Etihads inflated price for changing date of ticket

[beaufoy]

I traveled from bangkok to Dublin a few months ago on the cheapest online ticket the description of ticket explained that a change of date would cost $200 and a further supplement should all the cheap flight grades be fully booked. Whilst in Dublin I was informed that one of my dogs (in Thailand) was sick (Judy now dead RIP) so I decided to come home early. I checked the date best suited but found all the cheap seats were fully booked and Etihad wanted another $200 for the grade of seat available making a change of date cost of $400. Hence I decided to be more flexible about my travel date, but this did not work as all flights for the next two weeks were fully booked for the cheap grade seats. I had the feeling that Etihad were doing a scam to inflate the change of price from $200 to $400, so I decided to pretend to be a new customer wanting a cheap grade seat and found availability on 26 of the 28 flights which were fully booked on the change of date web page. I eventually paid the $400 for change of date, but at the same time I asked someone in the internet shop to (provisional) book the cheapest on the same flight (I have evidence this was done successfully )

 A few years ago Kuwait Air tried the same dirty trick on me but decided to charge me nothing after I caught them. so I thought Etihad might do the same. Hence after returning I complained about them charging my debit card twice and falsely inflating the price of a change of date of travel. They rejected the double charging of my Debit Card saying it was the fault of Bangkok Bank, and instead of answering the false inflation of my change of date.....they deleted the complaint from my letter to them which was displayed with the answer/s to my complaints

[Jiu-Jitsu]

It ain't necessarily so. If you bought your tickets in 'X' class(let's call it a promotional fare), but they only have tickets in 'O' class(let's call it Economy saver), they aren't the same class, even though they may both be cheap tickets.

So if in fact it was exactly the same class and you have documented it, you should continue to push for a refund.

[beaufoy]

On 8/4/2016 at 8:23 PM, Jiu-Jitsu said:

It ain't necessarily so. If you bought your tickets in 'X' class(let's call it a promotional fare), but they only have tickets in 'O' class(let's call it Economy saver), they aren't the same class, even though they may both be cheap tickets.

So if in fact it was exactly the same class and you have documented it, you should continue to push for a refund.

Outbound Flight
Flight: EY42 | EY402
Origin: Dublin Airport , Ireland (DUB)
Departure: 09:30 Sun. 12 Jun 2016
Destination: Suvarnabhumi Airport , Thailand (BKK)
Arrival: 07:10 Mon. 13 Jun 2016
Fare Type: Economy Breaking Deals   Above is the exact flight I took provisionally booked at the same minute of the same hour as i booked my change of flight, only difference an economy breaking deal was offered for the new booking but i had to pay for an economy saver (7000 bht more) because etihad said all the breaking deal seats were fully booked

[2fishin2]

You flew on the cheapest class tickets you could find knowing there was a $200 change fee and now you are complaining mmmm. Hopefully you learned a valuable lesson. But dont know because by your own admission this happened to you before. Next time dont be so cheap [emoji2]


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[Thian]

3 years ago i booked a ticket etihad to bkk online at night. All went well untill i came to pay by creditcard, the system didn't accept my card for some stupid reason.

 

Next day i called them and said i wanted to pay my booked flight but their system wouldn't let me. The helpdeskguy let me pay by creditcard but it suddenly was 20 euro higher. I asked him where that 20 euro came from and he sad they were bookingcosts.

 

I told him that he couldn't charge me for that since my ticket was booked online and i can't help it that their creditcardsystem has issues with Mastercard. 

 

I had no choice, buy it or not but since he helped me by phone i had to pay 20 extra for the bookingcosts.

 

So that was my last flight ever with Etihad. 

Emirates has a much better website and will never cheat a customer. One day they even gave me a free upgrade to businessclass.

 

Tickets are still in high season now and cost more, next week the low season starts for Europe.

 

 

[mtls2005]

Always read the terms and conditions applicable to your ticket/fare bucket.

 

Date changes (before travel begins, after travel begins), cancellations, refunds are all detailed.

 

Very generally speaking, the lower-priced fare buckets have the most onerous fees. Some require you to both pay a change fee, and buy up to the next higher available fare bucket. Some carriers offer one free change, after travel begins, assuming space available (not just the low fare bucket). 

 

All of this is run on sophisticated algorithms meant to maximize RASM. 

 

The OP seems to be suggesting that there was inventory in the original fare bucket, thus negating the need for the $200 buy-up (along with the $200 change fee), but without the ability to "see" the exact fare bucket string:

 

Y9, B9, M8, H5...

 

and knowing the original fare bucket, it can be challenging to verify this scam assumption.

 

Always do research, read terms, asks questions. If you think there is availability of the original fare bucket, hang up and call back (HUACB), make your case.

[KittenKong]

The OP's booking was BKK>DUB>BKK. He took the outbound flight then wanted to change the return flight. You can't compare the price for this with another flight booked later and in the other direction (DUB>BKK>DUB).

[mtls2005]

25 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

The OP's booking was BKK>DUB>BKK. He took the outbound flight then wanted to change the return flight. You can't compare the price for this with another flight booked later and in the other direction (DUB>BKK>DUB).

 

Yeah, obviously, without a time machine.

 

But you can look at a one-way, DUB-BKK and look at the fare buckets. If I saw my original fare bucket I might insist on speaking with a supervisor and making my case, with the understanding that these snapshots of inventory change hundreds of times per minute.

 

And I'm not sure what the OPs fare rules were re: changes after travel has begun; those would be the vital bit of detail.

Edited August 7, 2016 by mtls2005

[beaufoy]

On 8/6/2016 at 6:20 PM, 2fishin2 said:

You flew on the cheapest class tickets you could find knowing there was a $200 change fee and now you are complaining mmmm. Hopefully you learned a valuable lesson. But dont know because by your own admission this happened to you before. Next time dont be so cheap


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Do you understand English please read again very slow, and think whilst you read

[beaufoy]

9 hours ago, KittenKong said:

The OP's booking was BKK>DUB>BKK. He took the outbound flight then wanted to change the return flight. You can't compare the price for this with another flight booked later and in the other direction (DUB>BKK>DUB).

It is exactly the same flight quoted ie DUB-BKK and the change of ticket date was booked at the same time and for the exact date. There cannot be stronger evidence, the only flaw could be as follows the sections are subdivided again into  Y9, B9, M8, H5. ect ect so Etihad can say for example that Y9 B9 are on breaking deals for new bookings, but only Y9 are on breaking deals for change of ticket. However, this system could be described as a scam to inflate to add another $200 hidden charge for the change of date, and the fact that no date was available for change of ticket, but 90% of dates were available for new bookings blows a hole into  KittenKongs' logic

[Jiu-Jitsu]

On 06/08/2016 at 11:00 AM, beaufoy said:

Outbound Flight
Flight: EY42 | EY402
Origin: Dublin Airport , Ireland (DUB)
Departure: 09:30 Sun. 12 Jun 2016
Destination: Suvarnabhumi Airport , Thailand (BKK)
Arrival: 07:10 Mon. 13 Jun 2016
Fare Type: Economy Breaking Deals   Above is the exact flight I took provisionally booked at the same minute of the same hour as i booked my change of flight, only difference an economy breaking deal was offered for the new booking but i had to pay for an economy saver (7000 bht more) because etihad said all the breaking deal seats were fully booked

 

 

I helped my cousin to change her flight yesterday. The flight the next day(Sunday) was exactly the same price as the flight on Monday. But yet the price to change the flight to the Suinday was £155, but to the Monday £22.

As mtls2005 states, unless you can see the inventory, you can't be sure. In this case, you should have taken note of your booking class and then perhaps requested of a travel agent if they had tickets of exactly the same class for sale.

Annoying nonetheless.

[KittenKong]

5 hours ago, beaufoy said:

It is exactly the same flight quoted ie DUB-BKK and the change of ticket date was booked at the same time and for the exact date. There cannot be stronger evidence, the only flaw could be as follows the sections are subdivided again into  Y9, B9, M8, H5. ect ect so Etihad can say for example that Y9 B9 are on breaking deals for new bookings, but only Y9 are on breaking deals for change of ticket. However, this system could be described as a scam to inflate to add another $200 hidden charge for the change of date, and the fact that no date was available for change of ticket, but 90% of dates were available for new bookings blows a hole into  KittenKongs' logic

 

It may be the same flight but it is not the same ticket. You are comparing the second half of a return ticket with the first half of another one going in the opposite direction. Such comparisons simply do not add up, as you have discovered.

 

Many return tickets originating in Bangkok will cost more than the same ticket issued in the opposite direction, and this has been extensively discussed and commented on. This is not limited to Etihad, in fact it applies to virtually every airline though not necessarily to all flights in all classes.

 

I have noticed with several airlines that cheap tickets are not always available on the return sector depending on which day the outward flight is booked for: ie there may be availability on cheap tickets for outward flights on a Monday and a return on a Thursday, but if you select an outward flight on Friday the Thursday return dates are not available at the same price (though there may still be plenty of availability in the actual cabin).

 

On top of that the actual fare may well have changed for flights originating at one end but not the other, due to local demand.

[2fishin2]

Do you understand English please read again very slow, and think whilst you read

No but I understand American and a Cheap Charlie when I read a post. [emoji6]


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[beaufoy]

Thailand travel, world travel. Spas, resorts, hotels, flights, tours, car rentals. Get advice on everything from booking flights, to choosing a tour guide. There's more accumulated travel knowledge among our members than at most travel agencies.

 

Above is a description of the travel forum; please will the people who answer my OP try to live up to the description above and give me some useful advice

[beaufoy]

On 8/4/2016 at 8:23 PM, Jiu-Jitsu said:

It ain't necessarily so. If you bought your tickets in 'X' class(let's call it a promotional fare), but they only have tickets in 'O' class(let's call it Economy saver), they aren't the same class, even though they may both be cheap tickets.

So if in fact it was exactly the same class and you have documented it, you should continue to push for a refund.

it was exactly the same class

[beaufoy]

On 8/6/2016 at 6:20 PM, 2fishin2 said:

You flew on the cheapest class tickets you could find knowing there was a $200 change fee and now you are complaining mmmm. Hopefully you learned a valuable lesson. But dont know because by your own admission this happened to you before. Next time dont be so cheap [emoji2]


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

Sorry you seem to be lacking knowledge, and objectivity

[beaufoy]

On 8/7/2016 at 2:28 AM, Thian said:

3 years ago i booked a ticket etihad to bkk online at night. All went well untill i came to pay by creditcard, the system didn't accept my card for some stupid reason.

 

Next day i called them and said i wanted to pay my booked flight but their system wouldn't let me. The helpdeskguy let me pay by creditcard but it suddenly was 20 euro higher. I asked him where that 20 euro came from and he sad they were bookingcosts.

 

I told him that he couldn't charge me for that since my ticket was booked online and i can't help it that their creditcardsystem has issues with Mastercard. 

 

I had no choice, buy it or not but since he helped me by phone i had to pay 20 extra for the bookingcosts.

 

So that was my last flight ever with Etihad. 

Emirates has a much better website and will never cheat a customer. One day they even gave me a free upgrade to businessclass.

 

Tickets are still in high season now and cost more, next week the low season starts for Europe.

 

 

Cannot use emirates their connecting flights to dublin are poor

[beaufoy]

On 8/7/2016 at 9:27 AM, mtls2005 said:

Always read the terms and conditions applicable to your ticket/fare bucket.

 

Date changes (before travel begins, after travel begins), cancellations, refunds are all detailed.

 

Very generally speaking, the lower-priced fare buckets have the most onerous fees. Some require you to both pay a change fee, and buy up to the next higher available fare bucket. Some carriers offer one free change, after travel begins, assuming space available (not just the low fare bucket). 

 

All of this is run on sophisticated algorithms meant to maximize RASM. 

 

The OP seems to be suggesting that there was inventory in the original fare bucket, thus negating the need for the $200 buy-up (along with the $200 change fee), but without the ability to "see" the exact fare bucket string:

 

Y9, B9, M8, H5...

 

and knowing the original fare bucket, it can be challenging to verify this scam assumption.

 

Always do research, read terms, asks questions. If you think there is availability of the original fare bucket, hang up and call back (HUACB), make your case.

"without the ability to "see" the exact fare bucket string":  as far as i am concerned  and all objective people  I could see the exact bucket string ie Y9 B9 M8 H5 are no longer in common use, and unless the airline stipulates availability of said groups  and status of the original ticket then they are not allowed to use different goal posts to suit themselves

[Jiu-Jitsu]

58 minutes ago, beaufoy said:

it was exactly the same class

 

So which class was indicated?  Economy Breaking Deal is not a class.
 

[beaufoy]

2 hours ago, Jiu-Jitsu said:

 

So which class was indicated?  Economy Breaking Deal is not a class.
 

You are missing the point as i replied to an earlier contributor Etihad are not or should not be allowed to change the goal posts if Etihad want to be able to increase the fare based on their story that there might be seats available in Economy Breaking Deals but there might not be seats available in the cheapest sub section of Breaking deals. Then said booking statistics should be available for inspection on a computer when the customer is choosing his flight/s. If I lived in England I would be able to bring a case against Etihad for having a system where the real availability of seats can't be verified, which means they can artificially inflate the prices of their flights when they know the customer needs to fly.......I believe the 1976 unfair terms of contract act could be used against them

[Jiu-Jitsu]

5 hours ago, beaufoy said:

You are missing the point as i replied to an earlier contributor Etihad are not or should not be allowed to change the goal posts if Etihad want to be able to increase the fare based on their story that there might be seats available in Economy Breaking Deals but there might not be seats available in the cheapest sub section of Breaking deals. Then said booking statistics should be available for inspection on a computer when the customer is choosing his flight/s. If I lived in England I would be able to bring a case against Etihad for having a system where the real availability of seats can't be verified, which means they can artificially inflate the prices of their flights when they know the customer needs to fly.......I believe the 1976 unfair terms of contract act could be used against them

 

 

You appear to be rambling. I've asked you more than once as to which class of ticket that you hold. rather than reply, you ramble on aimlessly, convincing no one. haven't you noticed?

I began this dialogue with a neutral standpoint, but now I am convinced that your tickets are not of the same class.

It is normal for airlines to have a variety of booking classes, in order to differentiate between the types of ticket and promotion. Restricted tickets are just so...restricted. EBD tickets are either in class T or E. So if you booked in T and there was no T available, only E...you might have a problem.

As I stated, you would have been better off contacting a travel agent, who could have confirmed as to exactly what class was available at the time. But you didn't, so now you haven't got a leg on which to stand.

So instead of arguing with everyone because they aren't concurring with your conclusions, learn from your actions.

 

I live in England and you would have no case unless you could prove it. I have already asked you as to which class of ticket you purchased originally and which class of ticket you purchased later.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

http://www.etihad.com/en/plan-and-book/etihad-fare-choices/fare-choices-overview/

[beaufoy]

13 hours ago, Jiu-Jitsu said:

 

 

You appear to be rambling. I've asked you more than once as to which class of ticket that you hold. rather than reply, you ramble on aimlessly, convincing no one. haven't you noticed?

I began this dialogue with a neutral standpoint, but now I am convinced that your tickets are not of the same class.

It is normal for airlines to have a variety of booking classes, in order to differentiate between the types of ticket and promotion. Restricted tickets are just so...restricted. EBD tickets are either in class T or E. So if you booked in T and there was no T available, only E...you might have a problem.

As I stated, you would have been better off contacting a travel agent, who could have confirmed as to exactly what class was available at the time. But you didn't, so now you haven't got a leg on which to stand.

So instead of arguing with everyone because they aren't concurring with your conclusions, learn from your actions.

 

I live in England and you would have no case unless you could prove it. I have already asked you as to which class of ticket you purchased originally and which class of ticket you purchased later.

I suspect you are a supporter of Etihad, and you might be a retired policeman but I doubt if you are a lawyer. There is no such thing as proof, as I have been reminded by a high court judge. There was an e mail in dispute WHICH COULD NOT BE FOUND the Law Society claimed their version of what was written was correct and that I had lied, and my stance was visa versa and that the law society were lying. This case was a 20,000 plus claim against a lawyer who was being supported by the law society. Whilst the case was with the high court I found said e mail and it agreed with my version. Said e mail was sent to the Lawyer (against) to the LawSociety, and to the high court. When represented with Proof? of what was written no party disputed the e mail was a genuine copy of the original.

The Lawyer kept silent

The Law Society said they and the lawyer had made a mistake, but there was no intention to lie.

The Law Society lawyers agreed with their clients ie the Law Society

The high court judge agreed with the Law Society Now if the genuine e mail had agreed with the law society version then I wonder if he would have taken it as proof as to who was lying.

 

As I hope (but doubt) you can see there is no evidence no matter how strong becomes proof until a Judge and/or a Jury says so. Most Judges are not Objective and prejudice towards other Lawyers, Police, and other Freemasons. Hence the Jury system was started.

 

  Now back to the original subject ie your support for Etihad. Now maybe you are a share-holder in Etihad. My wife is a shareholder in Bangkok Airways, but if they had done the same dirty trick as Etihad I would still have caused a fuss. However as you can see (I hope) on the same flight date I told them a change had to be made. They had no special ripp off section for change of date flights so I looked on the standard online booking page, and found a flight with the special offer price still available and told them so and they agreed not to artificially increase their price. The e mails below are not proof just evidence.

NB Your travel agent idea would not work they probably  would not divulge such info and if they did they would not do so in writing

 

[beaufoy]

12 hours ago, Jiu-Jitsu said:

http://www.etihad.com/en/plan-and-book/etihad-fare-choices/fare-choices-overview/

Hello 

  I have found a new flight at the same price

 

  I would like bangkok to chiang mai 

monday 13 june  PG219    1700 hrs

 

     please confirm this is ok      I can pay by debit card or at Bangkok airport before flight

 

john  squire

 

---

From: Bangkok Airways Flight Notifications <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, 2 June 2016, 3:32
Subject: Re: Trip reminder IWYSFM with Bangkok Airways to Bangkok, Thailand / แจ้งกำหนดการเดินทางกับสายการบินบางกอกแอร์เวย์ส [Incident: 160601-000313]

 

 

Subject

Trip reminder IWYSFM with Bangkok Airways to Bangkok, Thailand / แจ้งกำหนดการเดินทางกับสายการบินบางกอกแอร์เวย์ส

 

Response By Email (flight_notification01) (06/02/2016 09:32 AM)

Dear Mr Squire,

 

Regarding to your email, we would like to inform you that your ticket is able to change flight with fee THB800 per flight in same price. Incase, the same price is fully booked, the fare differentail will be applied.

 

Please reply your preference flight in order for us to manage your booking appropriately.

[stevenl]

Please. You just keep on rambling, and can not give the class codes when requested. In stead you choose to attack anybody who dares to disagree with you.

 

You have had your rant, better close this thread now.

[beaufoy]

45 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Please. You just keep on rambling, and can not give the class codes when requested. In stead you choose to attack anybody who dares to disagree with you.

 

You have had your rant, better close this thread now.

The point is the class codes should be available to inspect, I have uncovered a major fraud and it would seem most Thai Visa members do not care that Etihad are defrauding the public, having said that if the same dirty trick was played on you, jiu jitsu, or 2 fishin 2 then you would be the first people to go running home crying to mummy

[beaufoy]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

Please. You just keep on rambling, and can not give the class codes when requested. In stead you choose to attack anybody who dares to disagree with you.

 

You have had your rant, better close this thread now.

did jiu jitsu ask you to write for him

[Jiu-Jitsu]

10 hours ago, beaufoy said:

I suspect <snip>...

 

 

 

...that you are quite a few sandwiches short of a picnic. 

 

You need to stop, as you are giving the impression that you are experiencing a nervous breakdown of sorts. No one is against you here. We are only trying to advise to the best of our knowledge. If you chose to ignore our advice, that is fine. But to attack the people trying to help you?

[Jiu-Jitsu]

8 hours ago, beaufoy said:

The point is the class codes should be available to inspect, I have uncovered a major fraud and it would seem most Thai Visa members do not care that Etihad are defrauding the public, having said that if the same dirty trick was played on you, jiu jitsu, or 2 fishin 2 then you would be the first people to go running home crying to mummy

 

 

Once again, you can get a friendly travel agent to inspect them for you. I have a friend who is a travel agent in Thailand and he has access to this info. It is not a secret. I can sit with him and look at the class availability in real time.

I've been in that situation many times and simply ask for the first date that class is available. If you are unsure, call as travel agent and ask if that exact class is available.

 

If you haven't proof on this occasion, make sure you have it for the next. 

 

No one is stating that you are definitely wrong. But if you feel that your evidence is sufficient, gather it together and send it off to:

[email protected]

 

You will get a response. Even if you are wrong, they may still offer a gesture of goodwill. What you should not do, is to act the arse. No one likes an arse. Let them see that you are a reasonable person, not a crazy ranter.

[kkerry]

9 hours ago, beaufoy said:

The point is the class codes should be available to inspect, I have uncovered a major fraud and it would seem most Thai Visa members do not care that Etihad are defrauding the public, having said that if the same dirty trick was played on you, jiu jitsu, or 2 fishin 2 then you would be the first people to go running home crying to mummy

 

You think you have discovered a major fraud only because you continue to ignore the reasons people have given as to why it isn't necessarily so.