Herbster Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Hi Everyone: Calling computer Wizz Kids & Trading Standards knowledge boxes... Removers are just about booked, so we need to get flights booked... So, for the past 3/4 days I have been trying to book on-line with Emirates for our One-Way flights to Oz....................:goofy: First I checked out all the possible combinations & found exactly the flights & routes we wanted from Birmingham to Melbourne, via Dubai, all non-stops on Airbus's to avoid our hated 777's, and got a great on-line price!:biglaugh: But if any of you have tried this process, that's where the fun seems to end.... I wonder if you have experienced the same problems??? The website is VERY slow, so frequently times out so you have to repeat the search process but this time can't find the deal, without repeating process several times:no:. Hours later, with much hair lost, with bated breath & much relief I actually press the button for Compete Transaction - please be patient.... it can take several minutes... Yes! I'm being VERY patient!! But NO! I eventually get an automated "Sorry, we are unable to process ticketing for this booking" WHY??? There's NO reason.... It gives me a number to call, (Not toll free) which I did, only to be assured any online booking problems are resolved & to try again... Which I did, with the same result.... This time I email copy of failed transaction to which I eventually get a booking ref & told to call Emirates reservation dept to conclude the transaction - (as the flights are reserved, but not paid for...) Which we did TWICE!!! And still NO JOY!!! What is going on??? Rep said the flights represent 2 different classes of Economy Class (Ughhh???! Is that MY problem??) and that I was on a Wait List??? Did I ask to be put on a Wait List, I don't think so! I explained we are leaving here soon so need to get this sorted ASAP to secure seats, baggage allowance (sort out onwards flights...) before we lose our phone service... How can an airline - or anyone - show you a price for a service & when you jump through all the hoops & complete all the necessary form-filling you get nothing just put in some holding pattern, without being informed of this, when you may or may not get seats where you want, at the price you agreed to pay, or even on the routes you selected... This does not seem right to us? I have again emailed the person who originally contacted us, explaining AGAIN our needs & am wondering if I call back after 6pm, as suggested earlier whether I'll be able to secure our seats then.... :arghh: Like there's not enough stress involved in moving at the Best of Times!!! Love Herbster.... XxX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Hi Herbster It is all to do with seat codes. Savvy travel agents know all about it. A colleague of mine needed to go to Sofia for a couple of meetings. His secretary was off sick but no worries because the firm had an account with HRG Business Travel, so I rang Janice there (a friend of mine) and booked it. Business class, excellent price, everyone happy. About a week later it was decided that somebody else would go with Andrew. Peter came cursing to me saying he could not get on the same flight. Andrew told him to ask me since I had booked Andrew's seat. I rang Janice again. She said there was plenty of seat availablity in business class on the same flight but not for the same price she had managed to get Andrew's ticket for. Eh, what???? She said something about when they do these Special Offers, they release maybe 6-12 seats at the Special Offer price. If you happen to be in the right place at the right time you get one of the the cheap but good seats. Seemingly, she had managed to grab the last of the £400 business class seats for Andrew the week before. Apparently it was going to cost £1,200 to put Peter in Business Class next to Andrew. I said tersely, "What would it cost to put Peter in the back of the plane instead?" £400. Well - the flight to Sofia is not that long, and Andrew was not prepared to give up his Business class seat, so that was that! One went Business and the other went Cattle. It emerged that Peter had had the same experience as you. He had tried to book his seat on line using the firms's credit card, thinking this would be quicker than getting HRG to do it for him (which it never is. I reckon they must have access to special websites or something which are not revealed via the general web because the rest of us would not understand the codes etc.) Especially when there is more than one traveller, therefore, these "Special Offers" are a bit of a mirage I reckon. Which is no actual help to you but I am pretty sure that you are encountering the same thing or something very similar, my friend. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herbster Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 Thanks Gill: :notworthy: I know there's a knack to finding these bargain basement prices: just over $1000 for both of us! Anyway, I went to my travel agent, (thought she could get the commission & arrange the baggage, etc....) with the next best price just over £1100, she couldn't even match that - not for ONE WAY - So I came all the way home, went back on line spent hours on the Emirates site tracking down the bargain fare, in spite of being chucked off a zillions times at various stages, as the site is SOOO SLOW (& Emirates told me they had been having problems with on-line booking but all was fine NOW!!!! So I started again, determined to get a deal; I was so thrilled when I finally made it all the way to the end of the payment page but so disappointed & couldn't believe after all that, that the tickets weren't ours!! Why let me go through that booking process if they aren't going to sell me the tickets??? The Emirates Booking Agent emailed me back this pm to say I'm on a Waiting List - maybe I should read lottery??? - & maybe I'll hear.... soon??? I always thought the early bird caught the worm, but I still don't understand why the price comes up & lets you go through the reservation process without ever once indicating that the Price might not be RIGHT... or available? I mean as a retailer, sure I can sell things for anything I like, but I can't stick a £30 price tag on a vase and then say sorry ma'am, Actually, it's £50, but if you come back tomorrow, or next week or some other indeterminate time you might be able to purchase the vase at the displayed price... It sounds like a scam to me... I know Ads for flights from a tenner, that the chance of getting one is negligible, but if you actually get to the website, select the flights, schedule, etc., etc. & the actual AIRLINE offers you a price for the flights, then surely by the time you complete the booking process the price can't have changed??? Surely as soon as someone selects the bargain price, (not that the airline indicates this is a Super Special Rate!) then those seats should be removed from the pool of availability until the transaction is completed... How many others are stuck in limbo like us, thinking we might be paying a certain price for our seats, while availability is being gobbled up, to be later told, sorry you can't get that price & have to pay Top Price! Not even the reasonably good price I could have paid... This sounds like a scam... :elvis: What does anyone else think??? Confused and frustrated, Herbie XxX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Hi Herbster I mean as a retailer, sure I can sell things for anything I like, but I can't stick a £30 price tag on a vase and then say sorry ma'am, Actually, it's £50, but if you come back tomorrow, or next week or some other indeterminate time you might be able to purchase the vase at the displayed price... It sounds like a scam to me... In English Law, when you put the price on the vase what you are doing technically is making an "Invitation to Treat." You are indicating no more than that you might consider selling the vase at a price (but not necessarily the price on the label.) For a binding contract to come into being, an Offer must be made and it must be Accepted. So - I pick up the vase, bring it to your checkout and say, "If you'll accept my offer, I'll give you £30 for this vase." The choice is then yours. Legally you are 100% entitled to tell me, "Having had a fresh look at it, I like it better than I did before. You gimme £60 or I won't sell it to you." I can curse you all I want about that, but the court will protect you, not me, in this situation, unfortunately. Emirates have very good UK lawyers. They know what they can get away with on their UK website. The sales girls at the bottom of the heap don't understand it but that is irrelevant. The software in the website prevents a sale that the Emirates Finance Director is not happy with. The leverage is in the Public Relations element, my friend. Upsetting an otherwise willing member of the British public is never a particularly bright idea. It causes ill-will towards the airline and bad news always travels a heckuva lot faster than good news. Then again, how much impact can one disappointed British family really have on the bottom line of the Emirates' P&L account? I've acted for more Arab clients than you've had hot dinners, my friend! It invariably involves haggling in the souk (always in Arabic, nearly always at 5,000 decibels) before the lot of them stop screaming at one another for long enough to inform me that the ABC Hotel in London is going to change hands after all - for the next 10 minutes, anyway - at £XYZ. Which is my cue to say, "Excellent! Bung £1 million into my client account and I will be delighted to read any document that you care to send." "Oh but Geeel"" Geeel"!!" "You heard me, Mustafa me old darlin'. Take it or leave it. I want the surety that you mean it." If Mustafa means it, the dosh arrives in Client Account. If it doesn't, he didn't mean it. He'll do another deal another day and he'll still want me when he eventually gets round to it - which, sooner or later, he will. It is an immensely cultural thing and that is just the way it is. If you want a firm, fixed price today instead of protracted haggling, buy your tickets from a carrier with a different market-approach, I suggest. You will never succeed in persuading an Arab to park the souk somewhere else in my observation! But when the chips are well & truly down, they are capable of immense kindness and generosity too. When my father was in hospital dying, eventually I told one of them about it. They all know each other so that was round the souk in a matter of seconds. The phone did not stop, "We will pay to bring doctors from America. We will pay to fly father to America. What help does your mother need? What help do you need? You tell us. It will happen today." They meant it and they had the financial clout, private planes etc to do it. There was nothing they could have done, but there was nothing they were not prepared to do for someone whom they considered a friend. Best wishes Gill :smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 On a completely different tack - biggest problem I have had with using online booking is my browser. I am an Opera girl and for some reason, some sites dont like to work with Opera, especially on the mac so I have got to the "wait for confirmation" screen and would still be waiting from last Christmas. Are you using IE or Firefox? The sites do tend to work better with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 I heard that they only actually have to have one seat at the 'special price' and once it's gone it's gone Ali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herbster Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 Firefox; & I'm not brill with computers, but other half is supposed to be reasonable! Thus, I know it's possible to change Browser settings, over-ride their paranoia, so to speak... Also you may just need to adjust your time-out settings: I know you can do that as some things take ages to complete so the browser bumps you off.... Your computer may be too impatient for some of these slower transactions - don't ask me how to change it, but I know you can!! :spinny: One minute Firefox is in favor the next it's Outlook! We only have minimal broadband here as we're in the sticks, so if everyone in the hamlet is on-line at the same time - well forget it!!! Modern Technology! :goofy: But I think Gill is on target, that this is some exotic Arabic ploy to sell left over seats at rock bottom prices, and then if it turns out they've actually over-booked, then the Rock Bottoms get bumped off the flight, or their luggage has a better trip than they do... :jimlad:So I'm thinking I shall forget about saving a hundred smackers, pay The Man what he wants & at least know we have seats in reg cattle class & not be worried any minute they are goig to ask us to bail out!!! But I still say it's a scam... Geez, if I'd pulled that one in the shop I'd have been lynched!! Bemused.com! Herbster X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herbster Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 Hi Herbster In English Law, when you put the price on the vase what you are doing technically is making an "Invitation to Treat." You are indicating no more than that you might consider selling the vase at a price (but not necessarily the price on the label.) ..For a binding contract to come into being, an Offer must be made and it must be Accepted. So - I pick up the vase, bring it to your checkout and say, "If you'll accept my offer, I'll give you £30 for this vase." ...The choice is then yours. Legally you are 100% entitled to tell me, "Having had a fresh look at it, I like it better than I did before. You gimme £60 or I won't sell it to you." ...Best wishes...Gill :smile: Hi Gill: Doesn't surprise me about the generosity of spirit of your Arab friends... Business is Business...? Made me smile, anyway, especially if you take that scenario to Tesco's & imagine it's a pack of Turkey Twizlers & your wekly shop.... Cause havoc!!. I did wonder if they did expect me to start haggling & get my magic carpet & Turkish Delight out! So I think I'll just contact The Man, say thanks but no thanks, can I pay a bit more & get a proper Cattle Class seat, as I don't wish to be jettisoned before I reach my destination! :wideeyed: When I was in Michigan, I lived next door to Iranians/Iraqi's who were lovely; every Hi Day & Holiday they would present me with little plates of sweet & savory delights, which to this day I still dream of, they were that good... (any recipes???) and when we were in Dubai a few years back, the culture fascinated us, and we wished that we could have bought many aspects of it back to UK! :idea: But I do find it curious that although as a retailer we can legally charge what we like, we can rarely get away with it! I used to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure clear & unambiguous Price Integrity - not being allowed modern shelf edge technology - but customers still used to try to scam me by switching price tags (fraud) and whenever I was inspected by Trading Standards, they could never find fault with my pricing. They actually take a very dim view of traders who use ambiguous pricing techniques to fool their customers into buying. And for those of you never having been to Oz, from our experience in Tassie, pricing was extremely unclear & often ambiguous - even in the big supermarkets, it was often difficult to figure out the prices... Anyway Gill, I guess I'll just offer to pay the full price to ensure that we both reach our destination together!... I'd be interested to meet the peeps that actually wait for the Low Priced seats to see how it actually works... Still think it's a strange way to do business... If they advertised Haggle Price - then you'd know what to expect!! :twitcy: Thanks, Herbster X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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