Tony Toon
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2004
Yep - We're going 3rd July 2006. In fact we had booked our flights a month ago online and having already filled in the correct passenger names, to save time we used the autofill key (had never used it before) to fill in contact /address details etc. Unwittingly we had altered the passenger names by this computer override and as this info was now off the screen we didn't notice. We duly completed the booking only to be horrified to discover in the confirmation that we had booked all 4 seats in my wife's name, and the terms & conditions stated NO REFUNDS, NO ALTERATIONS. In something of a minor panic we contacted our agent who calmly said that he thought he could gain a positive response from the airline, United Airlines. Three days later the minor panic turned to utter dismay when he called to say that UA were happy to give a full refund ONLY if we rebooked the flight at the regular fare, which was twice the price. We were now faced with the alternatives of spending over £3.5K for the same seats or walking away at a cost of £1700.
We would have been happy to pay some kind of admin charge to change the names on the tickets or maybe accepting a refund allowing us to start over, but neither of these options seemed acceptable to the airline/agent with the agent seemingly bound by UA's conditions.
Cut to tuesday this week after lengthy correspondence and perseverance with both parties. I phoned UA again on Tuesday this week to be told that a no ties refund had finally been authorised but only for 3 tickets (the 4th name was correct therefore no refund was possible for that one). I argued that I couldn't understand that if 3 refunds had been authorised as an understandable error (partly mine I admitted) then surely the 4th must meet the same criteria. After a lengthy hold while discussion took place with a superior I was told to contact my agent again and ask them to contact UA once again. My understadable curiosity fell on deaf ears but I did as instructed and awaited the outcome.
The call came 40 minutes later, "United Airlines have agreed to change the names on the tickets for no charge."
You can imagine that moment when Mickey 2006 finally became a reality. I just had to immediately call my wife and daughter and apparently they caused quite a scene as they received the news, one at the end of a school day and the other at uni.
Thanks for reading. The morals of the story are 1. Careful with that autofill key! 2. Don't ever give up.
We would have been happy to pay some kind of admin charge to change the names on the tickets or maybe accepting a refund allowing us to start over, but neither of these options seemed acceptable to the airline/agent with the agent seemingly bound by UA's conditions.
Cut to tuesday this week after lengthy correspondence and perseverance with both parties. I phoned UA again on Tuesday this week to be told that a no ties refund had finally been authorised but only for 3 tickets (the 4th name was correct therefore no refund was possible for that one). I argued that I couldn't understand that if 3 refunds had been authorised as an understandable error (partly mine I admitted) then surely the 4th must meet the same criteria. After a lengthy hold while discussion took place with a superior I was told to contact my agent again and ask them to contact UA once again. My understadable curiosity fell on deaf ears but I did as instructed and awaited the outcome.
The call came 40 minutes later, "United Airlines have agreed to change the names on the tickets for no charge."
You can imagine that moment when Mickey 2006 finally became a reality. I just had to immediately call my wife and daughter and apparently they caused quite a scene as they received the news, one at the end of a school day and the other at uni.
Thanks for reading. The morals of the story are 1. Careful with that autofill key! 2. Don't ever give up.
.
