V-Flyer

Sorry for the protracted subject line there, was hard to think of one encompassing everything!

So my Aunt, Uncle & Cousin from the UK have finally decided to come visit me in the US this July after many years of procrastination. They don't really like flying, at all, and the longest flight they've been on is a 3hr one to Europe somewhere.

Last Monday I got a call from them, saying they had seen a Continental flight direct from Manchester to Newark for just over 300 quid. I had previously recommended VS to them, but they said that one came out to 600 quid. I did a quick bit of plugging in dates, and now you can book tickets originating in MAN, it was easy enough to find a comparable price with VS. It was maybe 10 quid more per ticket than the Continental direct flight. I didn't think my Aunt would particularly enjoy being cooped up at the back of a 757 for 8 hours, and told them to call VS and book those flights (online wasn't working for some reason), as they would much prefer the onboard experience.

So they did. Last Monday. On Saturday, I called to tell them to go online and try and reserve some seats as far forwards in economy as possible so they could get off sooner and cut out half an hour or so wait in immigration. 'well, should we have had a confirmation email or something by now, it's been 5 days and we've had nothing yet'.

I told them yes, they should have done, and to call VS back with the confirmation number they had been given. So they did. Apparently, the MAN-LHR flight had changed, and would now be leaving MAN at 10am instead of midday. As a result, apparently they hadn't been booked, and their credit card hadn't been charged. Even though they had been given a confirmation number.

They were re-booked, the price went up 16.50, and they were given a new confirmation number. It's now Monday, and they still haven't received an email with their e-tickets. So I guess a few questions.

Why were they not told that a. the MAN-LHR flight changed and b. that even though they had been given a confirmation # they actually had not been booked?

If you have a conf # for a flight, they change it and re-book you, are they allowed to change the price? I know its not that much, but its the principle of the thing....what if I hadn't told them to call VS and find out why they had no e-ticket yet, and we only realised a few weeks or even months down the line, and the price had shot up more, or there was now no availability.

It's been 2 days again since re-booking on Saturday, with no e-ticket yet. Mine have always come through within 10-20 mins of booking. What's the longest its taken for anyone else? Do they need to call back AGAIN? If you go to the 'my booking' page on the VS website though, you can plug the conf # in and it will pull up their reservation, but there is no option to resend e-ticket.

My Aunt was nervous enough, and this hassle isn't helping. One of the reasons I persuaded them to go via LHR was because the original BMI flight wasn't too bad, there would only be a 2 hour stopover at LHR. Now it's closer to 4 hours, which they aren't relishing.

I recently booked with VS over the phone and despite giving my FC reference and my email address, the agent forgot to attach my email address to the booking. Lo and behold, a few ddays later, printed etickets in a fancy wallet arrive courtesy of Royal Mail.
Sorry I can't help on the permutations of the booking but hopefully this'll put you at ease over the lack of emails.

I think you will find that most tickets are posted out unless the booking is close to the day of departure. In that case you will get your email confirmation.

I thought all airlines where on eTickets these days, surprised that their website won't let you resend it.

It seems that at the minute, booking bmi is a gamble as they try to sort themselves out. For an involuntary rerouting, you should never have to pay more. However, as no eticket appears to have been issued then airlines can change the fare and charge the difference (this brings back memories of ticketing deadlines where you could hold flights and pay for them nearer the time).

Now, just for curiosity... For a nervous flyer isn't taking two flights and changing terminals at LHR more daunting than CO direct from MAN?