Problems with upgrading with points

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IrishPete

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Apr 21, 2012
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Okay, settle in boys and girls, because this is quite a long read.

I think there's a truism about Etihad that their product is really good, but their administration and bureaucracy can fail dismally. This experience provides further evidence.

I booked tickets to fly to Dublin from Sydney with my partner on the evening of Saturday 22nd December, Economy Class.

I had enough points to upgrade one of the short legs for both of us, so did this through the website. At the final screen I got an error message. I can't remember the details now, but I think when I next checked the booking through the website (just the Manage My Booking function, nothing more sophisticated) it showed the leg as being Business.

I noticed the points hadn't been deducted, but figured there might be a delay.

I did a bit of digging, bought and transferred some more points, and phoned the call centre to try to upgrade another leg. I was told there was no availability, but confirmed that the other upgrade was in place.

More time passed, and I regularly tried to upgrade further legs. One day, there was availability on the other short leg. My points still hadn't been deducted, but I thought I had enough even after they would be (and I still think that's true). But when I upgraded online, I got the same error message as the first time, and figured (as I'd previously spoken to the call centre) this was a glitch I did not need to worry about. So now I am (we are) upgraded to Business from Abu Dhabi to Dublin, and from Dublin to Abu Dhabi on 12th January. But the points still weren't deducted. Ever. And when I checked the booking again, we're also flying Business from Sydney to Abu Dhabi on 22nd December. Something I never had enough points to do after the other two upgrades.

Who looks a gift horse in the mouth? So we proceeded to the airport, conscious that we might actually be going Economy from Sydney to Abu Dhabi. So be it.

The outgoing flight was cancelled/delayed due to the incoming flight having been diverted to Sri Lanka for a medical emergency. It was rescheduled for 6.15am the following day, and we were put up in a hotel. We returned to the airport about 5am. We were the last Business passengers to arrive, so were last in the check-in queue. The queue moved really slowly. All the Economy passengers were checked in before they got to us (seriously), and I think it was 5.45am. We were basically the last people being dealt with. By the end we WERE the last people being dealt with, because the computer said No. It wouldn't issue a Boarding Pass. After some digging, the check-in staff phoned the Etihad call centre (the same one you or I ring) and they eventually decided that at some deep level in the computer system, it wouldn't issue the boarding pass because the points hadn't been deducted. The ground staff did not seem to have any authority or willingness to either issue us a Economy boarding pass (and maybe put us in J on the plane, or maybe no), or do anything else.

Seriously a full A380 seemed to wait for the Etihad call centre to go through the process of deducting the points from my account and reissuing the ticket. Fortunately this WAS possible, because the balance (none having been deducted) was enough to upgrade the Sydney to Abu Dhabi leg. This was finalised at 6.15am, the plane's take off time. It took off maybe an hour later - we were definitely the last Business passengers to board, but maybe there were later Economy? However, I suspect the plane missed its take-off slot because of us (well, because of how Etihad dealt with us).

They issued us with a Boarding pass for Abu Dhabi to Dublin, which also said Business, but probably shouldn't have as I didn't have enough points to upgrade that too! So in Abu Dhabi for 12 hours, because of the missed connection, we decided to keep our heads down and not ask for a hotel. Went to the lounge, and the person on the desk insisted on organising a hotel for us! Back to the airport later, and boarded in Business and arrived in Ireland.

And the punchline? Despite all the hooha at Sydney Airport, the points STILL weren't deducted. We spent 3 weeks in Ireland, and when it came time to return to Oz, with a Business ticket to Abu Dhabi and Economy to Sydney, I was a little nervous. I figured there was no point in phoning the call centre, and resolved just to get to the airport early enough to sort it out there. The drama in Sydney had been heightened by the effect of the cancelled flight, and that surely couldn't happen again. It didn't, but we were again unable to have a Boarding Pass issued. So we again went through the rigmarole of the ground staff phoning the call centre and getting them to deduct the points and reissue the ticket. It took about 15 minutes, and off we went to the lounge. Interestingly, this time the points WERE deducted instantly.

The thing that amazed me was that Etihad would potentially delay an A380 over some frequent flyer points...
 
Great story.

To be sure, was only the return leg deducted or all legs? if the former, might want to keep the win quiet;)
 
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I'd love whatever bug your account has on my account - you've done pretty well so far getting one free leg. I think I'd probably happily put up with the delays in order to get myself a 50% chance of free upgrade every time I show up to check in.
 
I'd love whatever bug your account has on my account - you've done pretty well so far getting one free leg. I think I'd probably happily put up with the delays in order to get myself a 50% chance of free upgrade every time I show up to check in.

Well, if I could do it with confidence that i was not holding up 500 other people and disrupting Sydney air traffic control, I'd probably be happy. It was a really unpleasant start to the trip, albeit for a very short period of time and then massively offset by the actual product in Business Class of course. The steak sandwich was as good as always...

We were a bit anxious about the return trip, which affected the holiday as well.
 
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