware I screwed up on the original itinerary and am quite thankful that I could change my flights to something that got me home the same day. That being said, I was on the phone for just shy of five hours to get an itinerary fixed that only took ten minutes to book in the first place (the first phone call that night). All the agents I talked to were very kind (except the 1K Line dude), but how can it be that it takes SO long to get anything done, so much so that it delays their customers almost eight hours? If I could have just booked the trip on my smartphone and had them refund the miles I would have, but I figured that'd take a lot more time on the phone.
Feedback appreciated if I have any beef, and if I do send an email, I'll obviously try to make it even shorter to get to the point. I figured a little color might be more appropriate for FT.
Chris
Jun 13, 2013, 2:07 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: San Juan Capistrano, CA
Programs: UA Premier Gold (1MM), AS MVP
Posts: 989
Just my hunch, but I suspect the last one ticketed easiest as it appears to be all UA...
But I suspect you will not find a ton of sympathy here since the root cause is the yellow fever certificate.
I would however complain about the slow time to ticket and rude treatment. That is not acceptable.
But I suspect you will not find a ton of sympathy here since the root cause is the yellow fever certificate.
I would however complain about the slow time to ticket and rude treatment. That is not acceptable.
Jun 13, 2013, 2:11 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aurora, CO
Programs: Statusless and proud
Posts: 7,582
Just my hunch, but I suspect the last one ticketed easiest as it appears to be all UA...
But I suspect you will not find a ton of sympathy here since the root cause is the yellow fever certificate.
I would however complain about the slow time to ticket and rude treatment. That is not acceptable.
But I suspect you will not find a ton of sympathy here since the root cause is the yellow fever certificate.
I would however complain about the slow time to ticket and rude treatment. That is not acceptable.
Chris
Jun 13, 2013, 2:16 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Bogota
Programs: Lifemiles Gold, COPA 1K, Hhonors Diamond, Carlson Gold
Posts: 98
What you could ha e done is go to the medical centre under the stairs in the domestic part of the terminal. Explain the problem and get another yellow fever shot. This will take about 5 minutes and costs about PEN78. With this you are good to go. After you show it to the check-in agent, no one else will want to see it before it expires in 10 years!
i have done this more than once!
i have done this more than once!
Jun 13, 2013, 2:18 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aurora, CO
Programs: Statusless and proud
Posts: 7,582
What you could ha e done is go to the medical centre under the stairs in the domestic part of the terminal. Explain the problem and get another yellow fever shot. This will take about 5 minutes and costs about PEN78. With this you are good to go. After you show it to the check-in agent, no one else will want to see it before it expires in 10 years!
i have done this more than once!
i have done this more than once!
Chris
Jun 13, 2013, 2:21 pm
#6
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9930; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.755 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
I had a similar experience in IST trying to get unchecked-in from a flight to change an award. It was similarly frustrating, though my end result was sightly better, in part because my immediate next flight was on a separate ticket.
I do wonder if the OP's issues are partly related to some airline partners needing time to confirm award itinerarries. More than once I've heard that changes within 24 hours of departure are not allowed for that reason. The OP might have been caught by that.
I had a similar experience in IST trying to get unchecked-in from a flight to change an award. It was similarly frustrating, though my end result was sightly better, in part because my immediate next flight was on a separate ticket.
I do wonder if the OP's issues are partly related to some airline partners needing time to confirm award itinerarries. More than once I've heard that changes within 24 hours of departure are not allowed for that reason. The OP might have been caught by that.
Jun 13, 2013, 2:24 pm
#7
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Bogota
Programs: Lifemiles Gold, COPA 1K, Hhonors Diamond, Carlson Gold
Posts: 98
Jun 13, 2013, 2:25 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aurora, CO
Programs: Statusless and proud
Posts: 7,582
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9930; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.755 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
I had a similar experience in IST trying to get unchecked-in from a flight to change an award. It was similarly frustrating, though my end result was sightly better, in part because my immediate next flight was on a separate ticket.
I do wonder if the OP's issues are partly related to some airline partners needing time to confirm award itinerarries. More than once I've heard that changes within 24 hours of departure are not allowed for that reason. The OP might have been caught by that.
I had a similar experience in IST trying to get unchecked-in from a flight to change an award. It was similarly frustrating, though my end result was sightly better, in part because my immediate next flight was on a separate ticket.
I do wonder if the OP's issues are partly related to some airline partners needing time to confirm award itinerarries. More than once I've heard that changes within 24 hours of departure are not allowed for that reason. The OP might have been caught by that.
Chris
Chris
Last edited by iluv2fly; Jun 13, 2013 at 2:54 pm Reason: merge
Jun 13, 2013, 2:30 pm
#9
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Bogota
Programs: Lifemiles Gold, COPA 1K, Hhonors Diamond, Carlson Gold
Posts: 98
no they did not want any cash, first time just gave me the shot and back-dated the certificate, second time just gave me a duplicate certificate without charge.
Jun 13, 2013, 2:33 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aurora, CO
Programs: Statusless and proud
Posts: 7,582
Chris
Jun 13, 2013, 2:40 pm
#11
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Bogota
Programs: Lifemiles Gold, COPA 1K, Hhonors Diamond, Carlson Gold
Posts: 98
When I explained to the doctor, she said she believed that I already had a valid certificate but did not realise I needed it to go to SAL. I had travelled this route many times before without the need of a certificate. I also think that the check-in agent was complicient as I just waved the certificate at her and she was happy.