Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one night.

[serfty]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

It does if you hang around the gates long during school holidays near the gate agents desk, it could well be the statement "there were seats" ...

I took that to mean the flight actually took of with empty seats, maybe even four?

 

[samh004]

Sounds like a pretty awful experience.

If its the same staff member as markis10 talks about then hopefully Virgin can see who handles boarding and work out what's going on.




 

[Major]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

It would appear that VA need to have a long look at their current policies.

If the OP has checked in at the International transfer desk, is issued boarding passes and then has time to go to the domestic terminal ( I assume via the Airtrain ) and still arrive at the gate 15 min prior to departure he should be allowed to board.

If their system allowed boarding passes to be printed at the International terminal one would assume the seats were still available. the system should not allow these passes to be cancelled as the OP was obviously there and simply trying to get from 1 terminal to the other

 

[amaroo]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Seems like a comedy of errors.....handing out J BP's and then turfing them is very poor customer service.

 

[simongr]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Seems like a comedy of errors.....handing out J BP's and then turfing them is very poor customer service.

It isn't uncommon at DJ/VA though.

 

[oz_mark]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Seems like a comedy of errors.....handing out J BP's and then turfing them is very poor customer service.

Agreed, but given the number of times it has been reported on AFF, it seems to be a systemic issue.

 

[richie9x]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

It seems the gate agent gambled that the OP and family wouldn't make it in time. They could have easily been delayed a further 15 minutes through immigration, baggage claim, customs, transfer to domestic or domestic security. But they weren't delayed and the gate agent's gamble didn't come off.

Things don't always go to plan that is just a fact of life. But one of the best measures of a companies' customer service is how they deal with things when they go wrong. The whole issue with giving business seats then taking them away just seems messy. It surely could have been handled much better.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

As a FFer, the OP would no doubt have an arms-long list of positive things that he has regaled his family with in regard to his business flying......op-ups, great service, a fly ahead here and there etc, etc........As a FFer, we usually get to accept the little issues that occur, gripe about them and move on. The biggest shame I see here is when we occassionally get to take our family with us on a cherished holiday, we do really want to see the joy in their faces as to what, for a non-FFer, is a real and exciting adventure, to be held in memory for many years.

The disappointing initial error could so easily have been restored to a real and exciting adventure (albeit slightly tarnished) by allowing them to keep those J op-ups. The end of a holiday is usually a bit of a downer and it was sad to hear the fiasco that followed made that far worse.

Having said that, I'd hate to be the one making judgment calls like those in the face of inclement weather and end of school holiday backlogs.

 

[MrJetset]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

My only experience on Virgin Australia was HKT-SYD via BNE in Business. There were several pax, in all classes, connecting in BNE onto a domestic flight. We were running late on the international inbound. VA held the domestic flight to SYD, we were met at the gate, taken down to awaiting busses that took us immediately to the domestic terminal where we were met, and ushered to our flight to SYD.

I was extremely impressed, as I have never experienced this with QF.

Oh, and I have little sympathy with you after this comment.

She asked us to move across to the desk and she would try and book us on another flight the following day, at this point it was getting a little heated. :evil:

I explained that she was mistaken and that we would be leaving on the flight we have checked into. :-|

Any seasoned FF'er knows that as a pax things should never get 'heated' and directly challenging airport staff gets you absolutely nowhere, in fact, in such situations it tends to work to your disadvantage.

 

[amaroo]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Agreed, but given the number of times it has been reported on AFF, it seems to be a systemic issue.

As the saying goes - under promise, over deliver.

It never works very well the other way round.

 

[juliusg]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

I'm really glad the supervisor name was removed as earlier today she was named and defamed here! A website isn't anonymous, we can all be pursued for what we say online. There are plenty of vexatious, unbent and just plain angry people out there, some of whom have senior legal counsel on tap. In my journalist gig since 1990 I've had all kinds of legal blarny.

No doubt the incident happened, but to say 'so and so lied to me' and to name then is a defamation. By all means complain, since if you have been issued BP at the transfer desk then OF COURSE you should be allowed to board anytime up till the door is closed.

But let's keep it nice here....!

 

[oz_mark]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

As the saying goes - under promise, over deliver.

It never works very well the other way round.

Indeed. If honouring the upgrade is not going to happen, then don't offer the upgrade that others are empowered to take away.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Where does it say that? They were at the gate 15 mins before take off during final call - I don't see a problem.

My bad - I misread the post on my tiny phone screen as being the check in desk rather than the gate.

The combination of a double knock back - boarding and upgrade - was pretty tacky but so was naming the sup before a complaint had even been made to VA. I'm glad the name is gone. Cheers skip

 

[tm.smile]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

At T-15, I think that it is pretty poor form that connecting passengers who already have their boarding passes were offloaded. The gate agent offloaded them before she should have and it is against operating procedure. If this happens, then whats to say that if I'm wandering leisurely down to the aircraft that if I don't board the plane before T-15, then she has the right to offload me and put on staff travellers or standbys? As someone holding a boarding pass, you would assumer you could board the plane any time up until offloading procedures are to commence and not a moment before.

 

[Mal]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

At T-15, I think that it is pretty poor form that connecting passengers who already have their boarding passes were offloaded. The gate agent offloaded them before she should have and it is against operating procedure. If this happens, then whats to say that if I'm wandering leisurely down to the aircraft that if I don't board the plane before T-15, then she has the right to offload me and put on staff travellers or standbys? As someone holding a boarding pass, you would assumer you could board the plane any time up until offloading procedures are to commence and not a moment before.

Under Virgin's Conditions of Carriage:

(c) Arriving at the boarding gate. You must complete all departure formalities (such as clearing Immigration) in time to arrive at the boarding gate no later than the time specified to you at check-in and displayed on the flight information displays at the airport.

So they have recourse and ability to offload someone at a certain time (I think it's usually 20 mins).

 

[greenfish]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Under Virgin's Conditions of Carriage:


So they have recourse and ability to offload someone at a certain time (I think it's usually 20 mins).

Sure, but these are connecting passengers, not no-shows or fail to boards. Virgin should make every effort to find out if they'll make it (and arguably, should consider holding the flight if the delay required is sufficiently minor). This would include paging and perhaps ringing the missing party.

To miss the flights despite arriving before boarding had finished, then being upgraded as compensation then downgraded would have me cutting up my Platinum card on the spot.

I really hope that their places weren't taken by staff standby travel.

 

[muppet]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Under Virgin's Conditions of Carriage:


So they have recourse and ability to offload someone at a certain time (I think it's usually 20 mins).

So you can offloaded before boarding starts? Frankly, if that's true, it's absurd. You can checkin 30 mins prior - it would take many people 10 mins to get through security and get to a gate. I have difficulty believing that could be Policy - rouge agent behaviour I can believe.

Doesn't flight close 10 mins before departure? That would be the time to allow standby's.

 

[amaroo]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

So you can offloaded before boarding starts? Frankly, if that's true, it's absurd. You can checkin 30 mins prior - it would take many people 10 mins to get through security and get to a gate. I have difficulty believing that could be Policy - rouge agent behaviour I can believe.

Doesn't flight close 10 mins before departure? That would be the time to allow standby's.

Maybe another reason not to fly VA!

 

[tm.smile]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

Under Virgin's Conditions of Carriage:


So they have recourse and ability to offload someone at a certain time (I think it's usually 20 mins).

Well it includes flight information displays which I'm sure at T-15 would only either be displaying 'now boarding' or 'final call'. From what I remember having been dating a DJ flight attendant up until the start of the year, offloading procedures don't begin until T-5. I may be wrong. Also having flown as staff traveller myself, they are only given boarding passes once check in time has well and truly passed (around T-20) and even then, only ever for no shows, never in place of passengers who fail to board.

 

[medhead]

Re: Stripped of 2 boarding passes, Lied to and downgraded to Economy! All in one nigh

I'm really glad the supervisor name was removed as earlier today she was named and defamed here!

it's not defamation if it's true.