This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin
Ground Staff
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Cabin Crew
This is a long one as I've tried to be as informative as possible...
Okay before reading this report, you should refer to my report on AA1457 dated 23 April as what happened here follows directly on from that flight...
Right I shall begin....so we've missed our flight connection from AA1457 to VS 006, in the wake of the ash cloud, due to broken down planes. VS006 checking staff had informed us our seats had be released to a very poorly man who needed to return to the UK, without further delay. We were offered seats out on the 29 April, but we advised VS that AA were getting us out the following day. At this point I asked VS checking whether we needed to do any paperwork, to which he replied "NO". This brief conversation, we later discovered, turned into the worst piece of customer service I suffered through this whole drama........
Anyway AA had sorted out flights for the following day from MIA to ORD then connecting to LHR, so after a very long and stressful day at MCO and finally arriving at MIA 4 hours late, we debunked to The Ritz Carlton on Miami South Beach, rather than accepting AA's kind offer of the Marriott at MIA!
A good nights sleep was had by all and we were up and off to MIA for an early checkin for our 10:50 flight to ORD. Arriving at AA checkin at 7:00 we were immediately advised that the paperwork we had from AA from the previous day was a travel itinerary and not a ticket and VS should've issued new tickets the previous evening transferring us from the VS006 to the AA flights to ORD then onto LHR. AA advised me to go down to the VS desk, 2 terminals down and get them to issue the tickets. I explained that nobody would be at the VS check in until 15:30 so this was not possible! The lady re-iterated that she could not put us on the flight without the paperwork.
Fearing that we would not make the flights and be stuck in MIA for at least another week I ordered Mr Apple to stay with the AA check in lady whilst I ran (not my forte) down to VS checkin, in the faint hope that someone would be there. Unsurprisingly there was no one there so I called VS Flying Club Gold. I got through to VS's Indian call centre and was told that tickets could only be issued locally and the call centre was not able to do it. I pleaded with the operator to help but after 20 minutes of being on hold I got cut off!!
I ran back to AA checkin and advised them that there was nobody at VS checkin so I was unable to get the tickets transferred. I was told again by AA checkin that without the tickets they could not put us on the flights.
By this time my lot were becoming frantic, oh forgot to mention, our baggage had gone missing as it had been checked in all the way through from MCO to LHR the previous day! The thought of being stuck in the US in only the clothes we stood in, which by now didn't smell the best, was not appealing.
Not one to give up I again phoned VS Flying Club Gold and got the Indian call centre. I explained the whole situation for the second time to another operator and after much remonstration I talked the operator into phoning ticketing and getting them to e mail me the new tickets. Please note that I was told time and time again by the call centre that this was not possible, as they can't issue tickets and they also can't talk to ticketing to get them issued. I had to beg, cajole, and use my Gold status to get them to budge. Anyway after an hour and a half on the phone and the wrong tickets being issued by ticketing twice, I finally managed to get them to email me the correct tickets to give to AA. Please note that each time they agreed to do the tickets they wanted to put the phone down on me, but each time I thankfully hung on, so as when the wrong tickets were issued I didn't have to go through the whole process again!! At this point I think my lot were so grateful that I am so tenacious they would've promised me anything. Fortunately, for them I was so spent, I didn't take them up on that offer. So anyway by 10:50 we were sitting pretty, right at the back of the plane, however by this time we were of the opinion that beggars could not be choosers, on our AA plane to ORD, praying that we'd take off in time to make the connecting flight to LHR. This time the gods were smiling on us and after a rather rough flight made Chicago in good time for our connection to LHR.
This whole drama could have been avoided if the check in staff at VS on the previous evening had done their job properly and issued the new tickets. I did ask at the time if there was any paperwork we had to do and he said "NO". I must remember if I ever bump into that gentleman again to thank him for adding a few more wrinkles to my face and costing me over £200 in phone calls.
Please folks if you're ever in the same situation, make sure you don't walk away from a late checkin without the correct paperwork and never let a VS call centre tell you something is not possible. Be belligerent and make them go the extra mile. Customer service should be VS's watch word, there reputation was built on it! Hats off to the Indian Call Centre though, they really did get me out of a hole.
As a footnote, our luggage was not at LHR when we arrived 24 hours late and after being home for 3 days and much wrangling with both VS and AA's baggage handlers our luggage was located and delivered to our home address. Ahh the delights of travel you've gotta luv it....
Please note all rating except ground staff for this report are based on my usual experience....
VS029 LGW to BGI on the 9 September.....I can't wait...
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