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February 6, 2007Beware of Legacy systems that don't recognise low cost airlines approachesBeware of legacy systems for return ticketsI usually have good experience with Iberia but recently had a rather unpleasant experience in which they cancelled a return leg of a ticket purchased on line from their web site. Reason was I did not use the original outbound portion of the ticket and I had not made contact with them to let them know before the flight commenced. The circumstances were the following. A few months prior to a scheduled trip to Barcelona (echallenges 2006), I had purchased a return ticket from Iberia web site for a nice cheap fare of 99 euros for a 3 night stay over for the entire duration of the conference. As the trip date approached, I realised that there was no need to be in Barcelona for the whole 3 nights as originally thought, and only needed to be there the last two nights. I started to look at options on the Iberia web site and discovered for my ticket class (lowest possible), there were no refund or change options available. Therefore, I bought a new one way ticket for around 50 euros going out24 hours after my original flight and intended to use the return leg of the original ticket for the trip home. As the days approached of my original flight, I had a strange inkling in the back of my brain to ring them to let them know I wouldn’t travel on the outward leg of the original but then forgot to do this eventually as with the usual point to point aspects of Aer lingus and Ryanair tickets now, it didn’t really worry me too much. When I checked in at the airport in Dublin for my one way ticket portion, everything went smoothly for this ticket but I then asked if they could confirm that my return ticket for the following Friday was OK. They directed me over to the BA ticket desk who handles Iberia at Dublin airport and they told me that my return ticket was already cancelled when I didn’t turn up the previous day or and/or let them know ahead of the flight. When I asked for my options, they said that they could re-instate the ticket there for a change fee of 25 euros and a fare difference of 50 euros or vice versa – 75 euros total. Being cost conscious, I asked if I could ring Iberia instead and they gave me an 800 number and I was bluntly told by an uncaring Iberia staff member that they had indeed cancelled the ticket and, furthermore, my only option now was to purchase a whole new one way ticket from Barcelona to Dublin for a whopping 180 euros (it was a Friday night). I quickly hung up with them telling them never in my travel days etc. and quickly slinkered back to the BA desk with tail between the legs and credit card in hand (obviously not mentioning the phone call with Iberia) and paid the 75 euros and got my ticket ‘re-instated’. Of course, I worried all throughout the trip that I would have some unpleasant surprise awaiting me when I went to check in on the Friday evening in Barcelona but nothing untoward happened and I even was able to check in at their kiosk with my re-instated ticket. Lesson learned, not all airlines work on the point to point concept and they still have the legacy systems of the past. Beware when trying to change tickets this way. |
