Just finally got to the end of a mammoth battle of a couple of days with the ignorant people who man the phone lines for Etihad in Manchester (almost got to the point of finding out where they were based and popping round), where more than two of them tried to run a little scam past me. Basically, in error I booked my wifes ticket for the wrong date (never book a ticket whilst chatting online to an inpatient and hungry wife on Facebook) and as soon a I realised the mistake I called their customer services. First person - Sorry Sir, we need you on the phone at the same time as the passenger to confirm security questions! I asked as there was a 6000 mile difference between us how he could get past this one? Perhaps making a call himself to the passenger? Nope, couldn't help me. Second person - Sorry Sir, we need to first speak with the passenger so if she can call us to authorise speaking with you, we can then change the ticket - with a charge of £92, this was $75 dollars turned into pounds plus the difference in price for the new ticket.. But Was not able to make a 3 way call happen so was no help to me there - Though she did tell me I could go to the airport and they might be able to make the phone calls needed. Visited the Manchester airport customer service desk - Sorry Sir, you need to call the call centre! :f::f::f::f: Whilst all this was going on I had asked my wife to call their call centre in Manila, but she could never connect the call... So, we had to use the iphone she has over there on O2 and roaming (not looking forward to those bills next month). So instead of getting my wife to call Manila which somehow never connected I asked her to call Manchester. :f: She called them and spoke with Tahir, who then told her to get me to give them a call and speak with him. So I did... After speaking with a young lady who sits near Tahir she runs off to get him, only to tell me to get my wiffe to call back because he forgot to ask the relevant security questions So I called my wife to explain she needed to call the call centre yet again, but this time to insist on making them take her details and pass the security questions. Then I called again.... Spoke with Kiki, Asian/Chinese sounding lady who actually dealt with my call! She checked to see if a flight for the date I wanted was available for the same price - which it was (previous agents tried to scam me into paying a higher cost). She then transferred the details to the new date, though she did have to charge me £47 to change dates.. But at least she got things moving. So after numerous calls both to their call centre and also to my wife's iphone which is a UK phone on roaming and incurring who knows what amount of charges, I finally got the ticket we wanted.. And so for anyone who reads this beware of agents upselling you to the same ticket (economy) but for a higher price and hence a little kickback in terms of reaching their sales targets - this is a scam, don't fall for it and spend silly amounts of money you don't need to.
They were more interested in exploiting me and charging me an extra £50+ than actually helping me I'll be writing to Etihad to get their explanation after Joy comes over, might even send them £10 for a subject access request and get copies of all the calls. That'll get their customer care team involved
You see,..only women can successfully do two things at once ! Admittedly I've done the same myself (without chatting to my wife ) arriving at the airport 2 hours early with the whole family for a 16.00 hour flight that I booked on-line to find it actually was scheduled for 20.00 ! How does my mind play those tricks on me,... surely I'm too young at 52 to start all this forgetfullness nonesense ?
Doubt it's a scam Sean, reckon it's just poor sales and CRM systems, the amount was clearly wrong but flight changes are hard to do even when they have only just been booked, the onus is on you not to make a mistake in the first place sadly, this applies to almost all airlines they are normally very clear on their terms of carriage. Most of the flights I am looking at right now are "Changes not allowed" "Cancellation not permitted", the extra for the privilege of change is quite substantial up to 155 quid per leg. I do understand your pain at all the calls, I made a lot of changes to my last set of flights but while I was in Manila I used Skype (and my Skype credit) to call the UK and Holland (KLM) price was about 60 pence an hour, roaming UK phone is a really bad idea no matter how nice a phone mate
Sorry to hear your frustrations. Believe me I truly know the pain. Anyway Kuya, I'm glad to know that it's been sorted out the way you want it. We all live and learn
Kuya, Etihad are one of those airlines who require copy/details of any card used to pay for the flight in anothers name at check-in. In fact, by all accounts, they can be a pain (again) May I very kindly suggest you consider checking on this issue, and also as 'belt&braces' send you wife a photocopy of the card you used to book the flight. Many folks have gotten caught out on this. Especially with Etihad!!! Etihad are very 'hot' on correct procedure and authorisations
Thanks Peter, Now I have the ticket sorted I plan to head down (again) to the Airport to show them my passport and my card, plus emailing a scanned image to Joy of the card.
Better e-mail a scanned image of: The card Your passport photo page And a signed note saying "I Kuya confirm that I have used this, my Amex Platinum* card to purchase xxx ticket for use by Joy. In this age of repression it is better to give too much information than too little! * Or whatever...
I had a call centre experience with Etihad in 2011. It was June and I was on my way out to the Philippines to get married, flying Etihad. Everything was lined up perfectly. I actually lived a 15 minute drive from the airport so I decided to check in the night before by using their automated system at the airport but found that I couldnt. I enquired at the Flybe desk (as Flybe were the operator that was flying me to Manchester from the Isle of Man) and was told that the method of ticket payment required confirmation by presentation of the card I used to purchase the ticket and would have to be done when the flight was opened about 2 hours before flight time in the morning. I hadn't come across this before and panicked a little as it was an important flight and wondered if they would refuse me on the flight for some uknown reason. Anyway, I decided to try and clarify the reasoning behind it and how it might affect my ability to get to the Philippines. So I ended up having several long conversations with Etihad in London and at their call centre in Manila, knocking up a huge bill in the process. I did get the flight and the confirmation was a formality but never did get to check in early. The flight was great but I was short of a good few bob just on Etihad call centre phone charges.
