V-Flyer

I'm chasing up an e-ticket (again!), and I've just had a lovely chat with a very competent customer services gentleman, who was very helpful.

Anyway, during the call I was told how many people VS employ in their ticketing department over the weekend.

Can you guess?

I dread to think !

5?

5?

0? Or perhaps 1 for emergencies? Surely 99% of ticketing is automated? And the majority of what needs to be done manually can wait until Monday.

gumshoe wrote:0? Or perhaps 1 for emergencies? Surely 99% of ticketing is automated? And the majority of what needs to be done manually can wait until Monday.

Ha ha ha ha "automated".

My guess is two. It seems to me that every ticket purchased goes to these two people who then manually punch your CC details into their credit card machine before pressing a "Print to Excel" button for the eticket itself ...

NYLON, do tell

slinky09 wrote:

gumshoe wrote:0? Or perhaps 1 for emergencies? Surely 99% of ticketing is automated? And the majority of what needs to be done manually can wait until Monday.

Ha ha ha ha "automated".

My guess is two. It seems to me that every ticket purchased goes to these two people who then manually punch your CC details into their credit card machine before pressing a "Print to Excel" button for the eticket itself ...

Slinky you are almost right --- but, excel originated in 1985, VS 1984, I doubt they have upgraded to Excel yet?

OK, well, according to the terribly nice chap in customer services, today (and generally at weekends) there is...

...one person working in the ticketing department.

The CS chap was very honest (and funny) and said as mine was a 2015 ticket, I never really stood any chance of the "it'll be with you in 24-48 hours" trope actually coming true.

Basically I gather 'normal' tickets are indeed automated. But any kind of complication (splitting payment over more than one card, or some kinds of upgrades for example) require manual processing.

I actually came out of the conversation feeling very positive towards VS. I really appreciated the honesty, not feeling that something was wrong with my booking, and being given a more logical processing time to receive my e-ticket (end of business, Monday, when more staff are at work).

So there you go!

NYLON wrote:OK, well, according to the terribly nice chap in customer services, today (and generally at weekends) there is...

...one person working in the ticketing department.


So there you go!

I was going to say about half of them - which would make the total number to be two!

Deleted as I didn't read the thread properly !

I agree that the honesty is refreshing and good, but you have to wonder about that level of staffing. Having endured some very long phone hold times whilst waiting for an upgrade or change to be priced, I wonder if this is an adequate policy for an operation of VS's size and quality.

Basically I agree, at240, but those phone holds we've all experienced are more to do with general customer service staffing, rather than staffing of the ticketing department (as customers are never put through directly to ticketing).

That said, I think you have a point. A few months ago on the phone a customer service agent let slip that a huge number of calls clogging up the system are from people who have been told to expect their e-tickets "within 24 hours." When they don't turn up in 24 hours, the customer - rightly - things something is wrong and calls up...

NYLON wrote:Basically I agree, at240, but those phone holds we've all experienced are more to do with general customer service staffing, rather than staffing of the ticketing department (as customers are never put through directly to ticketing).

Sorry, I should have been clearer -- I mean that in the case of more complicated changes you can be put on hold whilst the agent rings someone else to calculate the fare. This has taken ages in the past for me. I assume they're calling ticketing -- but maybe not -- maybe fares is another dept(/person)!!

You're absolutely right. My exact experience.

I think the 'Ticketing Department' might actually be made up entirely.

Probably we're just put on hold while the customer services agent pulls out his/her pencil and paper and sharpens up their mental arithmetic skills...

"We are experiencing higher than expected call numbers at present, your call is important to us, please hold the line whilst we connect you to the next/only available person"

northernhenry wrote:"We are experiencing higher than expected call numbers at present, your call is important to us, please hold the line whilst we connect you to the next/only available person"

I guess that they also have just the 1 person working in the ticketing department during the week too.

I am still waiting a new e-ticket since I upgraded the outbound flight last Thursday.

They order processing by date of travel. If your ticket is not for a while, you might have to wait a few more days.

Using Twitter to push things along tends to work, by the way.

interlog wrote:I guess that they also have just the 1 person working in the ticketing department during the week too.

I am still waiting a new e-ticket since I upgraded the outbound flight last Thursday.

Don't hold your breath, I woke up to an ETicket for a flight I upgraded O-M-P over two weeks ago.

At least they let you pick the seats ahead of time.

Actually, I am surprised the number is as high as that !

I am getting a little concerned here..

Upgraded with miles and some cash from PE to UC on the 30th October.

No revised e-ticket received.
No monies taken from my credit card
No miles taken off the flying account

But I have been able to select the UC seats and MMB shows the upgraded leg as being in UC.

Have been on to the Flying Club twice now to be told the e-ticket will be with you within 24 hours.

Me thinks this will be a cock up and we end up back in PE

That one ticketing employee has no doubt been occupied managing the average V-Flyer's next itinerary

Have you told FC that they have given you the 24 hr excuse before.... as in its been well over 24hrs now!!

If I were you I'd try to resend your e-ticket from MMB? Fingers crossed something comes through.

I told them twice now that they would send it within 24 hours... alas it hasn't done the trick.

MMB does not give an option to resend the e-ticket and it no longer shows either how many miles are to be earned on the flight (I am sure that it showed before the upgrade of the 1 leg).

Flying out in a couple of weeks time so will try one more time later this week and if no luck perhaps escalate it to a supervisor.

Apparently the Facebook and/or Twitter team are good at getting these things resolved. Worth a try.

Bretty wrote:Apparently the Facebook and/or Twitter team are good at getting these things resolved. Worth a try.

Totally agree with Bretty about Twitter: it's always worked for me (e-ticket either same day or, genuinely, within 24 hours)!

Once you've upgraded to G, MMB doesn't show what you earn on the revenue portion of the ticket (i.e. the original M or S fare, for example).

The e-ticket is generated once the funds have been processed (by the ticketing department).

This is an entirely separate transaction (don't ask me why) to the miles redemption (Flying Club can handle this directly).

The miles should have come off already. If I were you, I'd keep quiet that they haven't, and just mention the lack of e-ticket and credit card transaction...

Good luck! Let us know when it comes through!