The Road Not Taken

Trying to get my ticket changed has proved a real pain in the butt.

I am currently booked on a Virgin Atlantic flight out of Shanghai to London but want to change this to Leave from Hong Kong instead. I therefore called Virgin Atlantic in Hong Kong to sort this out. They told me as my RTW ticket was actually issued by Air New Zealand (It was) that I need to talk to Air NZ.

So, I call Air NZ in Hong Kong. They tell me that the change I made before to my ticket was made in NZ so they have to confirm with Air NZ in NZ. Then they say that as the ticket itself was issued in London that they need confirmation from Air NZ in London!

Due to the time difference they sent a telex that we were hoping would be read and responded to so we could action the change tomorrow.

I finally decide to call Air NZ in London myself when the office opened. I call and get a pretty rude and curt guy who keeps saying he can’t hear as the line is bad. We establish my situation and finally get to the point where even though my “FARE BASIS” is written on the ticket that AIR NZ issued no-one knowswhat it means!

So he asks me to give him the number of the travel agent I booked the ticket with so he can call them to confirm and to call him back in 30 minutes.

A quick lay down and I call back and get a different guy…

Steve: Can I talk to Tim please.
Air NZ: He is on another line can I help?
Steve: Well he has been helping me with my ticket so …
Ait NZ: I can help you with a reservation…
Steve:…It’s actually a ticket change, he asked me to call back in 30 mins.
Air NZ: What is your booking #?
Steve: It’s a RTW ticket….I’m trying to change a Virgin flight…
Air NZ: If you give me the ticket details I can help
Steve: Well this is what I have spent a while with Tim on…

Anyway, you get the drift. I hear Tim in the background telling this guy to pass on the information. They say it will cost 25 pounds to change the ticket (great, I was told 100 pounds by the travel agent!) and what flight am I on and what flight do I want to be on..etc….

So now I am eagerly waiting an email from the dynamic duo telling me that I am (hopefully) booked on the flight I want to be booked on. I forgot to ask where I go to get the ticket re-validated but will sort that out later.

Phew…

Nothing is easy is it?!

Tags: Hong Kong

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 15th, 2005 at 11:08 am and is filed under Hong Kong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.