Thai Airways has inconsistent change fee policy

Date: 31 July 2013
Airline: Thai Airways
Location: Seoul, South Korea to LAX
Flight: TG692

When I made reservation drop down menu online did not have the return date I wanted. I called to verify and was told that arriving date change fee is $0. They only have $150 fee for outbound changes which states on their reservation confirmation. I was told to call back later after making the reservation to change the date I wanted. Now that I called to change the date, they're saying its $350 per ticket, total of $700.

Their terms and conditions / restrictions specify that ticket is good for one year but representative told me it is actually 6 months and that I have to pay to get an extension. None of their disclaimer links work either. Nowhere in the ticket or reservation confirmation state the fee of date change other than outbound flight. Consumers are deceivingly sold and unlawfully charged without proper notices.

American Airlines booking error ends up costing a passenger

Date: 16 June 2012
Airline: American Airlines

I purchased a travel package for two on June 16th going from from John Wayne (Santa Ana, CA) to Miami. I specified that I would cancel the trip if I could not get upgraded. I have 190,000 miles with AAdvantage.

She told me that in order to get the upgrade that I would have to purchase the coach tickets and only after that I would be able to contact AAdvantage and get the upgrades. She told me told if I cancelled I would have to pay $150 per ticket. She stated that there were many first class seats available and I would have a good chance of getting the upgrades.

She then booked the flights and I got a copy of my tickets 8:08 am this morning 18 June 2012. I then called Aadvantage and they said there were no upgrades available to 75% of my flights. I then called AA Travel (Lynn)and canceled. She told me I had to eat (purchase) the tickets and pay a $300 fine.

I then spoke to Becky and wanted to know what happened?? She booked the flight from John Wayne to Miami as Booking code K and the return as Booking Code V. Because she didn’t book the first part of the flight as V it now becomes a non-refundable flight. This is not what I agreed too. I was never informed that I would be stuck with the tickets.

I am willing to pay the $300 because I agreed to that. But because American travel took it on their own to change the code and make it nonrefundable they should refund the difference.

-John

United can't find confirmed tickets

Date: November 28, 2011
Airline: United fight 1605
Location: San Francisco, CA

I have been a United customer since I took my first flight 41 years ago. United has been instrumental in helping to create many memorable experiences over the years, but my recent trip was the worst traveling experience ever in my many years and miles of traveling.

I arrived at San Francisco airport with my girlfriend to begin our romantic vacation in Costa Rica at 6:45am on November 18, 2011 for my 9 am flight (UA 1605). The agent looked confused and disappeared for 15 minutes. When she returned she stated that she could not find the second leg of our reservation to Costa Rica.

I asked how she knew we were going to Costa Rica if it did not show up, as I had just given her my passport and not my itinerary. I stated I would like to speak with a supervisor if there was a problem. No supervisor showed up. I then showed her my conformation from my travel agent which showed that I had purchased 2 first class tickets for myself and my girlfriend on October 7, 2011 and that we had seat assignments for all 4 legs of the journey.

The agent left again and did not return for 30 minutes. When she returned, she handed us boarding passes. I asked if there were any problems and she stated that everything was in order. I thought it was unusual that it had taken us over 45 minutes to get a boarding pass, but trusted her that everything was in order.

When we arrived in Houston we made our way to the gate. Upon having our passports checked against our boarding passes Christy's boarding pass was taken and we were told she did not have a seat on the flight, UA 1565. The agent in San Francisco had given her a boarding pass with no seat assignment and told us everything was "in order." I asked to
speak with a supervisor and was told one was "on the way."

The agents at the gate, AnnMarie T., Sophia V. and Terri J. were very unhelpful and unfriendly. We were told that the flight was oversold and there was no seat for Christy and that "their" computer had no reservation. I immediately called my travel agent and he made some calls and called me back. (I have a very good travel agent as I work for a very high-end wine estate in Napa valley and the business flies millions of miles a year as we make wine on four different continents). He assured me he spoke with someone at United and United central booking had us in seats 3A and 3B (UA 1565).

I asked again for a supervisor and was told they were on their way. We were not the only passengers this had happen to. There were at least four other groups that had the same situation.

The plane was over 45 minutes late at this point. There were six women crying loudly at the counter and still no supervisor had shown up. I have never seen anything this bad in all of my years of travel. My girlfriend was finally offered a seat in economy and we unhappily boarded the plane. No supervisor ever showed up in the hour and a half we waited at the counter.

We were not even on our way yet and we had already spent two and a half hours at the United counter for tickets we had purchased and were confirmed six weeks prior. Christy cried the whole way to Costa Rica…. So much for our romantic vacation.

The next day my travel agent spent over an hour on the phone with Continental and United to insure this did not happen on our return flight. He was assured by the agents and then assured me that everything was confirmed for our return flight.

We arrived at SJO at 1:30pm on November 28th for our 3:55pm flight (UA1447). We were quickly informed that we did not have seats 3A and 3B as we had reservations for, but that we had economy seats and were on the wait list for First Class. After another hour at the ticket counter we were finally given seats in First Class, but not together.

We went to the gate and waited at that counter for another 45 minutes and they were finally able to switch someone and seat us together. Upon boarding the plane we were greeted by a female flight attendant whose first words to us were, "Is there a problem?" in a very snotty tone. I explained that, No, there was not a problem, but we were having a trying day of travel and would love a drink at her first opportunity.

I was surprised by here level of rudeness. The next surprise was there was no audio/video on the plane! Nothing. We were told this was a "new" plane and this was the way they come. I have never heard of such a thing. When I was departing the airplane I asked for the attendants name that had been rude to us. The other attendants told me that they did not know it and that I needed to get out of the way.

When I politely asked how they did not know their co-workers name, they told me to get off the plane or they would call the police. We were so worn out from the experience we exited the plane in shock. We made the last leg of the journey (UA 1712) with only minor delays.

This was by far my worst traveling experience in my 49 years and I have been all over the world on many different airlines. In my job I participate in many food, wine and travel blogs. While this experience is without a doubt the worst travel experience I have encountered, I have not posted about my experiences yet, and as a life long United customer I am hoping that this story will have a happy ending with United taking responsibility for their mistakes and making this right. That would be a story worth posting about.

I am prepaired to give United a "do over." Correct your mistakes with two First Class tickets to Costa Rica from San Francisco and I can try
to "do over" my romantic vacation.

-John

Airline makes booking mistake and makes passenger pay change fee

Date: 26 April 2012
Airline: Spirit

This is ridiculous!

On Thursday night (26 April 2012) I booked my regular r/t (round trip) from DTW (Detroit, MI) to ACY  (Atlantic City, NJ) on Spirit and TODAY (Saturday 28 April 2012) received the confirmation in my box that Spirit REVERSED my cities! Note that I book this regularly and remember putting in the correct cities:

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012
Atlantic City, NJ; 5:00 PM; flight 348
Detroit, MI 6:50 PM

TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012
Detroit, MI 8:10 AM; flight 341
Atlantic City, NJ 9:42 AM

They have me leaving ACY on 5/22 to DTW rather than DTW to ACY!  So I phone them immediately and they say it's past 24 hours (I JUST got their email today!) so they want to charge me $125 for a $136 ticket, for something that was THEIR error.  

Waiting for an hour, supposedly I was handed from supervisor to supervisor, with a man named Anbre Davis telling me that there was no way he could fix my ticket, and that I should just email customer service and even then, after I checked the address with them, they gave me the wrong address.  This isn't fair.  I deserve for them to fix their computer error without a charge.  

Please help me get my complaint through to their higher ups AND put in my complaint that their customer service is a big run around.  They just reiterated their unfair rules.  I didn't make the mistake-- their computer did! Thanks!

- Marcy

Another customer service failure from merger of United and Continental

Letter sent to United CEO Jeff Smisek

Flight scheduled for 5 July 2012

I want to register a complaint about recent arrangements on United for a trip to Maui on July 5, 2012. I have been a loyal United customer for many years, flying domestic and international routes many times. Over the years I have been frustrated by frequent schedule and seating changes. Once again this has raised its ugly head!

You will see that I have flights scheduled through September of this year. I have Multiple Sclerosis and the wife has had recent knee replacement surgery. We always book a bulkhead for our comfort, in Economy Plus. We used to fly Business Class, but the cost is now completely ridiculous.
At any rate, we booked six tickets to Maui. All Economy Plus seats. I held Elite Status at the time I booked this flight. I am not sure what level my status is now as I have not received a new Mileage Plus care since January 2010.

(passenger describes how the current booking arrangement separates family members, including a child)

I spent hours on the phone, mostly waiting to talk to a live person, but to no avail. I was finally transferred to an offshore facility in the Philippines. I talked to two nice ladies, one a supervisor neither who could resolve this issue. I was told by the first CSR named Leri, that customer relations could not call me back. Does the phone only work one way? The supervisor I spoke with said she (Mejia V02873) would have Customer Relations call me on Monday, April 16. Never got the call.

I booked Economy Plus seats, sitting together with my wife daughter and her family. What are you going to do about this? I understand the complexity of merging two airlines. Perhaps this is a result of putting a Continental Airframe on this flight. I had a contract with you and you have not honored it. I pray your organization does not screw up my travel arrangements in September.

Always check with the airline to confirm your flights

When you book with a third party service like Orbitz or some other online service, always check with the airline about the status of your flight.

Airline: United Airlines, flights 5096 and 5033
Date: 24 December 2009 and 1 January 2010
Location: Round trip Kansas City, MO to Salina, KS


After much planning for the Christmas & New Years holidays, I had a less than pleasant experience on my leg from Kansas City to Salina, Kansas December 24, 2009. Due to inclement weather, my flight #5096 was cancelled and rescheduled for the next day. This
flight was was again cancelled and found that the next actual flight that made it to Salina, Kansas from Kansas City was Saturday night December 26. By the way, my luggage (a new red roller bag) finally showed up filthy at that time. This was a fairly recent purchase also. The only reason I made it to Salina was the kindness of strangers from Pennsylvania that invited me to drive there with them or I would have been stranded.

Before my return flight on January 1, 2010 on United flight #5033, I received a call from the Salina airport December 31 around 5pm indicating that my flight was cancelled due to lack of no one working to fly the plane. I was rescheduled for the same departure time and flight number for January 2, 2010 and again informed by the Salina airport that this flight was cancelled due to lack of no one to fly the plane.

I was rescheduled to fly back on Sunday, January 3rd. This is the "funny part", I even received courtesy calls from Orbitz around 3:30am January 1 saying that my flight from Salina to Kansas City was on time. Another "funny" is that two booking sites that I checked indicated that these flights were still booking passengers for the Friday and Saturday flights that were cancelled.

I work in Customer Service and although I had no problems with the people I dealt with as far as courtesy as they were apologetic, after spending $594.40 for my round trip flight from Michigan to Kansas and not getting the service I paid for and luggage problems and added expenses and inconvenience, I am requesting 2 round trip non-blackout days tickets in the continental US. I feel this is the least I deserve after having to change plans inconveniencing myself and my family.

AirSafe.com Responds
Unfortunately, the US airlines on domestic flights are not required to compensate passengers for canceled flights, late flights, so she would be lucky to get anything out of the airline. She has more hope about compensation for the damaged bag, so long as she can document the condition of the bag before the flight.

While you may get information about a flight from on online service, you should contact the airline directly if you have any questions about your flight, especially for delays and cancellations. If you book a ticket through a non-airline service like Orbitz, you should still check with the airline or the airline's web site for flight information

Photo: Aquila

When You Book with an Online Travel Service, Prices Can Change Before Your Very Eyes

George was kind enough to share the following story about his experience booking a holiday trip online, and it looks like the online service decided to give itself a present.

I went to Travelocity and filled in the required fields for the round trip flight for $312.40 for two seniors (my wife and I are visiting her brother for the Christmas holiday). When I went to the bottom of the page and clicked on the "Continue with Flight Only" button a page came up with a dialogue box that said "we're sorry. The price for this trip has changed. . . ." The new price was $392.40.

This is classic bait and switch, which is larceny by artifice or device in every state in the union. In my state larcenies carry a five year felony incarceration. I sincerely believe that if the person or persons who built this website, maintain it, or oversee it, are prosecuted as an example, with adequate publicity, then it will stop. Otherwise, they will continue doing it. I have retained the printed pages from the site with all of the foregoing information on it as written documentation of the bait and switch electronic maneuver.

AirSafe.com Responds
While we have no comment or opinion on the potential legality of changing prices in the middle of an online order, but it seems that there could be a more customer friendly way to deal with sudden price changes. The average customer would be happy to see an unexpected price drop, but a sudden price rise might deny any online travel service the most valuable thing of all, a repeat customer.