When is a reward seat not a reward seat ?

Just been on the phone to VS to try to book a UC reward fare LGW-LAS that appeared this morning. However, after speaking to a couple of members of staff this seat does not exist.
Finally got to speak with a member of the Premier Services Team who informed me that the Website has several problems with it and has done for the last few days[n]. She also went on to say that several of the other routes are advertising reward seats that also don't exist and it wasn't a case of someone beating me to the fare that another member of staff had implied.
Just as example of what i'm rambling on about[:I] the wesite shows UC reward fares (G ) in January to Vegas on 1st,4th,13th,17,24th,27th & 31st and one the return on 14th, in reality after going throught the list with the agent only the 1st and 4th are actually available and nothing on the return.[?]

I did book LHR-LAX, (although the earlier flight was showing as avilable as a 'G' but doesn't exist either[:p]) so I'm not too unhappy, just thought I'd mention it.

Also like to add that the staff were helpful and the lady in the premier team was fantastic and couldn't do enough to help[^].

-Steve

If you think this is difficult, wait until you try and book reward flights on partner airlines....

I love the VS Web site, it's bug free, error free, really high availability ... smirk [:w]

I've just booked a return G fare return from MAN-MCO for next May. Both booking confirmation & e-Ticket have arrived by email.

Am I right in thinking that once the airline have issued the e-Ticket, the booking is definately safe? I paid the right amount of taxes+fees+charges (276).

Thanks
James

quote:Originally posted by slinky09
I love the VS Web site, it's bug free, error free, really high availability ... smirk [:w]


Yes.... logging out of My Booking, logs me out of flying club too [n]

So if you decided to book one of the Vegas reward flights on-line instead of calling, would the booking go through, and if so would they have to honour it?

I know that you will not now as you know the situation, but you could have chosen to do it on-line in the first place; just an idle thought.[:?]

quote:Originally posted by ClaireAW
So if you decided to book one of the Vegas reward flights on-line instead of calling, would the booking go through, and if so would they have to honour it?

I know that you will not now as you know the situation, but you could have chosen to do it on-line in the first place; just an idle thought.[:?]


I thought of that when I was talking to the Premier Team, she told me that it would only take you to the next step and then tell you that they were not available.

-Steve

[Scrooge]

That raises an interesting question, I would say if the VS system allows you to book a VS flight and accepts your payment, you have a valid ticket, from that point on it's VS's problem as I can see all types of legal issues if they try and go back and attempt to void it.

quote:Originally posted by Scrooge
That raises an interesting question, I would say if the VS system allows you to book a VS flight and accepts your payment, you have a valid ticket, from that point on it's VS's problem as I can see all types of legal issues if they try and go back and attempt to void it.
I certainly hope this is the case. The booking confirmation says that the e-ticket will follow within 24hrs, so you could argue that VS have given themselves a short space of time to come back before the ticket is issued and say 'the system made a mistake' and cancel the booking. Once the e-ticket is issued, the booking should be final - as long as you paid the right taxes, fees & charges.

James

I think we see this occaisionally on normal tickets too. The grid thingy is a cached copy of prices and availability. Somethings, for whatever reason, the cache doesn't get refreshed in a timely fashion. Regardless, when you click Next from the grid it goes and checks for real as to availability and prices, hence why you sometimes get the 'the prices have changed since you first saw them, please ensure you are happy to continue' message.