London->Toronto via Frankfurt? Not ticketed. Luckily I checked this on Sunday (before the flight time on Monday), concluded that there was no way I was going to get a ticket that worked for me, and independently bought a ticket with Air Canada from London->Ottawa via Halifax.
An explanation of the saga of the tickets.
I booked the round-the-world ticket online, using the Star Alliance site, which allows for multiple flights through multiple airlines, but also provides a reduction in the individual tickets because you're using the partnership between the airlines as leverage.
My recommendation is to check your dates and locations verrrrrry carefully, because changing it is a PITA.
I had to change the date of a flight – London Heathrow to Boston – from the 22nd to the 23rd. We wouldn't arrivein Glasgow until the 23rd and I couldn't make it on the 22nd at all. I couldn't make changes on the website, it said to call Lufthansa reservations, so I called up Lufthansa reservations. They cancelled the leg (it was with United Airlines) and changed the flight date. All good, right? Wrong. A week later, the email sending the adjusted flight date hadn't turned up, so I called Lufthansa again. I explained what had happened and the guy was extremely helpful, putting the segment back into the trip and sending the request off to United ticketing. Another week later...the email confirming the adjusted flight still hadn't turned up. So I called them again. Third time lucky, right?
This time, I got what I thought was a confirmation of ticketing and thought no more of it. Except that, in Scotland on the Friday before I was due to catch the flight, when I looked at my trip details...it was telling me that segment was missing again. Once again, “booked” by Lufthansa but not actually ticketed with United. And I can't book with United because that's not how this system works.
We tend to think of 'booked' and 'ticketed' as the same thing, but without a ticket, you are not getting on a flight, no matter how many agents have assured you that it's been booked.
So on Saturday morning, I called Lufthansa reservations again. This gentleman I spoke to was exceedingly helpful, and since there seemed to be no more seats on the London Heathrow to Boston Logan flight, agreed that I could be rerouted from London Heathrow to Toronto at no extra cost, and with Lufthansa, moreover, so they wouldn't have to go through United. He booked it...and, you guessed it, sent the booking to the request queue for Lufthansa ticketing.
A note to explain how these things are likely to work. I don't work in the airline industry, but I imagine that when changing tickets, booking the flight and actually ticketing the flight happen in two different departments or two different systems. ie. Someone changes a flight (whether a reservation agent in the airline, or a travel agent, or some third-party website); and the booking request goes to reservation ticketing, where they actually ticket the deal – if and only if they decide that the ticket can go ahead.
When outright booking with a travel agent, these things happen all at once. I suspect that when adjustments or changes are made, they also happen all at once, or the agent follows it up with the airline.
When doing this over the phone...you have only the word of the booking agent (the person you're talking to over the phone) that it's been done – and they're trusting that reservations has made it happen.
If I was a bitch, or someone looking to make a profit off customers falling through the cracks, I'd make sure that the first level of reservation changes was always denied. Deny. Don't ticket. Cancel. Nope. It has to be done by...someone in person. That's how most 'customer focused' things work these days – the first answer is 'no, out of the question' and you have to argue for it. A travel agent argues for you; a booking agent doesn't care – you're just one of two dozen calls they get through the day and whether or not your change is ticketed is not their problem.
So, I've spoken to Lufthansa booking agents five times over the last five weeks – three times before I started out on this trip and two since – and five times, they've failed to actual ticket my request. FIVE TIMES.
The last one – the person I spoke to this morning – was the worst. They mumbled. Wouldn't enunciate although I asked. Didn't have any customer service value at all. Oh, and they wanted me to pay $8500 to change the flight from Heathrow to Toronto.
HELL TO THE NO.
In the end, I've booked a flight from Heathrow to Ottawa with Air Canada, independent of the RTW ticket. It's not ideal, but it was pretty much the only option that would get me out of London and over to where my friend(s) live.
I. Cannot. Even.
And this is all because Lufthansa wouldn't ticket the change of date of my flight from LHR to BOS, from the 22nd to the 23rd, but cancelled my onward flight.
I lost the hotel I booked in Boston, I lost the onward flights from Boston->Toronto->Ottawa. I lost the damn flight from Heathrow to Boston which I paid for and have received no refunds. And I lost the opportunity to connect with a friend in Boston.
So, yeah, I'm fuming right now.
I've also had to add the Air Canada flight, and a place in London (frankly, it's a hole, but it's a cheap hole, and close to the Heathrow Express endpoint at Paddington).
Let's just say that it's a good thing I paid off about half my credit card the other day, because I'm probably well into the red with this.
Also, I strongly suspect Lufthansa has cleared my booking history. While the agent on Saturday could see that I'd called in three times, this morning's agent couldn't see that I'd changed anything – either that, or they were too lazy to be bothered. Like I said, their customer service left more than a little bit to be desired.
Tomorrow morning, after checking my bags with Air Canada, I'm going to wander over to Lufthansa, and see if they still have my call history, maybe sing a little song I wrote (okay, I filked it) to a tune Australians will be intimately familiar with regarding airlines, and see if I can become TikTok famous (ahahaha).
In more serious news, I'll be asking for a refund due to Lufthansa's negligence. Whether they'll pay for the Boston hotel, I can't guarantee. I do have travel insurance, but getting that back might be an effort and a half as well. Let's just say that I wouldn't have been out money if Lufthansa/United had booked the ticket when I freaking well asked.
Still, gonna have to try.
Now we have to see if my flight out of Toronto down to San Francisco is ticketed. I might check that tomorrow morning. I mean, that should be the most assured part of the journey, but after this screwup, let's just say I'm really nervous.
Looking forward to spending a bit of 'stay in one place' time before heading home to Sydney. Also looking forward to going home to Sydney. Travelling is harder on my nerves than it used to be; the current COVID resurgence isn't making it any easier, either. Masking is minimal, and while I'm masked, I'm aware that it's much lower protection when other people - including the people hacking madly away on the plane - aren't masked.
--
I've since arrived in Ottawa, and am staying at![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alphaflyer's place. Unfortuantely, I'm so exhausted by all this, I'm going to have to forgo seeing Toronto and Niagara Falls after all, but my plan is definitely to come back one of these years, so if you're in the North-East Americas, there is still possibility!
An explanation of the saga of the tickets.
I booked the round-the-world ticket online, using the Star Alliance site, which allows for multiple flights through multiple airlines, but also provides a reduction in the individual tickets because you're using the partnership between the airlines as leverage.
My recommendation is to check your dates and locations verrrrrry carefully, because changing it is a PITA.
I had to change the date of a flight – London Heathrow to Boston – from the 22nd to the 23rd. We wouldn't arrivein Glasgow until the 23rd and I couldn't make it on the 22nd at all. I couldn't make changes on the website, it said to call Lufthansa reservations, so I called up Lufthansa reservations. They cancelled the leg (it was with United Airlines) and changed the flight date. All good, right? Wrong. A week later, the email sending the adjusted flight date hadn't turned up, so I called Lufthansa again. I explained what had happened and the guy was extremely helpful, putting the segment back into the trip and sending the request off to United ticketing. Another week later...the email confirming the adjusted flight still hadn't turned up. So I called them again. Third time lucky, right?
This time, I got what I thought was a confirmation of ticketing and thought no more of it. Except that, in Scotland on the Friday before I was due to catch the flight, when I looked at my trip details...it was telling me that segment was missing again. Once again, “booked” by Lufthansa but not actually ticketed with United. And I can't book with United because that's not how this system works.
We tend to think of 'booked' and 'ticketed' as the same thing, but without a ticket, you are not getting on a flight, no matter how many agents have assured you that it's been booked.
So on Saturday morning, I called Lufthansa reservations again. This gentleman I spoke to was exceedingly helpful, and since there seemed to be no more seats on the London Heathrow to Boston Logan flight, agreed that I could be rerouted from London Heathrow to Toronto at no extra cost, and with Lufthansa, moreover, so they wouldn't have to go through United. He booked it...and, you guessed it, sent the booking to the request queue for Lufthansa ticketing.
A note to explain how these things are likely to work. I don't work in the airline industry, but I imagine that when changing tickets, booking the flight and actually ticketing the flight happen in two different departments or two different systems. ie. Someone changes a flight (whether a reservation agent in the airline, or a travel agent, or some third-party website); and the booking request goes to reservation ticketing, where they actually ticket the deal – if and only if they decide that the ticket can go ahead.
When outright booking with a travel agent, these things happen all at once. I suspect that when adjustments or changes are made, they also happen all at once, or the agent follows it up with the airline.
When doing this over the phone...you have only the word of the booking agent (the person you're talking to over the phone) that it's been done – and they're trusting that reservations has made it happen.
If I was a bitch, or someone looking to make a profit off customers falling through the cracks, I'd make sure that the first level of reservation changes was always denied. Deny. Don't ticket. Cancel. Nope. It has to be done by...someone in person. That's how most 'customer focused' things work these days – the first answer is 'no, out of the question' and you have to argue for it. A travel agent argues for you; a booking agent doesn't care – you're just one of two dozen calls they get through the day and whether or not your change is ticketed is not their problem.
So, I've spoken to Lufthansa booking agents five times over the last five weeks – three times before I started out on this trip and two since – and five times, they've failed to actual ticket my request. FIVE TIMES.
The last one – the person I spoke to this morning – was the worst. They mumbled. Wouldn't enunciate although I asked. Didn't have any customer service value at all. Oh, and they wanted me to pay $8500 to change the flight from Heathrow to Toronto.
HELL TO THE NO.
In the end, I've booked a flight from Heathrow to Ottawa with Air Canada, independent of the RTW ticket. It's not ideal, but it was pretty much the only option that would get me out of London and over to where my friend(s) live.
I. Cannot. Even.
And this is all because Lufthansa wouldn't ticket the change of date of my flight from LHR to BOS, from the 22nd to the 23rd, but cancelled my onward flight.
I lost the hotel I booked in Boston, I lost the onward flights from Boston->Toronto->Ottawa. I lost the damn flight from Heathrow to Boston which I paid for and have received no refunds. And I lost the opportunity to connect with a friend in Boston.
So, yeah, I'm fuming right now.
I've also had to add the Air Canada flight, and a place in London (frankly, it's a hole, but it's a cheap hole, and close to the Heathrow Express endpoint at Paddington).
Let's just say that it's a good thing I paid off about half my credit card the other day, because I'm probably well into the red with this.
Also, I strongly suspect Lufthansa has cleared my booking history. While the agent on Saturday could see that I'd called in three times, this morning's agent couldn't see that I'd changed anything – either that, or they were too lazy to be bothered. Like I said, their customer service left more than a little bit to be desired.
Tomorrow morning, after checking my bags with Air Canada, I'm going to wander over to Lufthansa, and see if they still have my call history, maybe sing a little song I wrote (okay, I filked it) to a tune Australians will be intimately familiar with regarding airlines, and see if I can become TikTok famous (ahahaha).
In more serious news, I'll be asking for a refund due to Lufthansa's negligence. Whether they'll pay for the Boston hotel, I can't guarantee. I do have travel insurance, but getting that back might be an effort and a half as well. Let's just say that I wouldn't have been out money if Lufthansa/United had booked the ticket when I freaking well asked.
Still, gonna have to try.
Now we have to see if my flight out of Toronto down to San Francisco is ticketed. I might check that tomorrow morning. I mean, that should be the most assured part of the journey, but after this screwup, let's just say I'm really nervous.
Looking forward to spending a bit of 'stay in one place' time before heading home to Sydney. Also looking forward to going home to Sydney. Travelling is harder on my nerves than it used to be; the current COVID resurgence isn't making it any easier, either. Masking is minimal, and while I'm masked, I'm aware that it's much lower protection when other people - including the people hacking madly away on the plane - aren't masked.
--
I've since arrived in Ottawa, and am staying at
alphaflyer's place. Unfortuantely, I'm so exhausted by all this, I'm going to have to forgo seeing Toronto and Niagara Falls after all, but my plan is definitely to come back one of these years, so if you're in the North-East Americas, there is still possibility!
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