Virgin Kafka...

It's rare, I know, but it's an odd conversation to have...

"I'd like to move my reward ticket to flight VSXX on date YY"

"There's no reward availability on that date, sir."

"But there is, I can see it online under 'Book Flights/Spend Miles'."

"Yes, I know, but it's not actually there."

"But I can see the flight on my screen."

"It's not on mine, sir."

"So what if I just went ahead and booked this reward flight, and then cancelled the reward booking I already have?"

"You could try, sir, but the system wouldn't let you pay for that new ticket."

"What do you mean?"

"You'd have to go right through the process, and after you try and pay, a message will come up asking you to call this number."

"Why?"

"So that I can tell you that the ticket isn't really there."

"I can still see it on my screen, I just refreshed the search."

"It's still not on mine, sir."



--

The chap on the end of the phone was really very nice, very kind, very understanding, and I think even he realized it was a bizarre and marginally amusing situation which occasionally happens.

Maybe it's just VS IT having fun...

NYLON

This might be one of the cases that because you have it on your screen, it's taken the seats out of the system and he really can't see them.

If you log out and leave it a few minutes, it might be worth another call.

Of course it could be that VS's IT is really scr@wed

David

Thanks, David,

If I was just searching availability (rather than selecting any flights), I really hope it doesn't takes those seats out the system because I was looking at the whole month of January!

I think it was a known issue. He mentioned sometimes tickets are "on hold" for people.

I was going to say I wonder if it's because the Gs were on hold for someone else.

When I was looking to book my HKG trip for November they were happy to reserve my G for up to 48 hours, which presumably flagged it up as "on hold" and thus unavailable on the agents' system. But because an "on hold" reservation hasn't yet been confirmed and paid for, maybe it still shows as available online as it's still technically unsold.

I think that must be it, gumshoe. The fact that he suggested checking back "in a couple of days" seemed to hint at this eventuality.

I'm not sure about the on hold business - when I had my Gs from ORD to LHR last weekend (for June next year), I then did a search online to check for alternative days. Almost had a heart attack when that date was greyed out, before realising that they were unavailable because they were on hold for us!

This whole conversation really cracked me up, though! Whatever it is, I hope they fix it soon.

There is often a lag between the actual availability and what the website shows. This can happen to revenue cash flights too, when a cheaper bucket sells out, the website can still show it but won't sell it.

Can I just say that when I was looking for G availability for next Feb a few moths ago on the CPT route, the website showed no availability but JNB did have 2 G's. I called up flying club to make the reservation (I wanted to combine this with the outbound I had already reserved) and there was G availability on the CPT flight I wanted - 3 seats! None showing online. Booked and very happy.

I had the same situation recently when I wanted to upgrade my PE reward flight from MCO to UC. No availability online so I called FC line to see if there was availability either side of my preferred date. "But there is G availability on your requested date sir" Result. But still not shown online. Only on their system. Booked and happy.

Best advice I have is to check with FC as the IT is seriously flawed. Works both ways at the moment. Shows availability when there is none and shows a lack of availability when there clearly is. The upgrade search engine errors just adds to the frustration!

Oh and something else to remember is if you try to reserve and get as far as the fare calculation page, it holds those seats for 20 mins. That means even if you call up, they won't show in the agents system. Leave it 20 and call back. I've had this too when trying to book an upgrade!!

Please VS, upgrade your IT so it is useable! I'm on first name terms with too many of the FC premier team!!