[goghgrl]

Tonight I had a horrible experience with NWA in Buffalo. A travel agent mistakenly booked me on the wrong date. NWA did not have an available standby seat, but Delta was willing to let me fly on their flight. NWA did everything short of a block and tackle to prevent me from flying Delta so that I could attend a conference tomorrow. Blah blah blah explanation about their "policies" and how much it costs them to accommodate any passenger changes. What a load of BS! I hope they are on the receiving end of their own customer service some day.

[Silent Bob]

Obvious comment: But you should have called your travel agent to make the change, if it was there mistake in the first place. now a dumb question: You said NWA didn't have an available stand by seat... uhmmmmm do you know the nature of a "stand by seat"? isn't that an oxymoron in and of itself, since stand bys have no seat, but must wait and see if one becomes available? That's why they call it stand by?

[goghgrl]

I did call my travel agent immediately and they didn't offer any other help than noting the flight was already booked to capacity so they couldn't change the date on the ticket. I have since learned that they could have booked me on the Delta flight leaving at the same time, or on an early morning flight. Since they close at 5:00, they weren't available to help after the first call. Northwest also wouldn't give me a stand-by ticket for the 5:00 flight because the flight was booked and they didn't believe a standby seat would become available, but now I know that I could have used that ticket on Delta and NWA would have been back charged, so they were protecting their interests over my need to fly.

[The_Judge]

I don't know what a backcharge is but NW would not have been charged anything for you using DL. Delta would just get the revenue instead of NW from the TA.

And since they are soon going to be one airline soon, it all goes in the same pocket anyway. As I said before (you know what I mean) I would have happily printed your ticket for the 50usd charge and sent you down to DL. Next time call your agent to blame them, not the airline guy/gal who is there to try to work with you within the rules of the ticket.

[goghgrl]

I was told by an NWA supervisor that Delta would have charged NWA $1500 for accepting my ticket, and that NWA would have billed me $1100 for breaking my flight pattern, and that I just don't understand the costs associated with changes to existing tickets. She implied they really did me a huge favor by not letting me fly on Delta. I wish a reasonable person like yourself had been at the counter. I will print your comment and show it to the ticket agent when I go back today to fly out. No one at the NWA counter indicated a $50 penalty could have solved the problem -- I would have jumped at that opportunity.

And again, I did call my travel agent right away but they didn't offer much assistance, didn't apologize, and closed at 5:00 p.m. I will talk to them again today.

[abutterfinger25]

Quick question: In relation to when you purchased your ticket, when did you notice the mistake?

[goghgrl]

I purchased my ticket about three weeks ago.

[abutterfinger25]

Sorry to say this, but part of the blame here is on you. You should have noticed the mistake as soon as the reservations were made, and thus corrected the situation at that point.

Northwest is also not under any requirements to reprotect you on another carrier.

[goghgrl]

I totally agree that I contributed to the error by not catching it right away; however, the definition of customer service is providing service to the customer. I have traveled quite a bit and have received assistance with stand-by seating, traveling on another airline than the ticket was issued to, and changing tickets wiithout being charged any fees, so I know that agents and supervisors have leeway to offer such assistance.

Your reply exemplifies the "lotsa luck" attitude that people complain about.

[Silent Bob]

[q]the definition of customer service is providing service to the customer[/q]

That statement is very true, however throughout my travels, when it comes to the airlines, customer service has an entirely different meaning. If the airlines can do for me - Good service, if the airlines can't do for me - bad service. You can't place blame on NWA because you didn't check your ticket and then rather than take full responsibility, you say "well it's you guys fault for not putting me on Delta or letting me stand by" That's just as worse as when, just last week, as I am checking in for a flight, this guy runs up to the counter next to me, clearly late. But when he found out he couldn't make it, he yells"You guys gave away my seat!" (But i will argue in your favor that they should have let you go stand by, even if there was no chance, it never hurts to try). But ultimately the fault lies with you and your travel agent, you know this, you understand this, nothing more needs to be said. But please don't use the "customer service" line as your wall to protect you from any fault, especially when your clearly at fault. (and your travel agent).

[abutterfinger25]

Originally Posted by goghgrl

I totally agree that I contributed to the error by not catching it right away; however, the definition of customer service is providing service to the customer. I have traveled quite a bit and have received assistance with stand-by seating, traveling on another airline than the ticket was issued to, and changing tickets wiithout being charged any fees, so I know that agents and supervisors have leeway to offer such assistance.

Your reply exemplifies the "lotsa luck" attitude that people complain about.

You are right. The agents you dealt with exhibited real poor customer service and I am glad that they corrected the mistake and reinstated your travel vouchers.

However, under current existing regulations, the carrier did nothing wrong in this instance.

[goghgrl]

What I am learning from these postings is that there are options available to ticket agents, but a customer should not expect an airline employee to make those options available, and should believe they received "good" customer service when nothing is offered. I have in the past received what I believe is "good"" or excellent customer service, and I can tell the difference.

Tell me how ignoring concerns, failing to explain options, and sending customers away unhappy would work in health care, food service, car dealerships, etc? It won't. Mistakes happen and compounding them only makes it worse for everyone.

By the way, I booked a hotel and car through an online travel service, and their customer service rep graciously helped me by calling the hotel and the car rental service and alerting them to the problem, which prevented cancellations from occurring (which would further compound my problems). And there were no extra fees charged. She was gracious and polite, and didn't try to assign blame to anyone. Maybe she should offer training classes to the airline industry.

[Suga00]

You are completely right, your travel agent DOES have options available to them that the customer service agents do not. When you purchase a ticket from a travel agent your getting what is called a "bulk ticket" which basically means a bulk of tickets sold to the agency at a reduced rate, which then turn around and resell them for a profit.
Now when you come to an airline with a bulk ticket they have to "reprice" the ticket, since the ticket now has pretty much no value, remember they were sold to the agency at a reduced rate. Only the agency that put you on this ticket would have another, equally priced ticket on another airline available. That is why everyone tells you, go back to the agent that sold you the ticket to put you on another airline.
The agents could not help you unless they repriced the ticket, which is done by the computer system and usually costs you hundreds more then you paid for your original ticket because you now have to pay for a full priced ticket, plus penalties, on the day of departure.
Customer service of Northwest agents were bad, BUT they could not put you on delta without charging you much, much more.

[Etihad Representative]

This is the problem with Travel Agency tickets, They are usually lower in price, however the restrictions on the tickets are way different, and airlines hands are bound (To a point) when it comes to problems regarding these tickets. I agree that the service you recieved could have been a little more "helpful" and "pro-active" however I would recommend checking all of your dates etc before travel, and checking the rules on your ticket closely before purchase. This should help you avoid any problems in the future.

Good Luck !!