Award Ticket Drama: Downgraded from OZ F to UA J (and MUCH more)!
 

Not quite sure how to handle this one, given how overwhelming it was. I have an idea of what I'd like to get back in terms of compensation, but hopefully y'all here can help shed some light on this...

To avoida 10-page OP, I'll just post the "highlights" here:
1) US' site randomly dropped one OZ segment off of my online reservation and one SQ flight on my wife's, despite all seats still being confirmed/valid (according to the operating carriers - I had called them once I noticed the discrepancy)
2) US agent called me a few days later informing me of a schedule change. I said I noticed some weird stuff on my online itinerary, but said I had spoken to OZ and SQ and they said (a) there were no time changes and (b) that my seats were still good. Seems the message didn't get through, as (i noticed two days later) the agent changed my reservation after I specifically asked her not to. What was the change? See numbers 3 and 4!
3) Being downgraded from Asiana to United
4) Being downgraded from First to Business
5) Not having anything to eat for nearly 10 hours. This is because I had confirmed a kosher meal on OZ, but when US moved me to UA they forgot to move my meal.
6) Being forced to switch flights (SFO-YVR instead of SFO-PHX-YVR). The US flight (SFO-PHX) flight was a tad late, but still - with a 40-minute connection - we could have made the flight. Instead, we had to leave the terminal , head to AC ticket counter and reclear the int'l terminal security. And after all that, despite having confirmed first on the US legs....
7) Wewere downgraded from First to Coach on the AC flight.
8) Then, to add insult to injury, my baggage was lost at YVR - well it was actually in PHX - thanks to not being properly transferred to the AC flight (despite being promised it would be).

So? What is fair compensation? Obviously it was an award ticket. We each paid 140k in F (US-Sout Pacific), for those wondering.

Mod help...
 

Totally screwed up the title... Could you please fix "tocket" to ticket, and add a "J" after "UA?" Thanks!

There are a few things here:

1. Compensation for downgrade.

If you have already flown (accepted the changes), and at least one segment was in int'l F, you are not owed compensation. If the whole trip was downgraded to J, then you can get the difference in miles back.

2. Compensation for lost baggage.

You may get compensation under Montreal Conventionor under DoT rules, depending on the circumstances. Try reading this NYT article - http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/03/03...pagewanted=all

Also, see if you had insurance on the CC to which you charged the taxes - you may be able to get more that way. Keep in mind that your CC insurance may require subrogation of claim against the carrier - read documents carefully or consult an attorney.

3. General advice.

When you have problems like these, you should request a supervisor. Most agents wouldn't be able to help competently.

If special meals are vital to you, you should call the individual operating carriers directly and confirm it. I'm vegetarian and I do not rely on the ticketing carrier to do this.

This sounds like great material for the trip report section! :D

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes though. I second the other posters about the fact that you should've talked to a supervisor.

Thankfully I have spoken to several supervisors in the last few days. I'm still working on compensation...

I'd like some more info. Were both you and your wife ultimately downgraded from OZ F to UA J? What about the SQ F segment(s)?

Could you post both your originally-confirmed and actually-flown itineraries for comparison?

Also, can you be specific about the time frame of these changes/downgrades, especially in comparison to when each actual altered flight was flown?

This will help me give you a strategy for your compensation request.

Seems like to me yet another example of US Air's "sometimes" infamously malfucntional HP Shares catastrophe.

I also think we need a little more details..... and that really doesn't have to a multi-pager....

But so far I see (before flying):
- downgraded 1 segment for 1 passenger on OZ
- downgraded 1 segment for 1 passenger on SQ

And some problems during flight due to your arriving flight being late:
- a downgrade on an alternative flight
- you luggage got lost

Makes me wonder why you accepted the changes knowing them before flying. I would think that you could have done something about this before flying? I doubt you will get any compensation now.... as long as not all your segments are in C you have to pay the F miles.

For the operational problems you might get something. And for your luggage there is the standard coverage, supplemented by your insurance.

Doesn't sound like a great trip, but most could have probably been rectified before flying.

More Info...
 

For ease of typing, I won't include, dates, times or flight numbers, but will say all flights were in February '13...

Original:
YVR-SFO (UA F)
SFO-ICN-SIN (SQ F)
SIN-SYD (SQ F - destination)
MEL-SIN (SQ "R")
SIN-ICN (SQ regional J)
ICN-LAX (OZ F)
LAX-YVR (AC F/J)

Flown:
YVR-SFO (UA F)
SFO-ICN-SIN (SQ F)
SIN-SYD (SQ F - destination)
MEL-SIN (SQ "R")
SIN-ICN (SQ regional J)
ICN-SFO (UA J)
SFO-YVR (AC Y)
(SFO-PHX-YVR was scheduled after the change, but was changed again DOD to the direct SFO-YVR flight due to a US delay)

When did these problems first arise? Great question! It all started sometime in January, when I noticed something out of whack on our online reservations pages *note, we booked on separate PNRs. On mine everything looked fine except for the fact that my ICN-LAX flight simply wasn't there. Voila, gone! So now it seemed as though I had open-jawed ...SIN-ICN//LAX-YVR. Weird. Then, I checked my wife's and noticed she too was missing a segment; but for her it was the SIN-ICN flight! ...? Haha. Her flights now seemed to route ...MEL-SIN//ICN-LAX... This obviously worried me, but I figured I should first reach out to OZ and SQ as they were the operating carriers. After very short calls, they said they had no idea what was wrong with my online US reservation, but they see everything perfectly - my seats, confirmation/ticket numbers, flight times, special meal requests, etc...

Perfect, I thought to myself. I then carried on with my life thinking it was a simple US web-glitch. If only it were that simple. Fast forward two days...

I get a call around dinner time from a US CSR informing me of a schedule change on several flights and asking if I noticed. I informed her that I didn't know there was a schedule change, but that I had spoken to SQ and OZ earlier and they had said all of the flight times were still the same. Then, I mentioned the weird issue on the US site and she said it must have been because of the change. "Don't worry," I said. "I've spoken to SQ and OZ in the last few days and they said all of my seats, meals, etc... are still confirmed. Thanks for the call, but there's no need to change anything - I'm all squared away."

"Oh, that's great!" she said, as if a huge burden had been taken off her back. "That'll make my job much easier. Have a great night!" Wow! That was nice - they even called about the problem! Well, no worries, it's all taken care of now. Hmmm.... If only... Fast forward about one week.

As I always do about a week before a big trip, I returned to the US site to verify all of my flight details. This is when I got REALLY worried. All of a sudden, there was no open-jaw. Great! But wait, why am I flying into SFO? And why then onto PHX? What? United?? BUSINESS CLASS?!?! What the #$@& is that "I" doing next to that 10-hour flight? Everything should be "O" (except the on "R" for the SQ MEL-SIN flight)!! Let's play the how helpful are the US supervisors game!

Ring ring... Ring ring. "Welcome to USAirways, blah blah blah..." No time for the gate-keepers, I need a supervisor. "Can I ask what this is in reference to?" Yea, I'd rather not - I always have a tough time doing this politely, but I sure do try my darndest. Once the supervisor got on the line I explained everything above (in a bit more detail).

"I'm really sorry sir, but when there are schedule changes like this one there's little we can do. We just book you on the next available flight that is as close to what you booked as possible." I tried pleading, explaining there was really no schedule change and that I had spoken to the operating carriers (and even a US CSR) a few days earlier and was told everything was in tact! Why would US then go ahead and do this?

In a futile attempt, I asked, "Any way to get those OZ seats back?" Haha. Nice try. In any case, the best she could do was wave the change fee if anything came back before the date of original departure.

Of course, nothing did. I tried calling again from ICN, to no avail. Then I sent an email to CSR, GOLD and spoke to a supervisor here, but for what? What should I really be expecting?

The rest of the story is pretty simple:
-Flight to SFO doesn't have kosher meals
-Get to SFO, are told the US flight is delayed and 45 minutes won't be enough connection time in PHX
-Given BPs for AC's SFO-YVR direct (in coach). "Don't worry you're bags will be sent over."
-No bag in YVR (for three days)

So? How would YOU handle this one?

However sad, but it emphasizes the need to babysit one's reservation. I always get worried when my itinerary doesn't display properly - makes me wonder what's going on. When in doubt, I look up my e-ticket on SV website to make sure it has all the correct segments and coupons.

What you should have done after receiving that call around dinner time is go to US website and check whether the CSR you've spoken with really fixed the problem, and if not, you should have called back and insisted that the problems be fixed.

In retrospect, very true. But given her reaction to our brief phone conversation I (wrongfully) assumed it would all be left untouched.

Oh well... Australia was great!

Please correct me if I'm wrong but US doesn't even provide seat assignments on *A partner flights do they? They give you a record locator for the other airline and you gotta' call them yourself. That's the way I've always done it.

So, you're wise enough to book this very sophisticated (and very difficult to attain) itinerary but you're not wise enough to know that you gotta call the airline yourself to request a special meal? That's inconsistent but what do I know?

Also, I don't think they owe you squat provided what the tickets are valued at in cash compared to the values of the miles for this trip. I strongly suspect they acted within the rules of the COC. You had the option to cancel if you wanted and you went ahead with the trip, right?

Give it up - this is the definition of a first world problem.

What is the "SV WEBSITE" sorry for the ignorance.

Well, the OP is sophisticated enough to be running a booking service for people as well as booking that award, according to the link in the signature. ;)

Better that you should learn this rather important piece of industry know-how on your own, as opposed to messing up a customer's meals, I would think...

As for the rest of it- write a letter and see what you get, I guess.