Doesn’t Add Up

Spread it!

Email This

A couple of weeks ago I was booked a flight to New York on my “favorite” airline – it was an early morning direct, departing the same evening so I could continue onto another city. The day before, I got a call saying that the meeting may be rescheduled – so to plan ahead, I called the airline to make back up reservations into my second stop.

After speaking with a couple CSRs, I learned that my changing my original ticket would cost me $660 plus the $100 change fee (the original multi-stop ticket was $355 round-trip.) The worst part was that I had just received a promotional email to my second stop for $200 round trip! I asked about the deal, the rep couldn’t find and said it must be a web-only special. After a lot of pleading, I was eventually transferred to their web desk; they couldn't apply the advertised fare to an existing reservation, but eventually gave me a $100 credit on the original fare. I took it and hoped that my plans wouldn’t have to change.

Having coordinated channels would help immensely – front-line agents should also have access to web specials and be aware of the email program. This communication mishap encourages travelers to test channels to get the best deal; this example is proof of the airline’s inefficiencies and devalues their email program.



And the rest of the story…
The day of my meeting, I’m sitting at the airport and get a call to reschedule the meeting in New York. Knowing the possibility of the high fare, I got in line to see if I could rearrange my itinerary – as luck would have it, my flight to New York was cancelled due to a mechanical issue… they booked me on the higher price flight that I originally wanted.