Just thought i would share a recent experience regarding reward seats and connecting flights.(beware bit of a long post).
I had booked PE reward seats, LGW-MCO returning MCO-JFK-LHR, and used miles for the LGW-MCO /JFK-LHR sectors and had paid for the connection MCO-JFK with DL. All booked direct with VS Flying Club at the same time.
I could have gotten the MCO-JFK sector slightly cheaper myself but wanted to ensure i had one through booking for the return leg to ensure the same baggage allowance and check through of bags. Also if the linked connection was late into JFK VS would get us home on a later plane.
So rang FC and made the booking, was very explicit with the agent i wanted to ensure the flights were on one booking for the above reasons, which she said would be the case, and confirmed with her we would get the VS baggage allowance on DL from MCO for the connecting trans atlantic flight to LHR, and the bags would be checked through from MCO-LHR. perfect.
So day before the MCO-JFK-LHR T-24 and an email from DL saying i could check in online, great, complete the first couple of pages and it gets to bags, i select, 2 for me and 1 for Mrs Chumba, and the computer says $160 please v( Thats more than the original cost of the flight!
So ring DL and explain at which point they say the flights have been ticketed separately, whilst they may be linked they are effectively two separate flights. So the DL flight is treated as just that an internal flight with no baggage allowance so we have to pay v(
I explain and their response is take it up with Virgin they booked it -you wanna fly with us then $160 will be the baggage cost. n(
So ring FC, and get a very sympathetic lady, who appreciates the issue but says its already been ticketed and whilst she sympathizes she can do nothing about it. So the call is escalated to the duty supervisor, who again sympathizes and says she will do her best to resolve the matter. She explains that if you book a reward seat and a connection then they have to make two bookings as the computer cant do one booking as its miles for one booking and payment for the other. I would have been told this she tells me ! Oh no i wasn't i inform her, in fact i explicitly said i wanted one booking as stated, and was told thats how it had been booked, and if she wanted verification to go and listen to the tape of the call, - SILENCE, umm she says we probably wont have the tape is it was so long ago. RIGHT.
So she goes off and comes back 15 minutes later and says she will email the duty VS manager @ MCO with the details and ask them to speak direct to DL, duty manager to duty manager and see if they can resolve it locally, but if DL insist that i have to pay then to send the receipt direct to her and VS will reimburse me. Very quick turn around on their part me thinks. Obviously when she checked the notes of the booking or listened to the tape she saw it was the agents’ fault who originally booked it She apologized on behalf of VS and said they were entirely at fault. (never had VS say that before). y)
She told me when i got to MCO to go to VS and speak with the duty manager who should have resolved it.
Arrive at MCO the following day and no duty manager, its too early, staff aren't due in for another hour aarrrggghh ! However i look over to the UC desk and theres a lady in a VS uniform, hot foot it over and say hi and explain. She says no manager is in yet and she is only check in and cant help. She makes a call and manages to locate another VS staffer - a ticket agent. So i explain and she gets to work in the system, she says she can see all the notes, but there’s no VS duty manager for another hour, and no one else can access the managers email. So can i wait? NO i can't i have a flight in 90 minutes now and i need to get it sorted.. Anyway eventually she arranges for another member of staff to take me to DL to try to resolve it
The VS agent says “don't worry ill sort this i can be a right bitch sometimes”
and she marches us off to see the DL duty manager. She explains how VS have made a mistake and it needs sorting, and whilst DL could charge me for baggage, its not my fault and please send the bags free.
Bingo the DL manager says of course, she takes the bags to a spare desk, checks us in and tags the bags, marvelous all sorted, and to top it off the DL duty manager puts us in the economy premier seats with extra leg room for free. y)
Just shows human intervention and contact beats call centers and computers every time.
So the moral of the (long) tale is if you book reward seats with VS and a connection then irrespective of what the VS agent tells you the bookings may get linked but will be ticketed separately, so you will need to check the baggage rules for the other carrier as you wont get the same allowance.
On another note have dropped a note to VS complaining about the initial booking identifying perhaps there is a training issue there? But also congratulating for the way it was eventually sorted, special mention to my “bitch” from VS @MCO who took the bull by the horns and sorted it.
I had booked PE reward seats, LGW-MCO returning MCO-JFK-LHR, and used miles for the LGW-MCO /JFK-LHR sectors and had paid for the connection MCO-JFK with DL. All booked direct with VS Flying Club at the same time.
I could have gotten the MCO-JFK sector slightly cheaper myself but wanted to ensure i had one through booking for the return leg to ensure the same baggage allowance and check through of bags. Also if the linked connection was late into JFK VS would get us home on a later plane.
So rang FC and made the booking, was very explicit with the agent i wanted to ensure the flights were on one booking for the above reasons, which she said would be the case, and confirmed with her we would get the VS baggage allowance on DL from MCO for the connecting trans atlantic flight to LHR, and the bags would be checked through from MCO-LHR. perfect.
So day before the MCO-JFK-LHR T-24 and an email from DL saying i could check in online, great, complete the first couple of pages and it gets to bags, i select, 2 for me and 1 for Mrs Chumba, and the computer says $160 please v( Thats more than the original cost of the flight!
So ring DL and explain at which point they say the flights have been ticketed separately, whilst they may be linked they are effectively two separate flights. So the DL flight is treated as just that an internal flight with no baggage allowance so we have to pay v(
I explain and their response is take it up with Virgin they booked it -you wanna fly with us then $160 will be the baggage cost. n(
So ring FC, and get a very sympathetic lady, who appreciates the issue but says its already been ticketed and whilst she sympathizes she can do nothing about it. So the call is escalated to the duty supervisor, who again sympathizes and says she will do her best to resolve the matter. She explains that if you book a reward seat and a connection then they have to make two bookings as the computer cant do one booking as its miles for one booking and payment for the other. I would have been told this she tells me ! Oh no i wasn't i inform her, in fact i explicitly said i wanted one booking as stated, and was told thats how it had been booked, and if she wanted verification to go and listen to the tape of the call, - SILENCE, umm she says we probably wont have the tape is it was so long ago. RIGHT.
So she goes off and comes back 15 minutes later and says she will email the duty VS manager @ MCO with the details and ask them to speak direct to DL, duty manager to duty manager and see if they can resolve it locally, but if DL insist that i have to pay then to send the receipt direct to her and VS will reimburse me. Very quick turn around on their part me thinks. Obviously when she checked the notes of the booking or listened to the tape she saw it was the agents’ fault who originally booked it She apologized on behalf of VS and said they were entirely at fault. (never had VS say that before). y)
She told me when i got to MCO to go to VS and speak with the duty manager who should have resolved it.
Arrive at MCO the following day and no duty manager, its too early, staff aren't due in for another hour aarrrggghh ! However i look over to the UC desk and theres a lady in a VS uniform, hot foot it over and say hi and explain. She says no manager is in yet and she is only check in and cant help. She makes a call and manages to locate another VS staffer - a ticket agent. So i explain and she gets to work in the system, she says she can see all the notes, but there’s no VS duty manager for another hour, and no one else can access the managers email. So can i wait? NO i can't i have a flight in 90 minutes now and i need to get it sorted.. Anyway eventually she arranges for another member of staff to take me to DL to try to resolve it
The VS agent says “don't worry ill sort this i can be a right bitch sometimes”
and she marches us off to see the DL duty manager. She explains how VS have made a mistake and it needs sorting, and whilst DL could charge me for baggage, its not my fault and please send the bags free. Bingo the DL manager says of course, she takes the bags to a spare desk, checks us in and tags the bags, marvelous all sorted, and to top it off the DL duty manager puts us in the economy premier seats with extra leg room for free. y)
Just shows human intervention and contact beats call centers and computers every time.
So the moral of the (long) tale is if you book reward seats with VS and a connection then irrespective of what the VS agent tells you the bookings may get linked but will be ticketed separately, so you will need to check the baggage rules for the other carrier as you wont get the same allowance.
On another note have dropped a note to VS complaining about the initial booking identifying perhaps there is a training issue there? But also congratulating for the way it was eventually sorted, special mention to my “bitch” from VS @MCO who took the bull by the horns and sorted it.
