re: Avianca "Lifemiles" - Questions and Discussion
Ok, here are my experiences from last week (has taken me the weekend to de-traumatise from it all)
Background is that I had BNE - BKK - IST - BCN booked, the last two legs booked with Turkish Airlines - 85k and $104 in taxes. I was becoming increasingly nervous about that booking as IST airport is a zoo, you need to bussed everywhere, I had a short connection time, lots of reviews of missed flights and connections, and at IST, if you misconnect, you need to buy a visa, go through immigration and customs and then get re-booked. Add to that the military activity near Turkey - just didn't want to transit there. I know most people wouldn't let this worry them, but it was on my mind for a month or so, and I love flying too much to be stressed before the flights..
So I decided to cancel my booking and find other options. I tried to call, pressed 2 for English, 3 for life miles but would always get put through to someone who could only speak Spanish. This happened Mon and Tue last week. Sent email on Tuesday night explaining could not get through, got an email back the next morning saying keep trying. Tried at 7am on Wednesday morning - got through, and cancelled in about 40 mins after I was transferred at least 5 times.
Sent screenshots of the following (when reading note days and times)
Mon 8/8 BNE- BKK in J arrive BKK at 20.20
Tues 9/8 BKK- ZRH dep BKK at 13.05 arrive ZRH at 19 35
Wed 10.8 ZRH - BCN dep ZRH at 12.05pm arrive 14.05
I can't sleep on planes so this is perfect for me and very happy to pay for 2 nights airport accommodation.
So, I send screenshots at 9.30am on Wed with all required details. I get an email back around midnight saying what gender is the passenger ( I thought Tania was obvious, but never mind). Sent reply back at 2.35am ( Avianca keep me awake!!
)
No reply the next morning so sent reminder email on Thursday morning. When I checked my email on Friday morning, I was given different flights to what I booked - still BNE-BKK-ZRH-BCN, but using TG overnight flights. I rang on Friday morning, and got through on the 3rd attempt to someone who spoke English. After 40 mins, and him telling me that the reason my flights were different was because of misconnects, he tells me he is placing me on hold to try and sort something. On hold for another 20 mins and phone disconnects. By this time, I think bugger it, will deal with it next week, and worst case scenario is I fly to Europe in Y (my return os already booked on CX in J using QFF points)
5 mins later I get a travel document with the flights I discussed with him (which are the ones above). Just goes to show you can have greater than 8 hour transits and my flight is over 3 days, all still for 85,000 points in J, no mixed class either.
So, I ring back to try and pay the taxes. By this stage had already spent nearly 2 hrs dealing with it, and was mildly manic!! I get someone on the 2nd attempt who says he can help me. So he takes credit card details and puts me on hold. 5 mins later, comes back and says he is still trying to contact my bank and places me back on hold (Citibank). On my other phone I phone Citibank whilst still on hold and they say no problem at our end. I wait on hold for 30 mins and then hang up. Low and behold, whilst I was on the phone, they had already ticketed it and sent it through, he must have just forgotten to get me back from being on hold to tell me!!
So, all in all I got exactly what I wanted, but took another year off my life. Very happy though. Few lessons:
1. You cannot cancel with an email, even when you beg
2. Be liberal with transit times, they don't seem to care as long as its less than 24 hours
3. Persistence pays off
