Flight Change Nonsense

On Nov 28, 12:11 am, "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:
"Tchiowa" wrote in message

...





On Nov 27, 4:17 am, "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:
4 weeks ago, I booked a round trip LON to CPH with SAS for the second
week
in Dec, using my LH M&M points.

This weekend, I get a call from LH telling me that the flight is
cancelled
and I have to transfer onto an alternative and they give me a choice of
the
last flight of the day (which potentially leaves me stranded in CPH with
no
onward connection to my local apartment) or an early flight requiring me
to
start at 5:30 in the morning (I know that some people do this happily,
but I
don't).

I protest that there are other flights with availability, but I am told
that
since I booked with LH I am only entitled to move on to a flight that LH
still have an allocation on.

I think that sucks. If I wanted to have to choose from the crappy
flights I
wouldn't have booked 7 weeks ahead. My view is that it is SAS who have
cancelled the flight, so it is SAS that should rebook me from their
allocation and not bounce the problem back to LH.

Guess which airline will not be getting any more of my business whilst I
am
working here?

Sorry, Tim, but you got fair treatment. You got a free ticket from LH.
SAS doesn't owe you. This is the problem with free flights.

But I didn't get a free flight, they cancelled it (and it wasn't free!).
ISTM that (in Europe) it matters not how I paid for the flight, but once I
have, I'm entitled to receive that which I have paid for.

tim

Free meaning you got it without paying money because you cashed in FF
points.

allow the
points to accumulate, and at best cash them in on upgrades. Every
once and a bit I find some flight I can use them on. We burned a
bunch of Delta by going ahead and using the "double miles" option.
They were just wasting away so what the heck. Because we spent
so many, we were booked into FC for the intracontinental flight.
I also managed to use them on a relatively short "commuter" flight
once.

I guess I've been incredibly lucky -- I've used miles for 3 roundtrip
flights to Eastern Europe (2 to Croatia, 1 to Bulgaria). (and 1 Hawaii and 1
Antigua) I hope to repeat this feat somewhere next spring. I did fly 4 or
5 times a year for a client for a few years, and the rest were acquired via
a Delta AmEx. I've never had any issues or problems (knock on wood) although
the scheduling added an extra flight or so. I'll admit, I've had plenty of
flexibilty each time and I mostly travel off season. But there is no way I
could ever afford the tickets to Eastern Europe without my miles; that's why
I've never used them for Western Europe.

If any of you guys want to get rid of your miles, I'll be glad to use them!
I'll even take photographs and write up a full report of my travels!

Sarah

PS - Seriously, you CAN donate miles to charity if you have no intention of
using them. At least you'd feel good about it.

"Tchiowa" skrev i meddelandet
...
On Nov 28, 12:11 am, "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:
"Tchiowa" wrote in message

...





On Nov 27, 4:17 am, "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:
4 weeks ago, I booked a round trip LON to CPH with SAS for the second
week
in Dec, using my LH M&M points.

This weekend, I get a call from LH telling me that the flight is
cancelled
and I have to transfer onto an alternative and they give me a choice
of
the
last flight of the day (which potentially leaves me stranded in CPH
with
no
onward connection to my local apartment) or an early flight requiring
me
to
start at 5:30 in the morning (I know that some people do this happily,
but I
don't).

I protest that there are other flights with availability, but I am
told
that
since I booked with LH I am only entitled to move on to a flight that
LH
still have an allocation on.

I think that sucks. If I wanted to have to choose from the crappy
flights I
wouldn't have booked 7 weeks ahead. My view is that it is SAS who
have
cancelled the flight, so it is SAS that should rebook me from their
allocation and not bounce the problem back to LH.

Guess which airline will not be getting any more of my business whilst
I
am
working here?

Sorry, Tim, but you got fair treatment. You got a free ticket from LH.
SAS doesn't owe you. This is the problem with free flights.

But I didn't get a free flight, they cancelled it (and it wasn't free!).
ISTM that (in Europe) it matters not how I paid for the flight, but once
I
have, I'm entitled to receive that which I have paid for.

tim

Free meaning you got it without paying money because you cashed in FF
points.
--------
But it's not free. To earn points you have to buy paid tickets. FF
points are a clear part of the whole ticket system and rules about how to
earn points and redeem points are clear advertised from the airlines.
Possibly I'm buying a ticket and calculating that part of the ticket price
is for earning points. Furthermore at least SAS have a system that you
can simply buy points without flying, they're not cheap but could be used if
you're missing just a few points for a trip.
For a trip like this LON-CPH you've to pay with 30000 points by SAS rules
and they've a price tag of Euro1125 if you're buying them separate .
I think Tim could try to ask for compensation by the new EU rules for
cancelled and late flights.

On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:40:00 -0000, "John" wrote:


I suppose we are all different people with different attitudes (be a weird
world if we were all the same) and it's all about the choices and sacrifices
we're prepared to make, but personally, I just would not put up with that
and I would not do whatever job it is you do, if it meant making sacrifices
like that.

I value my time too much to work for nothing - if I'm doing something for
the company, they are paying me, either in money or time off in lieu, but if
they want me to do something for nothing, then no, that's not on.

John


Out of curiosity, are you a union member?

John wrote:

Most regular flyers don't *earn* the privileges. They are on business, being
paid a monthly salary or whatever by their company. Even when they're sat in
their seat on the aircraft (a seat paid for by their company, btw) they are
"on salary" or "on works time"

So, if I spend a 36 to 48 hours to get to the backroads of China, this
is all company time?

Rog' wrote:

wrote:

If you use your points for something else, you are at least
costing the airline more money..


Oh, now there's a /bright/ idea. Nevermind the fact that
you are going to pay more in point-value for the item than
what it would cost by buying from the vendor and possibly
more than its actual value... just as long as you stick it to
the airline.



No kidding. The highest value in airlines miles is when using them for
airline travel.

John wrote:

"me" wrote in message
...

On Nov 27, 7:34 am, "John" wrote:

"Tchiowa" wrote in message

[snip]

Most regular flyers don't *earn* the privileges.

I don't?


No, I don't really see that you do. You're just flying to a destination to
do some work. How is that *earning* the privileges?


They are on business, being
paid a monthly salary or whatever by their company.

Even when it is outside of "normal business hours" which is
when the vast majority of my travel occurs? When I am asked to
work "excessive" or "exceptional" overtime, I am often given
additional compensation. I'm never compensated in any additional
way for travel time which occurs outside of normal business hours.


I live about 300 miles north of London and recently had to travel there for
a 3-day training course that had an 08.30 start on Monday morning, so I left
home at about noon on Sunday and drove there, arriving at about 6.30pm.
Because I used my own car rather than public transport I claimed 40p per
mile and, because I was travelling on a Sunday (and therefore outside normal
working hours), I was on double-time, meaning that instead of my usual
£25/hour, I was on £50/hour for the 6-and-a-half hours I was on the road.

Wow, it is nice that you get paid for the time spent on the plane.
What about non-working hours spent away from home? Do you just consider
it vacation?

tim (not at home) wrote:


If the airline cancels it's the airline's responsibility to reroute me, not
mine,.

You left out the part "within the rules of the fare purchased"

Go Fig wrote:

I believe in my State the airlines should be arrested, FF miles awards
are nothing more than a lottery and the State has a monopoly on that.


It's not a lottery. If you don't want the miles, then fly wihtout them.
No one forced you to join an FF program.

tim (not at home) wrote:


I'm not missing the flight, they are cancelling it.

According to their contract of carriage, what does this entitle you to?

I know in the US, you generally get replacement flights that meet your
needs or you get a refund of the fare paid.

It can't be that difficult for you to complain about what ever it is you
are entitled to in Europe, but not getting.