Tonight I made a redemption with Velocity for my partner from (City A) to (City B) on Etihad in First Class.
After the reservation was made, and call had ended, the itinerary was sent to my partner and we immediately noticed that the ticket was issued in my name (although my name was spelt incorrectly) and we contacted Velocity to have this rectified. Less than 30 minutes had passed from the time the reservation was made and the time I called them back.
I ended up speaking with the same agent who made the booking, who immediately apologised for his mistake (not a problem - these things happen). However, what he told me next is what has got me upset.
He would have to cancel the existing award ticket and reissue it. He believed that it was unlikely that the seat would be returned to their available inventory and so we would have to settle for the ticket being issued in Business Class. I said that I wasn't prepared to accept that as an outcome, directed him not to touch the booking and asked him to escalate to his superior. He checked with his superior, who it seems didn't want to talk to me, as he came back to me and said there was nothing that could be done.
I insisted on speaking to his superior, so he again asked to connect me and the supervisor relented and took the call. She wasn't prepared to accept that there was any alternative and insisted that I had no other option but to cancel this ticket and accept a ticket in Business Class as there was no inventory left in First Class all that day.
I asked her to connect me with her manager and she told me that there was no point, as there was nothing more that could be done. I asked to be connected to Premium Services (I am a WP) and she refused this as well. Again I insisted and she relented and connected me to her manager. Her words were "I'll connect you to my manager, but I need to set your expectations low as there is not another outcome available to you" (way to get my blood boiling!)
The manager was much more polite (thankfully) and she did check travel on alternative dates (none where available) and other routings (which I have rejected). To conclude she said she would investigate other options and come back to us tomorrow.
But I'm going out on a limb here and hoping that someone reading this will be able to point me in the right direction so that common sense can prevail.
A few caveats - I'm well aware that this is a FWP and some people will comment that I should just take the Business Class seat. But I haven't done anything wrong here and I don't see why I should be penalised for a mistake that I didn't make. If I didn't pick up the error straight away, again I would have to accept some responsibility for not checking the ticket was correct but that just isn't the case.
I also want to be clear that I understand completely that this poor guy made a mistake and I have reiterated to his superiors that I don't want any action or repurcussions for him as a result, but I simply want what I paid for!
FWIW - even if the ticket was for my travel, the agent spelt my name incorrectly so there is every likelihood that when I went to travel that I wouldn't be permitted travel as the name was not a match for my passport.
So ... I seek your advice, fellow AFFer's!
After the reservation was made, and call had ended, the itinerary was sent to my partner and we immediately noticed that the ticket was issued in my name (although my name was spelt incorrectly) and we contacted Velocity to have this rectified. Less than 30 minutes had passed from the time the reservation was made and the time I called them back.
I ended up speaking with the same agent who made the booking, who immediately apologised for his mistake (not a problem - these things happen). However, what he told me next is what has got me upset.
He would have to cancel the existing award ticket and reissue it. He believed that it was unlikely that the seat would be returned to their available inventory and so we would have to settle for the ticket being issued in Business Class. I said that I wasn't prepared to accept that as an outcome, directed him not to touch the booking and asked him to escalate to his superior. He checked with his superior, who it seems didn't want to talk to me, as he came back to me and said there was nothing that could be done.
I insisted on speaking to his superior, so he again asked to connect me and the supervisor relented and took the call. She wasn't prepared to accept that there was any alternative and insisted that I had no other option but to cancel this ticket and accept a ticket in Business Class as there was no inventory left in First Class all that day.
I asked her to connect me with her manager and she told me that there was no point, as there was nothing more that could be done. I asked to be connected to Premium Services (I am a WP) and she refused this as well. Again I insisted and she relented and connected me to her manager. Her words were "I'll connect you to my manager, but I need to set your expectations low as there is not another outcome available to you" (way to get my blood boiling!)
The manager was much more polite (thankfully) and she did check travel on alternative dates (none where available) and other routings (which I have rejected). To conclude she said she would investigate other options and come back to us tomorrow.
But I'm going out on a limb here and hoping that someone reading this will be able to point me in the right direction so that common sense can prevail.
A few caveats - I'm well aware that this is a FWP and some people will comment that I should just take the Business Class seat. But I haven't done anything wrong here and I don't see why I should be penalised for a mistake that I didn't make. If I didn't pick up the error straight away, again I would have to accept some responsibility for not checking the ticket was correct but that just isn't the case.
I also want to be clear that I understand completely that this poor guy made a mistake and I have reiterated to his superiors that I don't want any action or repurcussions for him as a result, but I simply want what I paid for!
FWIW - even if the ticket was for my travel, the agent spelt my name incorrectly so there is every likelihood that when I went to travel that I wouldn't be permitted travel as the name was not a match for my passport.
So ... I seek your advice, fellow AFFer's!
