…and our flights have been changed.
Back Story:
Since Eric is in a trade he does different levels of schooling. So far he’s done his “C” level and his “B” level. Since he’s interested in working in the fabrication part of welding when he found out that TRU was holding a Metal Fabrication program he was pumped and definitely wanted to do it.
So last summer when he was living here he signed up for it and was told he’d be sent a package in the mail in December/January and the program would be held in March 2010. I repeat, IN March 2010 not March/April 2010.
Then Eric get’s an email from the Trades program, not a package in the mail like they said, but an email, saying that he lost his spot because he didn’t respond to the email in time. He was supposed to respond by December 11 and didn’t even get the email till January sometime. (Eric never checks his email, like ever, but if he had been expecting the information to come through email then he would have but they specifically said coming IN THE MAIL).
Anyways, that was a big stress thing, he was put on the waiting list and found out on January 29 that he did get into the program.
Unfortunately, the program is not for 5 weeks IN MARCH like they said. It’s March 22 to April 23. Umm, we fly to Europe on April 19. Shit.
So last night I call Air Miles to switch our flights. I’m on hold for 20 minutes, transferred and on hold for another 40 minutes. I FINALLY get a customer service rep on the phone and after 30 minutes of talking to him (he was very rude, I might add) I finally got the flights switched around so they wouldn’t interfere with Eric’s school.
It cost $552 and 3,600 extra miles. A steep price, yes. But it was worth it to us. Eric’s school is important. Ya, ya maybe we shouldn’t have booked the flights in the first place until knowing the definite dates of his schooling. But we did, it happened, it sucked, oh well.
Then, the customer service rep emails me my itinerary and I realize he didn’t book the stop over in Amsterdam. Even though I said THE EXACT SAME FLIGHTS only a week later. F-ing lovely.
So I call air miles back and of course I’m put on hold again for another 1.5 hours. 1.5 hours. That is just unacceptable customer service as far as I’m concerned!
I finally get a hold of another customer service rep (who was a lot nicer than the first one) and he understood where I was coming from, said the booking agents were closed for the night but if I called back today during the day then I would be able to get the stop over in Amsterdam at no extra charge.
I sure hope so, because last night was insanely ridiculous.
As of right now, we are now going to Europe from April 25, 2010 to May 16, 2010. I don’t like these dates as much as the last ones, but whatever, what can ya do right.
Like Meghan said when I was ranting to her on Facebook last night about this, we’ll probably laugh at it in a couple months when we’re on the plane to Europe. But right now, I’m pissed!
Fail, Air miles. Fail.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
The same thing happened to AB with his trade school when we were booking our flights for Canada.
Back in August, absolutely NO ONE could tell us the start date for his school in 2010. We asked teachers, administrators, etc. etc. Finally, after looking at the course calendars for the past FIVE years, I determined that not once had they started school before the 1st week of Feb. So we book flights and arrange for James to return to Melb on Feb 4th.
Of course, come December, we find out school starts a week early and he was going to miss the first day of class.
Luckily he knows his teachers and was able to work out not being there, but still. I can’t believe that FOUR months before the term starts, no one had set a date yet!!!!
Super frustrating, hope you get everything worked out tomorrow!
Ughhh. Glad you got it changed, but how frustrating! Hopefully you can get that extra charge taken care of!
Oh my gosh, that is So frustrating! School is definitely important like you said, but it’s ridiculous that it cost that much time and money to switch things by a week! Also, I am against anything that puts you on hold for that long! Eric once called to fix my internet back when he was living at his parents house and my internet wasn’t working there- he was on hold for 2 hours and the whole second hour and 30 minutes I was like GIVE UP GET OFF THE PHONE, eventually he did. Ridiculous!
OH I would be pissed as well. What a headache. I am glad you got it sorted out but hate that you had to pay so much more in $/miles. But it will be worth every cent. I can just imagine that frustrated feeling, though. And being on hold is SO annoying. I hate bad customer service!
Oh no! That’s seriously so annoying. At least you were able to get it all figured out and HEY you’re going to EUROPE! Too bad about the extra money though
Any time I’ve had to book a flight its been a headache. I am not a fan of flying so thankfully I dont do it very often. I’m sorry you had to spend so long on the phone with the customer service reps, that would give me severe heartburn. I agree, in the near future when you’re on that plane headed to Europe, you will laugh about it. =)
That’s HORRIBLE!! I can’t stand bad customer service. That’s totally unacceptable!! I hope you get the extra charge sorted, and also that you can look back from an AMAZING time in Europe and laugh at it. But hugs for now.
That would make me CRAZY.
I don’t do well with rude customer service agents. I try to be nice but when they go from rude to bitchy, well, so do I.
I’m glad it all got sorted out! I’m sure it’s frustrating but at least you guys are still going to Europe
hey at least you got it all worked out. so many people can’t think logically enough to straighten out a mess like that. they just give up. at least you stuck with it and got your goal accomplished.
DOHHHHH I hate when your put on hold forever and then the person helping you is a complete bag!! Oh well at least you almost got it all figured out….its still so exciting though right!!!! You miss 4/20 in Amsterdam lol You guys get back a day after Shawn and Sara’s wedding…..I’ll take lots of pics
Just let us know what days you’ll be here…..we WILL have a room ready!!! YAYAYAYAYAY LOL
RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE. There’s nothing wrong with raging on the phone when receiving bad customer service, and in this case I’d say not only is it expected it should be encouraged.
Un-fair-miles indeed!
Glad things are working out in the end (albeit with a lot of time/money, etc.)
That’s just plain AWFUL customer service and I’m just in awe that they would put you on hold for SO LONG and offer NOTHING in return! Things come up and sometimes people have to shift around their vacations because of it – it shouldn’t be that big of a deal for an airline. And for the rep to be rude to you after you’ve been on hold for so long? Unacceptable! Boo!
I’m hoping the rest of your trip goes smoothly and you have a fantastic vacation!
That sounds like a royal pain in the ass! Hopefully everything worked out for you today. But look on the bright side…you will be going to Europe and have wonderful stories to tell! (much better than ones about airmiles being rude!)
THAT sucks!! No wonder so many people book trips online…but Airmiles has an extremely archaic system that doesn’t allow that…and it is a pain in the ass!!!
I have booked like 5 or 6 trips through airmiles and ONE was an amazingly fantastic experience…other times I get the 3rd degree from the “customer service” people…like the time the woman decided to pick my departure time for me…that was lovely…
Sorry that you had to deal with all of that…they should be more courteous so as not to lose customers…especially since all their flights are going up next week!
Ooh, sucky! So sorry to hear that. I hope you write to them and get some kind of response regarding their service. That is a LOT of time to be wasting on the phone. Some of the airlines have cool IM programs that I’ve taken advantage of before, but not sure you would want to do that for adjusting an international flight.
PS- How does anyone these days get by without checking email?! Coming from a communications person of course, I just can’t even imagine it.
Somehow you made it through all of this, way to effing go. I don’t know that I would have had the sanity left to even blog about it.
I’ve been in similar situations with airlines. Sometimes, I just doubt their competency. I understand they have a “job to do”. but do they really need to bleed you for nearly $600?!
I think not.
That sounds like a total nightmare! But I really enjoyed your rant – I enjoy rants. And, no, it IS totally normal that you’d book your flights when you thought Eric’s course was going to be in March, not March-April. They should have been more clear.
I hope it all gets sorted out for you tomorrow.
That really sucks!!! I hope it gets all sorted out!
Ugggg! How freaking annoying! But at least you were able to use some air miles to fix it, rather than just more $$$$$. AND going to Europe will be worth it! Your trip will be amazing!!!!!!!!!!
No bueno chica!
grr! dealing with air lines is ALWAYS A PAIN!!
Man, I felt so badly for you last night when I was reading your tweets. Sigh. Airlines suck.
Ahh that sucks so much I’m so sorry! At least it’s all sorted out now, I would just forget about it and start getting excited for your trip : )
Ahhh so frustrating – but it will all be worth it in the end
I’ve never had the frustrations of dealing with airline changes over the phone, but I feel for you as far as the bad customer service goes. Nowadays, it seems that almost anywhere you call, you’re placed on hold for an unacceptable amount of time, and 50% of the time, you are connected to someone who’s rude and makes you all the more upset!
Once you’re en route to Europe, you won’t remember all the frustrations.
It’ll be such an amazing experience! I love to travel, and I really, really want to go to Europe one day!
Being on hold with customer service can be absolutely ridiculous. Especially when you’re on hold forever, and then finally talk to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. I’m glad you were able to get you flights changed, and hope you got your stop over in Amsterdam fixed as well!
Ugh… This sounds like a COMPLETE nightmare!!! Next time, you should almost call like at 3 in the morning in order to not be put on hold for such a looooong time! At least you’re still going though and that’s great!! The trip will for sure make up for all the trouble you went through
Just realised Eric is doing what my BF was doing up till a year ago! I always get excited to hear about people in the same trade