Travel Agent Question

Factual Questions
1

Sort of a long story. Mrs. Enipla and I are flying to Belize on 11/27. We have received our tickets from the travel agency. We heard that some flight times had changed and that we may have a problem making our connection in Houston. It turns out that now we only have one hour to get though customs and make a connecting flight - not good.

We called Continental and inquired about other flights. There is an earlier one that we would like to have our travel agent change our flight to. But that’s only half the problem. Continental said that the travel agent never called in the numbers on our tickets and we do not have reservations.

Our travel agent said this is not a problem! On top of this, all the flight numbers have changed as well. Continental says our tickets are invalid, period.

Our travel agent said that they get their tickets through a consolidator, and they are good.

I don’t really have any choice but to trust Continental, after all they are the people that fly the planes. :smiley:

So, how does this work? I assume the travel agent printed out the tickets but forgot to confirm something. I would have thought that this would all be automatic, but it appears that some step was missed.

2

Something does not sound right here. I’ve gone through consolidators and travel agents & never had this problem. If the airlines does not show you in the system, looks like you won’t go on that trip. Can you arrange a conference call with your travel agent and Continental to straighten this out? Have you dealt with this travel agent before? You might consider canceling with the agent, getting a refund, and booking directly with the airlines. Very peculiar.

3

We never have used this travel agency before, but they come highly recommended from a Belize message board. Many people traveling to Belize use them.

The agent is looking into this but still claims nothing is wrong. I’ll be damned if I’m going to the airport without confirmed reservations.

It would be tough to change everything at this point and get the tickets ourselves. Package deal and all that.

The conference call is a good idea. – If we can arrange one. Or, we may need to talk to someone else at the travel agency.

4

Maybe also check with the Better Business Bureau to see if this is a legit. operation. With all the airport security now, you’d have problems with an invalid ticket. The airlines seem to constantly change their schedules lately, so without a good ticket, you wouldn’t know the changes, etc. If they keep running you around, you might let them know that you’ll go to the authorities if you get no satisfaction. (A last resort). I hope everything works out well. I hate to see people get scammed.

5

IAATA—or I used to be until I was laid off.

Anyway, when a consolidator issues a ticket via any of the major computer systems, that system is supposed to automatically transmit the ticket number to the airline. If Continental doesn’t have the number, it’s the fault of the consolidator–not the agent. (The ticket wasn’t handwritten, was it? If it was, all bets are off.)

After the consolidator issues the ticket, they send it, along with the other goodies in the package (transfer coupons, hotel/car vouchers, etc.) to the agency. The agency then sends them to you.

Schedule changes are a regular occurrence. Normally, the consolidator will advise the agent who is then supposed to notify you. I can’t guess who dropped the ball there.

Ask your agent for Continental’s record locator (not the agency’s record locator–they can be different). It’ll be a 6-character alpha/numeric string. Then call CO and see if they have it.

If CO says they don’t have it, then try again by giving them your flight/date/name.

If they still say they don’t have it, all is not lost. Sometimes consolidators have simply bought a block of seats, and they notify the airline of the names all at once.

Me?

I’d get the agent on the line and stay there until I got positive confirmation that my space was, indeed, confirmed. Work your way up through supervisor to manager, if necessary.

I hope you paid with a credit card. If you did, and the agent can’t positively confirm you, I’d call my cc company and tell them that you are disputing the charge and won’t pay. They can then do a charge back to the agency, and you’ll be free and clear. Of course, you won’t be going anywhere, either.

PS- Trying to change a reservation made through a consolidator, whether to an earlier flight, to a different date, etc., can be problematic at best. Y’see, consolidators may not buy seats on every flight, and there are almost always restrictions and change penalties. Also, changing the outbound (the originating) flight is the hardest thing to do (for some arcane reasons that only the airlines understand). Usually, it’s much easier to change the return, but even that’s difficult with consolidator tickets–and the change penalties can range from nominal to extreme.

PPS- Oftentimes, a consolidator will not speak directly to the traveler. Period. End of discussion. Some might, but many of them will deal with travel agents only and will not communicate with you at all. I’m not sure what they’d do with a conference call, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t appreciate it if they knew you were also in on the call.

The airline, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t object. Do your best to just listen, though. Let your agent do his/her best to help the airline locate your PNR. It won’t help to chime in with something like, “Well, where the hell is my reservation, then?!” (Gratuitous advice, I’m sure, but you’d be surprised at how often agents have to deal with this.)

I’m reasonably sure it’ll work out OK for you. Hang in there, but be firm and get the answers you need.

6

PPPS- Some airlines will allow you to stand by for an earlier flight on the same day as your original travel date if the space is available. If so, you may be able to get on with no charge. Don’t count on it though. Before I’d do that, I’d call the airline and:

  1. Check before I left for the airport to see if the flight is still available. I’d ask how fully booked it was. I wouldn’t try it unless they said it was wide open, and

  2. Make sure the airline knows you’re traveling on a consolidator ticket. They may have separate rules that apply for those (no standbys, for example).

7

I used to be a travel agent, too. Everything stated above by Rysdad is correct and you should be able to sort everything out if you follow his/her advice. Everything can almost definitely be sorted out for you, even if the agent has to pay a surcharge. Be very friendly and easy-going, but still make it perfectly clear that you are not leaving their office without confirmation of your booking from the airline (use their phone!)

One word of advice. Your goal is to get the problem sorted to your satisfaction. The one thing that will never be admitted is that it was the agent’s fault. It will be the consolidator, or the reservation system having a hitch, or maybe the Invisible Pink Unicorn flew down and ate your booking ! :smiley: Just get everything sorted, and accept the fact that nobody will accept blame or responsibility for this incident. It’s an unwritten rule in the travel industry…

One of the reasons I left !

When all’s said and done : Have a good holiday !
Good luck :wink:

8

I had trouble once with United domestic flight that was supposed to connect to an international flight. The time between landing on the domestic and taking off on the international was too short. IIRC, United had a policy that you needed two hours. Because of that, United was willing to change my impossible to change frequent flyer tickets to an earlier flight free of charge. Don’t know if this helps you any, but certainly check that you’re window of time on the layover is sufficient to make your international flight.

9

Commonly known as the 11th Commandent: Never admit guilt.

:slight_smile:

It’s funny. My last five years in the business were as an instructor. During a staff meeting, the manager and supervisors told me that they didn’t want me to encourage the new agents I was training to accept responsibility for an error–rather, just tell the client what they would do to correct the error. They (the managers and supervisors) would be able to tell where the error occurred, and they would take care of assigning blame.

Ok, then. I just stressed the importance of documenting everything in the record in order to CYA. The good agents did. Bad agents didn’t, and they were the one that got stuck with the debit memos when “he said/she said” situations arose.

10

IAATG (I Am A Travel Guru)
I can highly endorse that Rysdad and Goo have said is GOOD advice.
I can also say that you should document/document/document your convarsations. Keep notes of the subject of conversations; times, dates and names of persons with whom you spoke. If you call an airline or consolidator, get their agent-sign and city where they are, as the company may operate several call-centers.

You should document all of this data BECAUSE any good agent will do the same thing. Agents HATE to take the blame because, they are not paid all that well AND a mistake can be very expensive to them PERSONALLY because management often makes them responsible to pay for any errors that they make.

I am concerned about the schedule-change that shortens your connection time. The agency should be on top of that right away and ensure that you’re re-accomodated onto a flight that can offer a proper amount of time.

11

Thank you everyone for your replies.

We got it straightened out. Basically we kept calling the travel agent and told them that Continental did not have confirmed reservations for us. They even called Continental and got the same response. Still they insisted that Continental was wrong. Don’t know what school of logic they went to.

Anywho, we finally got them to call the consolidator and </wave magic wand> Problem Fixed </end wave>.

As to the rescheduling of flights, they wanted to charge us $125.00 per ticket. We called Continental and they reissued us new tickets for free.

Thanks again

12

That figures, and it pisses me off.

The airlines dictate the rules to which the travel agents must comply. If the rule of the ticket states that a change fee has to be charged, the travel agency must collect the fee when they change a ticket. If they don’t, the agency gets debited for the amount of the fee or penalty. The agencies are also required to advise the client of these sort of change fees/penalties.

Sure enough, the client calls the airline, and the airline makes the change with no additional collection, even though it violates their own rules to do so. It makes the agent look like an ass.

The fact of the matter is…the airlines make the rules, so they can break the rules.

Here’s a couple of tips about that…

  1. The higher your frequent flyer level, the more likely the airline will “bend” the rules for you.

  2. If you want to try and change a ticket that says “nonrefundable/change or cancellation fees may apply” you can always try doing it at the ticket counter. If they’re busy, they might just say, “OK. Fine” and make the change for you at no charge. The longer the line, the more likely they are to make the change just to get you out of the way.

  3. It’s entirely dependent on the mood of the person behind the counter. If they like you, they may well make the change at no charge. If you act self-important and demand the change, they’ll charge you.

  4. Don’t try doing it at the departure gate. They’re usually not set up to make changes, and they’ll probably send you back to the counter.

  5. The managers at an airline counter can work magic. If the counter personnel seem unable/unwilling to help, ask for a manager.

  6. It doesn’t hurt to bring a rose for the nice counter lady (sexist, I know) if you are going to try and get around a minimum stay, restricted flight, midweek-to-weekend change fee situation.

Have a fun trip. By the way, have you been advised regarding proof of citizenship/passport requirements yet? (I don’t know your nationality, so I can’t state what you need.)

13

Rysdad,

All good suggestions.

I am U.S.A citizen, and I always travel on a passport. The less things that can screw up the better (funny, that’s why we went with a travel agent).

I guess what astounded me about the whole thing was the Travel Agent just stating that Continental was wrong. So, what where we supposed to do? Politely tell them they are wrong and forcibly board the plane? :slight_smile:

Jeeesssh.

14

Of course CO was wrong (see the Commandment above). :slight_smile:

I don’t know what happened, but I can think of five possibilities off the top of my head.

In any event, have a good trip. Will you be going out to the islands or staying on the mainland?

One more thing…are you just “alpine” backwards?

15

Yes, lots of things could have happened. And I bet it was probably a combination of two. I recently had a server go down from a virus and a CD drive crash at the same time. And the operating system was lost.

We really feel for the folks in the travel industry. It must be awful right now.

I didn’t know about the “Our rules clause” between the travel agencies and the airlines. I learned something there. Or the “It’s not our fault no matter what clause”. They are doing themselves a terrible disservice with that kind of attitude. If we would have just heard “Something went wrong, we will fix it” we would use this company again. Instead we heard “We did our part, Continental is wrong - call the ticket consolidator and try to fix it yourself”.

The trip is going to be awwwsuuummme (wife speak). Three days on the mainland with a trip into Guatemala to Tecal (sp). Horseback riding back in Belize and tubing down a river through caves. The rest will be on Abergriese Caye. We are both PADI certified so we will be doing lots of diving.

Yep, Alpine is our Chocolate Lab. And we live very high up in the Colorado Rockies (11,200 ft) so it kind of goes hand in hand.

Good Tidings To You

:):slight_smile:

D & P and Alpine

16

Just remember the 24-hour rule between diving and flying. Some foreign divemasters aren’t real strict about imposing that rule (Jamaica comes to mind).

Have you read this?

17

Especially coming back to high altitude. Yep, I avoid that and spend time by the pool with a beer and a book before I fly…

I was certified (by PADI) at 13 years old (junior diver at the time) for $40 through my Junior High School in Illinois (U.S). We did classroom stuff in the local pool. Fun stuff like having someone turn your air off underwater. Or rip your mask off. This was back when tanks had a ‘reserve’, J valve I think it is called. Drop all your equipment in the deep end – go get it. But don’t come up if you are not wearing it. All of it.

Open water cert. was in a gravel pit in November. Full wet suit (thank GOD). Follow the rope 45’ to the bottom, in PITCH BLACK return alive, you are certified.

Not the safest way to teach you how dangerous diving CAN BE but it is forever imprinted on my brain. It certainly taught me to be cautious.

Are you a diver Rysdad?

18

Woo hoo !

Let’s hijack this and start a diving thread.

I’ve never dived around America… Let me dream. Tell me your favourite spots.

I can’t wait to get to Truk / Chuuk Lagoon & Palau !

oooooh, to be diving… I haven’t had a dive since May when I was in the Maldives for my honeymoon…

: looks through her dive mags with extreme longing :

:smiley:

19

Yep, I’m a diver, too. Certified through both PADI and NAUI (don’t ask).

The neatest places I’ve dived were the Caymans and the Great Barrier Reef (lucky you, Goo. You can go there anytime). I’d love to see Palau and Truk. Neat!

My son will be old enough to get certified soon. I’ve got him his own good quality mask, fins and snorkel. We chase fish alot in the summer.

My checkout dive took place in a Minnesota lake in November. In a snow storm. Can you say, chilly? I knew you could. We were wearing full wet suits, and we’d pour warm water down the neck. Try that sometime. As the water seeps down, you’ll soon experience a feeling you haven’t had since you were about 1 1/2 years old.

One trip I really liked was with a dive operator out of Miami called Blackbeard’s Cruises. They run a catamaran called the Cat Ppalu out of Nassau (yes, 2 p’s, but you only pronounce one of them). It only takes about 12 divers at a time. Very nice and comfy for a week of diving in the more remote areas of the Bahamas.

(One of those weather alerts just came across the TV announcing a blizzard warning for northwestern Minnesota. It’s snowing here, and the winds are, quite literally, gusting about 40 - 50 mph. The windows are rattling, and it’s cold! Oh, how I’d rather be somewhere tropical.)

20

My best diving has been in the Philippines, which is also where I did my cert.

Funnily enough, I’ve yet to dive the Great Barrier Reef! I think it’s a case of it being close but not far enough away to be exotic. Any time off we had, we tried to dive from another country. Probably a good idea, as at the time I was a travel agent… Can we say big discounts ? Mmm, thought so !

Now that I have resigned from that profession in disgust, we might have to try a holiday at home… I think the next one will be the Barrier Reef, though I have a hankering to dive Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia (lots of whale sharks)

Thanks for the tip, though. Where did you do your dives from (in Australia) ? Cairns ?