Urgent assistance needed from frequent flyer plan experts

[Lisa63]

I don't know whether I feel like this :mad: or this :confused: .

 

Here's the situation. A couple of weeks ago, I contacted a major airline (part of the SkyTeam Alliance) to reserve our flights to/from Amsterdam for our July cruise using FF miles. We had no problem getting the outbound flights, but were waitlisted for the return flights (departing one day after the cruise ends, one connection @JFK). I was told that we would likely clear the waitlist, and that in order to keep the reservation active we'd have to call back every 48 hours.

 

So, since then, I have made four calls to extend the hold. No problems. Until tonight.

 

The agent (and supervisor) told me they can no longer accept a hold as it involves two separate airlines. I was told I had to book today, or lose the entire reservation. So, after putting up a bit of a fuss as this was contradictory to everything I'd heard in the past, I was transferred to a reservations agent. She told me that we had three choices:

 

(1) Extend the hold and run the risk that the airline for the outbound trip will cancel the reservation.

 

(2) Book the reservation (via authorization of transfer of FF miles), pay $50 per ticket, and run the risk that we will not clear the wait list. In that case, we would be out the $50x3 pax, and be left with no return flight. The cost of a return flight would run about $1,000 each, which is the same fare as the round trip would cost. And, at such a late date, there might not even be seats.

 

(3) Book the reservation, but have a confirmed return trip as follows:

Amsterdam -> Rome on disembarkation day, stay in Rome overnight, return to the airport the next morning, then Rome -> Toronto and Toronto -> Boston. Yikes.

 

I really don't know what to do. It's been ages since I've redeemed FF miles, and things went very smoothly then. I've thought about purchasing tickets on another airline (also part of StarAlliance) that has excellent flight times, and cancelling those if necessary. But, that's very costly and we'd have to pay cancellation penalties either way.

 

Sorry for rambling... but I could really use advice. We have to decide by 11:00 pm EST TONIGHT!

[DanJ]

I know some of the FF guru's will come by and offer some real advice, but in my readings on Flyertalk, even higher tier elites have trouble booking overseas flights that suit their schedule, even if they call the day the reservation window opens (330 days or whatever for that airline). They say being flexible is the key to using your miles. So, if you want the "free" flights, I would take the return option given, and try to make the most of a night in Rome. Any idea what taking that option does to the possibility of changing it to something better later if availability opens up? Connecting in Toronto won't be that bad by then, since they will have taken terminal 2 out of service, although I beleive you will still have to clear Canadian customs before going down the hall and clearing US customs for your Boston flight. But at least you won't have to clear customs when you get home.

[Lisa63]

Thank you, Dan. After doing some digging, I learned that the flight to Rome from Amsterdam was not direct.... it stopped elsewhere in Italy and involved a 4 hour layover. So, we would have gotten to Rome very late evening, with no time to see anything other than the airport, hotel room, and points in between. So that option was out.

 

I realized that four agents told me one thing (and consistently so), and last night's agent told me something different -- so I decided to take my chances and call back as if nothing had happened. I got a very nice agent who was consistent with the first four. She told me that while I was still waitlisted, she was optimistic that we would get a return flight. In fact, one ticket has already opened up on a non-stop from AMS to BOS (too bad we need three). She asked if I wanted to place a 24-hour hold, so instead I decided to go ahead and book the outbound flights. (And the cost was $15 per ticket, not $50 as the other agent had told me.)

 

My only concern now is that the airline CHANGED our reservation and we now have just 1-1/2 hours to connect in Newark, down from 2-1/2. This wasn't a change in schedule -- we were simply moved from one flight to another without anyone telling us. Argh. I'll worry about that as it gets closer. Besides, I know from experience that flight schedules change all the time...

 

We're still being flexible... as it stands now, we are leaving three days before our cruise and returning the day after disembarkation...but the whole thing is still frustrating.

 

Thank you all for listening. :)

[TomMMD]

You were smart to get whatever you could.

 

You should keep trying to get a more desirable itenerary.

 

In the summer of '05 we wanted to go to Touluse, France and return from Malaga, Spain (to Washington, DC)

 

Our itinerary out was: Wash to Atlanta to Frankfurt to Lyon to Touluse

Coming back, we were scheduled for: Malaga to Paris to Miami to Atlanta to Washington

 

We had to take that outbound trip; on the way back we were able to skip the Miami leg.

 

You should be able to change fllights, times, and dates without major penalty.

[JJPNYC]

Yes, sometimes a direct route is not always possible with frequent flyer miles.

Unfortunately this is just part of the system. The way I look at it, the inconvenience of an unusual routing is usually offset by the fact that I'm not having to shell out several hundred dollars for my tickets.

[Globaliser]

Yes, sometimes a direct route is not always possible with frequent flyer miles. Unfortunately this is just part of the system.

Absolutely right. And travel to/from cruises is time-critical travel, which is exactly the wrong sort of travel for trying to do on frequent flyer miles. They're much better spent on the sort of trip where you say, I have a couple of spare days here, I wonder where I could go?

[Lisa63]

Thank you, all. Globaliser, that's exactly what we ultimately decided to do. So, we cancelled our partial reservation and selected and paid for air tickets for this year, and will hold on to those FF miles until next year for a trip to Europe, or perhaps Asia -- country to be determined.

 

BTW, we never wanted a direct flight to AMS -- that's almost impossible from here to begin with -- just one that got us there and back without short connection times that would require us to run from terminal to terminal at breakneck speed, or having to go through customs in three countries with youngster in tow while also shelling out for a hotel room in between. But I suppose that's the price one has to pay. In this case, paying the price in cash is probably best. :)

 

Thanks again, all.