Canada-Complaints.com » Cars & Transport » Complaint / review: CheapOAir - No e-ticket attached=no flight! | #3634

CheapOAir
No e-ticket attached=no flight!

We booked and paid for our flights from Calgary to Guatemala back in March 2008. On Aug 30, we checked-in, only to be told by the airline that our booking numbers did not have an e-ticket 'associated' with our e-ticket number. This meant we could not get on the flight.. After speaking to cheapoair.com, we were informed that the earliest they could deal with it was on Monday, when the call centres for the travel agencies would be open. We waited for Monday, did not receive a call from them, and called them ourselves. They assured us that someone was dealing with our case.. Apparently, they conducted a conference call between the airlines involved in our flights. None of them accepted the responsibility for the booking mistake. This is interesting, as the check-in representative at Air Canada, after trying for 1 1/2 hrs to find the source of the problem, could only work out that it had to be the booking agent's fault. After painfully calling cheapoair, each time having to repeat a process of retrieving our booking details and our file notes, which would always take forever and be a different phone consultant, I was eventually able to speak to a supervisor. This was the best they could do, despite requesting a manager over and over again. A senior supervisor informed me that the re-booking penalty and fare difference would not be covered and the earliest flight would cost us $659 per person to fly out the next day. Otherwise, we could fly out 2 days later for only $302 in total.. Obviously, we went for the cheaper option, despite the inconvenience. We received an email outlining the change in dates & awaited the confirmation booking/itinerary. We thought this was all settled.. At midnight, (6 hrs later!) we received a call claiming that we could not fly out on the date expected for that price. Instead, because it took them so long to book it with the airline, the price had gone up and now we had to fly out a day later for the pre-agreed price! Obviously, we had no choice but to accept a further day delay. We awoke the next day, assuming the situation was booked and done. We were soon mistaken.. An email at 11.30am revealed that they had had problems with the re-booking fee and our credit card. Instead of someone phoning us to re-check our credit card details, they had left the communication to a crappy email! What if we didn't have access to a computer?? Were they just going to leave us stranded?? Further frustrating phone calls (and some expletives) finally produced a re-booked flight. We received the itinerary. Hooray! We rang the airlines to double check that the same mistake of our e-ticket not being attached had not happened again. WRONG! My partner's ticket was clearly on their ticketing system, but mine was not.. Imagine if we'd turned up at the airport to deal with the same thing all over again? When we checked the emailed itinerary, sure enough, my e-ticket number is the same as the one for our original flight details... NOT the changed version. How incompetent are these people?? We are still currently trying to get someone who knows what they're doing in that stupid call centre to work out where the heck my e-ticket has disappeared to! Each time, it is a painful process that takes hours to do something that any ordinary individual can do online in a matter of minutes. To their credit, they gave us a whopping $50 discount towards the re-booking fee. How generous. How is this possible, that a company who offers a product, can not deliver what they promise, then not accept any consequence as a result of their terrible business operations? I can understand that this is a non-refundable ticket option - it's not the first time I have made this decision to book in this way. However, when we have done everything right, why do we get punished for something the booking agent is clearly to blame for? I have told all my friends about this company. I just wish I could do more..

Date:

Company: CheapOAir

Country: Canada   Province: British Columbia   City: Fernie
Site:

Category: Cars & Transport

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