Airline Scams

[73dodge]

Okay here is the biggest scam I have come across. It's called overbooking a flight, or in other words, how to sell air to people and charge them several hundred dollars for nothing, and get away with it.

Okay so here's the story, I have to make a flight to Boise Idaho for a customer. I go to our coporate website to book my travel arrangements as per coporate policy. I get the cheapest airfare to Boise through Northwest airlines OK everything hunky dory I get my confirmation that I have been ticketed a day later. I go to the web site to check my seats on the flight because I like the window and just to make sure I have a seat confirmed. Well lo and behold I do not have a confirmed seat. I click on the link for assigned seating and see quite clearly that the whole effing flight is booked solid with no open seats available. OK I know what that means, it means I arrive at the required time for the flight and sit and wait while the flight attendants make the announcement saying "Flight XXXX to Boise is an oversold situation and we are looking for volunteers to give up their seats so we can give the seat to some poor sucker who paid for a ticket and thought he was on this flight but was not assigned a seat and is waiting for someone to give up their seat so he can go to Boise" I hear that announcement all the time because I know the stinking airlines are allowed to sell 500 seats at 600.00 a pop on an airliner that only seats 150. Meanwhile they give out 100 dollar vouchers for future flights and now they get to pocket the extra 500.00 per seat and fill up their later flights. I have flown often enough that I know that they do this ALL the time.

Anyway back to my story. I see that they oversold the flight and I do not want to go on standby and wait for someone to give up a seat and possibly miss my connection to Boise in Phoenix.Plus I need to get to Boise in the morning.  So I cancel my ticket. I make arrangements on a flight that actually has available seats and fly in and come home from Boise last week. Okay Fine. Now I find that Northwest does not refund my money for my airline tickets. So I call. I start with coporate travel, sorry can't refund your money it's a non-refundable ticket. WTF!!! Okay so I call Northworst airline, 3 hours later on the phone and I have not yet talked to a person.

I finally get a human and tell them my story, the answer? "Sorry pal you loose we are not giving you your money back"   SO I say let me get this straight you sold me a ticket for no seat on an flight to Boise and now you get to keep my 500.00 dollars because you oversold a flight and you basically sold me a spot to wait at the gate with no guarantee of ever making it to my destination? Yep thanks for your business please fly Northworst again. BUT I didn't fly your stinking airline because you did not sell me anything you just took my money and I did not even get a good night kiss.

So now I am thinking of going into the airline business. Anybody want to join me. It's the perfect scam I'll buy a Cessna 172 a 4 passenger airplane and sell flights from Cleveland Ohio to Cincinnati Ohio I'll sell 50 tickets for every flight at 300.00 a pop and when 50 people show up I'll ask the 3 people that have tickets if they want to give up their seats to three other saps and put them on a later flight to Cinci. Which will really just be me making trips back and forth all day until I get all 50 people to their destination.  Who cares and maybe they'll get pissed and figure out they can drive there in 4 hours and I'll get to keep all their money.

[Shakey]

I fly 99% of the time with Air Canada.  The other 1% is when I am on one of their Star Alliance partners.  With all of my business travel, I have accumulated a ton of points, not to mention the status of being an Elite Member.  This is rewarded after x number of miles flown.  It allows me access to instant check-in, lounges at airports, upgrade certificates and the absolute best perk of being an Elite member, when they oversell a flight - they move me up front.  I sit in executive more often than not.

I know there are a lot of folks that don't like Air Canada, they always treat me right.

73dodge - honestly you should have shown up at the airport and waited for someone to take the $100.00 coupon.  NorthWorst would have gotten you on that flight and if they couldn't, then they would give you a refund - correct?

[73dodge]

I am a frequent flyer on several airlines but coporate policy dictates I select the cheapest flight always unless there is a compeling reason not to. Otherwise I have to state a reason I picked a more expensive flight and then it becomes a hassle because my boss has to know why I did not get the cheapest flight blah blah blah. Because of that I don't always get to choose which airline I want to fly. If I could I would a have a billion frequent flyer miles on Continental because we are a Continental hub and I would alway choose them.

Would Northworst given me a refund because I could not get on that flight? Probably not because there would have been a later flight available and I more than likely have been put on that flight with a gaurantee seat assignment. When a customer is expecting me to show up at a certain time and I tell them I will be on-site and such and such a time I want to make sure I am there when I say I am going to be.

A later flight would have thrown off my whole schedule. I make sure I have a seat assigned otherwise I'll cancel and find a airline that has a seat available.