Velocity asking for more money the day of travel or they’ll cancel my ticket

[justinbrett]

I am currently in AKL, about to fly AKL-HNL on HA in J on a VA redemption, connecting to HNL-LAS also in J on a separate booking (also VA redemption). Originally the flight from AKL had no seats so I booked that later.

Just had a call from VA, saying there was a mistake on their end, they only deducted Y points for HNL-LAS despite the e-ticket already being issued. They’re asking for the difference (25K) but I cleared my account out booking the second flight so I have none. It will be $677 to buy.

I don’t think VA can do this, not within 24 hours of departure. The ticket was already issued. The agent was overseas and kept apologing for the inconvenience, I said I was pretty sure VA has to honour the original ticket and agreed price. Didn’t seem to fly. As a compromise I suggested reprice the two flights as if they were booked as one, which I’m only 4K short, she said she can’t do that.

For the record I didn’t know until today the points deducted were less than they should have been (but was the same amount as quoted on the phone).

After a lengthy argument she is going away to see what can be done about it. I’ve explored other options and I couldn’t even get a Y seat for the $677 and after this I will be definitely done with VA and velocity so the points already spent are useless to me now.

If they still insist on the extra points I’ll have to agree and potentially fight it when I get back home, if I have the energy. But I’m definitely done with them.

 

[ChrisMars]

Must be stresfull.

Any chance you have some flybyus to transfer (or krisflyer)?

Edit: mind you I dont know how quickly they transfer

 

[justinbrett]

Must be stresfull.

Any chance you have some flybyus to transfer (or krisflyer)?

Edit: mind you I dont know how quickly they transfer

No, but even if I did that’s not the point. I could understand if it failed ticketing.

I have a valid ticket, they are retrospectively trying to fix an error they made.

I’m fairly certain this is against Australian consumer law, but hard to tell an overseas call centre that.

 

[I love to travel]

No, but even if I did that’s not the point. I could understand if it failed ticketing.

I have a valid ticket, they are retrospectively trying to fix an error they made.

I’m fairly certain this is against Australian consumer law, but hard to tell an overseas call centre

I had a similar issue on AA many years ago with a QF reward. For me the options given were more points or fly in Y. Luckily I had the points so I just took the approach of I would rather fly in J and pay what I should have than not. I do understand your frustration though.

 

[justinbrett]

I had a similar issue on AA many years ago with a QF reward. For me the options given were more points or fly in Y. Luckily I had the points so I just took the approach of I would rather fly in J and pay what I should have than not. I do understand your frustration though.

Had it already ticketed though?

I could understand if this was done soon after booking, but not as I’m hours from leaving for the airport.

 

[I love to travel]

Had it already ticketed though?

I could understand if this was done soon after booking, but not as I’m hours from leaving for the airport.

Yes it was ticketed. I only found out at the airport there was a problem when they could not check me in.

 

[justinbrett]

Yes it was ticketed. I only found out at the airport there was a problem when they could not check me in.

Must be a different situation as I have the correct ticket and it’s valid, there’s no problem on the HA side. It’s just VA trying to claw back more points.

 

[I love to travel]

Must be a different situation as I have the correct ticket and it’s valid, there’s no problem on the HA side. It’s just VA trying to claw back more points.

Good luck

 

[bullerdude]

I believe under consumer law that are only allowed to cancel for a pricing error if it’s an obvious pricing mistake, e.g., if they sold the ticket go 100 points or something.

Difficult thing is they may be legally able to cancel if they provide a full refund on lieu of proving the service. This is where the proposed charter of rights for air travel will massively help. They being said, US has a stronger protections that may obligate HA to fly you without further cost, albeit likely in economy.

I’d be pushing very strongly for them to honour as a good will gesture given they made the error and the booking was ticketed and you’ve believed you had a valid ticket since it was booked.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Must be a different situation as I have the correct ticket and it’s valid, there’s no problem on the HA side. It’s just VA trying to claw back more points.

I don’t like your chances with the overseas call centre.

They stick to their script even if you can show their own website has the correct information. In fact they wrote back to me saying ‘notwithstanding our website says you are entitled to a full refund under ACL, we’ve decided not to honour that’.

So I wish you the best of luck

Two sides to the actual issue… depends if you were aware, or not, of the undercharging.

 

[MELso]

How soon do you board? Difficult to cancel a ticket once you've flown the flight!

But if it is an error on their part, as suggested above, I'd ask them to waive the difference as a good will gesture. If they still refuse, I think the right thing to do would be to pay the correct amount of points, although I'd also ask them for a bit of leeway on the timing so you can transfer points from a credit card/organise a family transfer/beg/borrow/steal the necessary points to avoid paying the extortionate top-up rates.

 

[justinbrett]

I believe under consumer law that are only allowed to cancel for a pricing error if it’s an obvious pricing mistake, e.g., if they sold the ticket go 100 points or something

Yeah, and considering this wasn’t online, you have to book via phone, hard for them to claim it’s an error fare.

I’ve just worked out they didn’t charge the Y points, they charged J points for a shorter distance.

Two sides to the actual issue… depends if you were aware, or not, of the undercharging.

Genuinely not aware until today. I don’t use my VA points often and when I do it’s with foreign carriers and it’s hard to keep up with their different points tables.

How soon do you board? Difficult to cancel a ticket once you've flown the flight!

But if it is an error on their part, as suggested above, I'd ask them to waive the difference as a good will gesture. If they still refuse, I think the right thing to do would be to pay the correct amount of points, although I'd also ask them for a bit of leeway on the timing so you can transfer points from a credit card/organise a family transfer/beg/borrow/steal the necessary points to avoid paying the extortionate top-up rates.

The first flight is tonight, but that one is fine (it’s the onwards flight from HNL that’s the issue). I can check in for both in about 90 mins which I might do just to test the system.

I’ve just seen AA has availability in J on AKL-LAX today with QFF, if I could cancel both VA bookings I would just switch but I guarantee they’ll say I can’t as the flight is within 24 hours. Shame that isn’t a two way rule!

I will pay if it comes down to it unless I could use the AA option but even then I would need to be booking that in the next hour.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How soon do you board? Difficult to cancel a ticket once you've flown the flight!

But if it is an error on their part, as suggested above, I'd ask them to waive the difference as a good will gesture. If they still refuse, I think the right thing to do would be to pay the correct amount of points, although I'd also ask them for a bit of leeway on the timing so you can transfer points from a credit card/organise a family transfer/beg/borrow/steal the necessary points to avoid paying the extortionate top-up rates.

Let’s hope it gets resolved. But unfortunately the airline holds all the power here. They can cancel the ticket and the passenger, and even if they’re right, may have to take legal action. That won’t occur before departure.

 

[MELso]

Let’s hope it gets resolved. But unfortunately the airline holds all the power here. They can cancel the ticket and the passenger, and even if they’re right, may have to take legal action. That won’t occur before departure.

Indeed. That they do, and that they can, particularly given that we appear to be dealing with a genuine error here on the part of the VA call centre.

 

[MELso]

The first flight is tonight, but that one is fine (it’s the onwards flight from HNL that’s the issue). I can check in for both in about 90 mins which I might do just to test the system.

I’ve just seen AA has availability in J on AKL-LAX today with QFF, if I could cancel both VA bookings I would just switch but I guarantee they’ll say I can’t as the flight is within 24 hours. Shame that isn’t a two way rule!

I will pay if it comes down to it unless I could use the AA option but even then I would need to be booking that in the next hour.

Does the QF 24 hour cancellation rule apply to bookings on partner airlines like AA? If so, book that ('bird in the hand' and all that). (EDIT no it doesn't as it's within 30 days)

I'd then ring the VA call centre again before checking in on HA to see if they'll cancel both bookings on the basis of their screw up.

 

[muppet]

Indeed. That they do, and that they can, particularly given that we appear to be dealing with a genuine error here on the part of the VA call centre.

And why should passengers have to indemnify airlines for any errors the airline makes?

 

[justinbrett]

And why should passengers have to indemnify airlines for any errors the airline makes?

Especially as I don’t consider the error obvious, and the two flights added together add up to within 5K of the correct amount.

 

[muppet]

I think your approach to pay if you have to is the best one. If it was me I’d also then try to recover it on the basis you only paid it under duress - you’re overseas, Velocity threatening to cancel your ticket without alternative options.

 

[MELso]

And why should passengers have to indemnify airlines for any errors the airline makes?

It's like any other mistake fare (or indeed anything else mistakenly priced in trade or commerce): nice if you can pull it off, but not something you should be expecting to be honoured.

Where the line should be drawn between 'genuine screw-up' and misleading pricing is a tricky thing to judge though, and there's reams of case law on the subject. In this case, as VA has published award tables with the prices, but these weren't adhered to by the call centre, it looks like a genuine error.

It sucks, and no-one in such circumstances likes being asked to belatedly have to stump up full price, but it's not unreasonable behaviour on the part of VA in this case.

What is unreasonable is demanding immediate purchase of expensive top-up points under the threat of cancellation of the ticket at short notice. That's disgraceful conduct...

 

[muppet]

It's like any other mistake fare (or indeed anything else mistakenly priced in trade or commerce): nice if you can pull it off, but not something you should be expecting to be honoured.

Where the line should be drawn between 'genuine screw-up' and misleading pricing is a tricky thing to judge though, and there's reams of case law on the subject. In this case, as VA has published award tables with the prices, but these weren't adhered to by the call centre, it looks like a genuine error.

It sucks, and no-one in such circumstances likes being asked to belatedly have to stump up full price, but it's not unreasonable behaviour on the part of VA in this case.

What is unreasonable is demanding immediate purchase of expensive top-up points under the threat of cancellation of the ticket at short notice. That's disgraceful conduct...

I agree with your point, I just believe it must be very timely - like within a day of issuing a confirmed but incorrectly charged ticket.

What is being done here by leaving it to the very last minute maximises the costs of the error on the innocent party - that in my view is unreasonable.