I'm heading back to the UK next week for a family wedding so wanted to share the fun of my booking ordeal with you - I'm kind like that. (Really, I'm sharing my story here so I can revert back to it if I need to remember the details if something goes awry. 
)
Six weeks ago I booked the flights online...great price, decent route, etc, etc. The flights consisted of 2 with Air France and 2 with Virgin - that's was fine by us. Paid the bill, got the confirmation email from Air France with the Record Locator number, then the e-ticket, all in a matter of minutes.
The e-ticket read 2 flights with Virgin, 1 with Air France and 1 with Delta. Obviously tickets are sold by/on behalf of various airlines and the flights are operated by different airlines. Again no problem with that - see it regularly.
10 days later, when checking some details online, the last internal flight back in the US was showing 2 separate flights - now 5 in total but the last 2 were for roughly the same time (50 minutes difference). I called the ticket company and was told there had been a change of time for the last flight and they wanted to know if the later time was acceptable. I said it was, as it gave us a longer layover for any delays (Immigration pick on me, cos I'm Welsh, innit!), and was told the new e-tickets would arrive within 24hrs. Did they **ck! (heck ) They were still 2 Virgin flights, 1 Air France and 1 Delta.
Called again 2 days later and was told they are still being processed and would arrive in 24-48hrs. Nope! Called again, was told 24-48hours. NOPE! Called again....was told not to worry and to allow 7 days and call again if they hadn't arrived. NOPE!!! In the meantime, a new email arrived saying I had to call Air France due to a change. I did so, and was told nothing had changed so I questioned the change to that last flight. They then noticed that the number for it in their system was showing as the Delta number and needed to be showing the Air France number instead, so I was told I needed to contact the ticketing company to explain this. I did so and was told it was being passed to the ticketing department and was given 3 different Record Locators, one for each airline. Er, what? If the e-ticket didn't arrive in 24hrs, I was told to call AGAIN and the matter would be escalated. Fortunately, they arrived the next day, showing one Air France Record Locator (the same as all along).
I looked at them and found that we now have 1 Virgin, 1 Air France and 2 Delta flights. Again, no big deal but it was confusing as to why the Air France number needed to be showing on their system if it was actually a Delta flight. It was late in the day so decided to wait to fill in the passport requirements until another day. I tried to do it a couple of times over the weekend, but it wouldn't accept the details, tried again yesterday, and now today. No dice.
So, I called the Air France online assistance department, spoke to a lovely lady who was very apologetic and proceeded to tell me that, even though everything received has been mainly with an Air France header, none of our flights are actually with them. She said they already have our details on record but didn't really need them anyway. Our check-ins both ways will be with Delta, and all except the Virgin Outbound trans-Atlantic flight, would be operated by Delta and that we are all set to check in 24hrs before we fly, next Wednesday. I'm still going to check with those Delta and Virgin Record Locators though!!
So, have Air France already started aggravating the Brits or am I just being paranoid?
Oh, and for all you seasoned travellers out there, is this an unusual case?
Cheers,
mrH
)Six weeks ago I booked the flights online...great price, decent route, etc, etc. The flights consisted of 2 with Air France and 2 with Virgin - that's was fine by us. Paid the bill, got the confirmation email from Air France with the Record Locator number, then the e-ticket, all in a matter of minutes.
The e-ticket read 2 flights with Virgin, 1 with Air France and 1 with Delta. Obviously tickets are sold by/on behalf of various airlines and the flights are operated by different airlines. Again no problem with that - see it regularly.
10 days later, when checking some details online, the last internal flight back in the US was showing 2 separate flights - now 5 in total but the last 2 were for roughly the same time (50 minutes difference). I called the ticket company and was told there had been a change of time for the last flight and they wanted to know if the later time was acceptable. I said it was, as it gave us a longer layover for any delays (Immigration pick on me, cos I'm Welsh, innit!
), and was told the new e-tickets would arrive within 24hrs. Did they **ck! (heck ) They were still 2 Virgin flights, 1 Air France and 1 Delta.Called again 2 days later and was told they are still being processed and would arrive in 24-48hrs. Nope! Called again, was told 24-48hours. NOPE! Called again....was told not to worry and to allow 7 days and call again if they hadn't arrived. NOPE!!! In the meantime, a new email arrived saying I had to call Air France due to a change. I did so, and was told nothing had changed so I questioned the change to that last flight. They then noticed that the number for it in their system was showing as the Delta number and needed to be showing the Air France number instead, so I was told I needed to contact the ticketing company to explain this. I did so and was told it was being passed to the ticketing department and was given 3 different Record Locators, one for each airline. Er, what?
If the e-ticket didn't arrive in 24hrs, I was told to call AGAIN and the matter would be escalated. Fortunately, they arrived the next day, showing one Air France Record Locator (the same as all along). I looked at them and found that we now have 1 Virgin, 1 Air France and 2 Delta flights. Again, no big deal but it was confusing as to why the Air France number needed to be showing on their system if it was actually a Delta flight. It was late in the day so decided to wait to fill in the passport requirements until another day. I tried to do it a couple of times over the weekend, but it wouldn't accept the details, tried again yesterday, and now today. No dice.
So, I called the Air France online assistance department, spoke to a lovely lady who was very apologetic and proceeded to tell me that, even though everything received has been mainly with an Air France header, none of our flights are actually with them.
She said they already have our details on record but didn't really need them anyway. Our check-ins both ways will be with Delta, and all except the Virgin Outbound trans-Atlantic flight, would be operated by Delta and that we are all set to check in 24hrs before we fly, next Wednesday. I'm still going to check with those Delta and Virgin Record Locators though!!So, have Air France already started aggravating the Brits or am I just being paranoid?
Oh, and for all you seasoned travellers out there, is this an unusual case?
Cheers,
mrH
