I am working for a living! Yes, thats right, I have a regular job, temping....at a Life Insurance company....but it is like the Job Description says....it is temporary! The best jobs in the world are the temporary ones.....One of the guys I am working with sent me these two photos today, well that is a lie, he sent me about 50, but I liked these two the best!
Sam and I are off to the other side of the planet on 28th November, we booked the tickets about 6 weeks ago....but the Airline have been pretty darn shocking....We booked the tickets with a 'real person' over the telephone. He (Billy) was extremely helpful, and spent a considerable amount of time helping us get the tickets just right. Once everything was exact (thanks to Billy) Sam and I both phoned the Airline to give them our payment details....then, this is where the mess started.....Billy that took my payment told me that the tickets could arrive anytime up to a week before we leave....They come in the post in a week....so Sam thinks, ok, well mine should follow in a couple of days, two weeks later she calls them. She calls them just to check.....cause remember the guy said to me they could come anytime up to a week before our departure. (I wouldn't even have checked) They find my tickets on their system, then they find hers, but it seems that someone has pushed the wrong button after she has made the payment over the phone......and now the ticket we booked for Sam apprently no longer exist between Singapore and Christchurch in New Zealand. Now call me old fashioned, but if an airline or for that matter any customer service provider skrews up....admits they have skrewed up....then they rectify it...............???? Not this Airline!!! NO SIR EEEEEEE!!!
Sam is working, so doesn't have as much time as I do...this was backover 4 weeks ago....so I call Billy, (she has tried calling the reservations team, but they are unhelpful and she is told that they have booked her another seat via Sydney, on a different day and the travel time is some 26 hours...bearing in mind its a 9.45 hour flight to Christchurch from Singapore)....so Billy looks it up, and is flabergasted! I mean, he is shocked with what has happened. He tries to fix it, but also finds that the seats are no longer available. I spend hours on this, lots of phone calls. We look at all the scenerios, I even get on the internet and try to find alternative roots to help him out. In the meantime Sam's bank account has been debited with the £1100. The Airline take the money without authorisation!!!! Now this is pretty shocking!!!!! They can't even tell us why this happened. (She has receieved the tickets today!!!! which are for a different day of departure than mine, and a 26 hours trip via Sydney to Christchurch.......) Again, call me old fashioned, but if Sam and I were a married couple would the Airline consider sending us on different flights to another part of the world on different days? Ridiculous!
So, it goes on, in the end, Billy tells us, they will purchase the ticket for her in Business Class....and we get the boo hoo story of its gonna cost them £1300. (er, who cares....Richard Branson doesn't he is a millionaire!) He also tells Sam, her and I will get 5000 extra airmiles on our Loyalty accounts.....Now, at this point, we thought the matter was done and dusted! Sorted....move on.....(at this point she is minus £1100 without tickets)
Then she gets a call from a guy called Gerry?! Supervisor at Virgin Reservation?! Perhaps? He says Billy is not allowed to work on our case any more.....miraculously they have found a cattle class ticket for her between Singpore and Christchurch on the same flight as we originally booked!!!! Hooray for the Airline...they save themselves £1300 and live off the interest of Sam's money which remember they have in their account now......still no tickets!!!!! For our trouble Gerry promises Sam that we can have 5000 miles each on our loyalty plans, we can use the lounge at Heathrow and in LAX....and we can both get an upgrade to Upper Class on our return section from LAX to London.....well, we think, this is consolation for the heart ache (we are off racing in Phuket, Auckland and Sydney and have team mates waiting for us...hope none are flying the Airline.) I reakon I have spent some 20 hours sorting this out....and Sam another 20. So we think, fair enough, at least they have come to the party, sorted the tickets and given us something to smile about!!!
Oh no! Today, she is called by Gerry again.....she has recieved the tickets in the post....with the 26 hour flight via Sydney....she has to return these to the Airline and they will reissue the Tickets correctly...fairynuff you say! Oh and he then mentioned, no upperclass tickets for either of us.....Sam can be upgraded to Premium (via standby...cough) on the return segment from LAX to London, or, she can have 5000 airmiles on her loyalty account....like she said...what the heck is she going to do with them?....I get nothing! Oh we can still use the lounge.....or....and this was the prize winner....she can have her money back. A full refund....that is sooooo generous of them isn't it.....never mind we are going to compete and would be letting down a team......and wouldn't be able to get tickets cause all the planes are full.......yea Sam, take the money back...lets be like the Airline, promise something then take it back!!!!!!
