When is an available seat not available.

[mars]

Bit PI$$ed off at the moment.

After failing to to get time for an Autumn trip to LOS I thought I would try and extend my Xmas break from 1 week to 2 weeks.

Checked the flights and there seats there if you want to make a new booking, At the top prices of course. £2k plus pearl class. I paid £1340 in March.

So I phone Etihad and they confirmed it was £200 to change my outward date and bring it forward a week, That is what I was expecting and it is cheaper then another flight there and back.

They checked the dates and came back with no seats available, I had just checked and their seatplan says there are 4 seats left on the Monday and 6 on the Tuesday flight.

I thought the £200 charge would have been enough to get one of the seats but no.

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by mars

Bit PI$$ed off at the moment.

After failing to to get time for an Autumn trip to LOS I thought I would try and extend my Xmas break from 1 week to 2 weeks.

Checked the flights and there seats there if you want to make a new booking, At the top prices of course. £2k plus pearl class. I paid £1340 in March.

So I phone Etihad and they confirmed it was £200 to change my outward date and bring it forward a week, That is what I was expecting and it is cheaper then another flight there and back.

They checked the dates and came back with no seats available, I had just checked and their seatplan says there are 4 seats left on the Monday and 6 on the Tuesday flight.

I thought the £200 charge would have been enough to get one of the seats but no.

Did you book your original ticket through Etihad Mars? Or from an agent?

If you have checked the seating availability, why not ring them back and challenge what they are telling you?

[mars]

Originally Posted by dawsey

Did you book your original ticket through Etihad Mars? Or from an agent?

If you have checked the seating availability, why not ring them back and challenge what they are telling you?

Yes I did book direct with Etihad.

I did say on the phone that I had just checked and there were seats available, I guess its all down to the price you pay for your tickets and the rights you have to change dates.

I might try an e-mail stating that the seats are there and that I am a member of their frequent flyer programme and will think again before using them again.

[seafox]

there might be seats on the plane but not in the same class of service that you paid for.

There is usually a change fee and then you might have to pay the difference in the fare also.

If you paid $1000 for your original ticket and by the time you want to make the change the dates that you want to return are $1300 then they will want you to pay the $200 change fee and the $300 difference in the fare. So technically, the seats are not available, not at your original price.

And by the way, if you bought the tickets at $1000 and the new dates are $800, you would not get any money back and you would still have to pay the $200 change fee.

[dawsey]

Hmmm not exactly customer friendly are they! Especially considering you are in their FF club.
Is it worth asking Etihad the cost of those remaining seats?
As Seafox said, I know they have different classes of tickets for the same cabin class in most airlines.
They have probably sold off the cheaper ones in your class already, and are telling you there are none left at the price you paid when you booked.

[sishow]

On the last 4 or 5 flights with premeir airlines, I have noticed that they have been leaving certain seats free even though they say that the flight is full. The seats seemed to be used at the flight crew discression.

So maybe all 'available' seats are gone, the others may be earmarked for other purposes.

[mars]

The e-mail has gone.

I guess it is all about the price but they will also have my seat to sell on the flight for the 23rd for a lot more than I paid for it so they will gain again.

I have stated in the e-mail that there are 4 seats on the MAN-ABU sector and 22 on the ABU-BKK sector.

Not sure about leaving certain seats free I also checked the Saturday flight and there were only 2 seats on that one and they are willing to sell me a seat for the 17th I went through the booking pocedure upto payment,

I told them they have already changed my schedule once (but only by a few minutes no real bother to me) and they wont accomodate my request, also I will be a silver Guest after this flight and will think about using them in the future.

[xxmikexx]

Mars - tough luck mate. Some suggestions but you probably have already thought of them :

Take your complaint thru the frequent flyer club as they may be more amenable

If you really want the extra week then consider offering to swap your Bus Class seat for an economy seat (for no extra cost). Outbound only of course.

Can you get a refund for the ticket at all ? Then if you got most of your £1340 back you could buy economy for same or less on many other airlines.

[Masterwoodsman]

Originally Posted by sishow

On the last 4 or 5 flights with premeir airlines, I have noticed that they have been leaving certain seats free even though they say that the flight is full. The seats seemed to be used at the flight crew discression.

So maybe all 'available' seats are gone, the others may be earmarked for other purposes.

This is certainly the case with Singapore Airlines on long haul flights as i've experienced it many times especially on Business Class

[faultytowers]

Originally Posted by mars

I might try an e-mail stating that the seats are there and that I am a member of their frequent flyer programme and will think again before using them again.

Originally Posted by dawsey

Hmmm not exactly customer friendly are they! Especially considering you are in their FF club.

Originally Posted by xxmikexx

Take your complaint thru the frequent flyer club as they may be more amenable

A lot of airlines keep seats for thier "premium" customers , especially those with Gold Membership ( like I have with Emirates ).

When you become a Skywards Gold member, you are entitled to a premium level of service and privileges, including:

• Guaranteed seat reservations, even on fully-booked flights.

[steve@thaib]

Seafox is right here, it's the booking class you are up against. Not the difference between business and cattle class, but the system that the airlines use to release seats for sale.

If your original booking was, for example, in 'Q' class (and there will be a dozen or more classes), then you can only return in the same class, so they will be telling you the truth when they say there is no availability on the new dates you want.

The fare rules may well state that you can't mix classes. Have you seen the fare rules or not? If the fare rules say you can't mix classes then that's it,

[mars]

Etihad were good enough to phone me today and explained that there were no seats available due the price I bought the ticket for and the price that they are available for today.

I was offered if I would like to pay the difference between the 2 fares plus the £200 fee.

I refused, It was just an idea thought if I gave them a little push they would have offered me a deal as a nature of good will.

Have to find something else to do with the few days annual leave I have free to book this year.

[steve@thaib]

That's normal practice for mixed class fares. If it's bookable then you will pay half the fare relating to one class and half relating to the other class; there's nothing that they can do about that. The airline sets the fare rules and the people who book flights have to comply; there's no flex in the system