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Flights by Celebrity nightmare


KMSP17

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We added flights through Celebrity to our June 2022 Alaska cruise in December 2021. We booked  Delta Air Lines Economy Plus (Comfort Plus).
On Monday of this week, I was checking our reservations on the Delta website, just to see if any better seats had opened and got a message that the confirmation number could not be found, Tried again, nothing. Checked my Delta account which shows all of my upcoming reservations, The flight home is there, but the flight to AK is no longer showing.

Called Flights by Celebrity (hereafter referred to as FbC). Representative said flights we canceled due to a schedule change and we should be rebooked soon, and he would followup the next morning. (Now, this was my fault, because I wasn't thinking, but a schedule change shouldn't completely cancel a reservation). He never followed up.

Once I realized that a schedule change shouldn't completely cancel a reservation, called Delta to see what they could tell me. The first person I spoke with said the flight was removed from the schedule. When I pointed out that I could still book the same flight on the Delta website, her answer was I needed to go through Celebrity since I booked through them. Called back and got a different person at Delta, who told me there was no schedule change and the reservation was canceled because Celebrity never ticketed the reservation.

Called FbC back with this new information. Asked the representative to see if they show the flights were ticketed (both the outbound an return) She confirmed that they were not. And she would need to send this to her support desk for the fight to be reinstated. I said the flight is still available, but not in Economy Plus, which is what we booked. Only first and economy were available. I did ask that they rebook us in first and pay the difference, since a.) the class we originally booked was no longer available, and because we paid for Econ Plus, that we should at least get that ( or better), and b) it wasn't us who forgot to ticket the reservation. She said she would put that note in and we should hear something in 48 hours. 

We didn't think asking for them to rebook us in first class was being unreasonable. We would have been perfectly happen if they could have restored the reservation to what we had originally booked, but because they couldn't, we didn't feel it was fair that we be booked in Economy, when we paid for Economy Plus, when it was them who forgot to ticket the reservation, and because of that Delta canceled the reservation.

The next morning I realized I never confirmed if they were going to ticket the return flights. I did confirm that they weren't ticketed, but never confirmed if they were going to ticket them. Called back and asked if they could check whether the return flights were ticketed. They had not been ticketed. I asked when they would normally be ticketed. Rep said that the ticketing date was set for April 9 (today was April 12). Rep, asked if I wanted to have that reservation ticketed. Umm, yes please. He would need to send that to their ticketing desk and they should be ticketed within 24 hours. Checked on Delta website today (4/14) and I can see that the return flights were ticketed.

No word on the outbound flight yet, and it's been 72 hours. The two first class seats that were available are now gone, and only thing available on the flight we originally booked is Economy. I am on hold with FbC now, and they are "checking" on the outbound flight reservation. And now, I've been disconnected.
 

So far it's been about six hours on hold with Celebrity over the course of three days trying to get this resolved.

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3 hours ago, KMSP17 said:

We added flights through Celebrity to our June 2022 Alaska cruise in December 2021. We booked  Delta Air Lines Economy Plus (Comfort Plus).
On Monday of this week, I was checking our reservations on the Delta website, just to see if any better seats had opened and got a message that the confirmation number could not be found, Tried again, nothing. Checked my Delta account which shows all of my upcoming reservations, The flight home is there, but the flight to AK is no longer showing.

Called Flights by Celebrity (hereafter referred to as FbC). Representative said flights we canceled due to a schedule change and we should be rebooked soon, and he would followup the next morning. (Now, this was my fault, because I wasn't thinking, but a schedule change shouldn't completely cancel a reservation). He never followed up.

Once I realized that a schedule change shouldn't completely cancel a reservation, called Delta to see what they could tell me. The first person I spoke with said the flight was removed from the schedule. When I pointed out that I could still book the same flight on the Delta website, her answer was I needed to go through Celebrity since I booked through them. Called back and got a different person at Delta, who told me there was no schedule change and the reservation was canceled because Celebrity never ticketed the reservation.

Called FbC back with this new information. Asked the representative to see if they show the flights were ticketed (both the outbound an return) She confirmed that they were not. And she would need to send this to her support desk for the fight to be reinstated. I said the flight is still available, but not in Economy Plus, which is what we booked. Only first and economy were available. I did ask that they rebook us in first and pay the difference, since a.) the class we originally booked was no longer available, and because we paid for Econ Plus, that we should at least get that ( or better), and b) it wasn't us who forgot to ticket the reservation. She said she would put that note in and we should hear something in 48 hours. 

We didn't think asking for them to rebook us in first class was being unreasonable. We would have been perfectly happen if they could have restored the reservation to what we had originally booked, but because they couldn't, we didn't feel it was fair that we be booked in Economy, when we paid for Economy Plus, when it was them who forgot to ticket the reservation, and because of that Delta canceled the reservation.

The next morning I realized I never confirmed if they were going to ticket the return flights. I did confirm that they weren't ticketed, but never confirmed if they were going to ticket them. Called back and asked if they could check whether the return flights were ticketed. They had not been ticketed. I asked when they would normally be ticketed. Rep said that the ticketing date was set for April 9 (today was April 12). Rep, asked if I wanted to have that reservation ticketed. Umm, yes please. He would need to send that to their ticketing desk and they should be ticketed within 24 hours. Checked on Delta website today (4/14) and I can see that the return flights were ticketed.

No word on the outbound flight yet, and it's been 72 hours. The two first class seats that were available are now gone, and only thing available on the flight we originally booked is Economy. I am on hold with FbC now, and they are "checking" on the outbound flight reservation. And now, I've been disconnected.
 

So far it's been about six hours on hold with Celebrity over the course of three days trying to get this resolved.

Quite a story and honestly could not wrap my head around the logistics of that process.  I use Air2Sea for Royal and have never had an issue. There is always a guarantee to get you a flight and get you on the ship....any airline. Not sure if its the same with Celebrity?  Personally I would have escalated this to someone in a supervisory position on the phone and follow up with a letter/email.   Documentation is vital here. I always ask the person to whom I am talking with to make notes for my file., and follow up with email confirmation.  As much as I like Royal, I am thinking about moving over to Celebrity, as it might suite my personal style more.  Hope this works out for you. 

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10 minutes ago, Eddy said:

Quite a story and honestly could not wrap my head around the logistics of that process.  I use Air2Sea for Royal and have never had an issue. There is always a guarantee to get you a flight and get you on the ship....any airline. Not sure if its the same with Celebrity?  Personally I would have escalated this to someone in a supervisory position on the phone and follow up with a letter/email.   Documentation is vital here. I always ask the person to whom I am talking with to make notes for my file., and follow up with email confirmation.  As much as I like Royal, I am thinking about moving over to Celebrity, as it might suite my personal style more.  Hope this works out for you. 

On my last call to them I requested a supervisor to call me back. We will see if that happens. They did say, once they realize that cannot reinstate the original flight that someone should be calling me to work something out.

I also sent an email detailing everything to Celebrity Guest Engagement and BCC'd the VP of Guest Engagement. 
The last person I talked to saw the notes in my file from the previous calls, and summarized them, so I know the notes are there.

We are doing a Cruise Tour before the cruise, and the flight we booked originally was the only nonstop flight available. The flight itself is still available, but not in Prem. Economy, liked we booked (and paid for), it's only available in Economy. If we don't want Economy, we either need to leave 10-12 hours earlier than planned, or arrive at 1:00 AM. So, when/if a supervisor or someone in a position of power does reach out, I am going to push that they book us in first class, and pay the difference for all of the inconvenience this has caused.

Celebrity goes guarantee that if you book through them, they will get you to the ship. I don't know about any airline.  I don't know if they work with airlines like Southwest, or JetBlue, and the low cost carriers.

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I also recently had a very bad experience with FbC. I booked the now cancelled Millennium Panama Canal 15-night cruise over the holidays. Because it's holiday season and flights can be scarce I went ahead and reserved flights through Celebrity for the return (it's a one-way cruise and we live in the departure port city). They cancelled the cruise, but shorted us $200 per person for a supposed FbC cancellation fee. I say it again: they cancelled the cruise. Never mind that a benefit of FbC is that you can cancel until final payment. The flights weren't ticketed or paid for, nor was the cruise beyond the fully refundable deposit. None of that should matter since they cancelled, not me.

They won't talk with me directly since it was booked through an agent, and she was not able to get clarification from them. I've disputed that charge on my credit card. Nightmare of a service experience.

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11 hours ago, KMSP17 said:

On my last call to them I requested a supervisor to call me back. We will see if that happens. They did say, once they realize that cannot reinstate the original flight that someone should be calling me to work something out.

I also sent an email detailing everything to Celebrity Guest Engagement and BCC'd the VP of Guest Engagement. 
The last person I talked to saw the notes in my file from the previous calls, and summarized them, so I know the notes are there.

We are doing a Cruise Tour before the cruise, and the flight we booked originally was the only nonstop flight available. The flight itself is still available, but not in Prem. Economy, liked we booked (and paid for), it's only available in Economy. If we don't want Economy, we either need to leave 10-12 hours earlier than planned, or arrive at 1:00 AM. So, when/if a supervisor or someone in a position of power does reach out, I am going to push that they book us in first class, and pay the difference for all of the inconvenience this has caused.

Celebrity goes guarantee that if you book through them, they will get you to the ship. I don't know about any airline.  I don't know if they work with airlines like Southwest, or JetBlue, and the low cost carriers.

Travelling the world these days brings on challenges.  Airlines, cruise ships, Hotels, etc are all struggling with issues.  Supply chains, lack of employees, costs of operations, etc.  There are always inherent risks associated with travel, especially flights. Especially now.  This is a choice we all make and need to acknowledge that there are risks involved if we decide to travel .  I just lost/cancelled a 28 day cruise out of Barbados due to covid restrictions even though nobody was sick and tested negative the day before my flight.  

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I've used A2S and Flights by Celebrity a few times.  Observation is the tickets are not purchased until after the cruise is paid-up.  Not sure if that contributed or not.  Now I'll use them for overseas flights with connections as they provide some level of protection  getting you to/from port cities, but now making my domestic flights directly through my airline.  We really prefer direct flights when possible as we live near a major airline hub.  The early cruise line  flights (well ahead of cruise date) offered by A2S or FBC tend to withhold those direct options until much closer to the cruise (when they become more expensive).  Same for the upgraded classes.  As we'll pay the premium for direct, we've also observed watching one of our direct flights (which we paid a premium) become a connecting flight adding ridiculous added travel time (3hr to 8 hrs - NOT).  That's another thing to watch.

Another observation (and need to always check the airline), is equipment changes that change seats.  Cruise lines will not alert you to this.

Trust but frequently verify- you're doing the right thing.

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On 4/14/2022 at 10:00 PM, Eddy said:

Quite a story and honestly could not wrap my head around the logistics of that process.  I use Air2Sea for Royal and have never had an issue. There is always a guarantee to get you a flight and get you on the ship....any airline. Not sure if its the same with Celebrity?  Personally I would have escalated this to someone in a supervisory position on the phone and follow up with a letter/email.   Documentation is vital here. I always ask the person to whom I am talking with to make notes for my file., and follow up with email confirmation.  As much as I like Royal, I am thinking about moving over to Celebrity, as it might suite my personal style more.  Hope this works out for you. 

Air2Sea and Flights by Celebrity are the same people.  I call FbC once and they answered Air2Sea …I apologized and said I called the wrong number, they then said we are the same people.

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On 4/16/2022 at 9:42 AM, cruisellama said:

I've used A2S and Flights by Celebrity a few times.  Observation is the tickets are not purchased until after the cruise is paid-up.  Not sure if that contributed or not.  Now I'll use them for overseas flights with connections as they provide some level of protection  getting you to/from port cities, but now making my domestic flights directly through my airline.  We really prefer direct flights when possible as we live near a major airline hub.  The early cruise line  flights (well ahead of cruise date) offered by A2S or FBC tend to withhold those direct options until much closer to the cruise (when they become more expensive).  Same for the upgraded classes.  As we'll pay the premium for direct, we've also observed watching one of our direct flights (which we paid a premium) become a connecting flight adding ridiculous added travel time (3hr to 8 hrs - NOT).  That's another thing to watch.

Another observation (and need to always check the airline), is equipment changes that change seats.  Cruise lines will not alert you to this.

Trust but frequently verify- you're doing the right thing.

Being a casino ranked player , I only use comped cruises. you must pay port charges and tax, and that is refundable until the day of cruise. 

I have to check into the associated flight for that . Not so sure. 

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So, a bit of an update on this.

On Friday 4/15 a Celebrity Engagement Supervisor called me and explained there are two ways the reservation will get canceled by the airline.

1) Celebrity only holds space with the airline and then will send a whole bunch of reservations to be ticketed at the same time. They said it has happened where the airline has canceled space and resold it before it gets sent for ticketing

2) Sometimes things just get missed. The supervisor wouldn't say it, but this is what happened to ours. I called on FbC on 4/12 and asked when the reservation should have been ticketed, and they said 4/9, but it never got ticketed. Later I would come to learn that it was sent to ticketing on 4/9 and should have been ticketed automatically, but failed because of a schedule change, that no one there ever acknowledged. So ticketing failed. It then got sent to a failed ticketing queue and someone should have researched it to determine why it wasn't ticketed and get it ticketed. But that didn't happen. And as a result because it wasn't ticketed by the ticketing deadline Delta canceled the reservation.

While we were talking the supervisor gave me my other flight options, one was an earlier option and the other was a later option. I said, we'd probably do the earlier, she added that to the notes and she said someone would call to re=book us. Later that day I talk to the wife, who said she'd rather do the later flights. No problem I think, when they call to re-book I will just have them book the later flights

The next day, Saturday we get a call from the ticketing department. And we get the flights re-booked, and I can see on the Delta website the flights were ticketed. I am thinking good, everything is finally resolved.

Monday evening (4/18) get an email from Celebrity flight change notification. I thought it was just the confirmation from the Saturday conversation. Checked the departure times, they re-booked us on the earlier flight, after they had already ticketed us on the later flights we wanted. Checked Delta.com and yep they re-booked us on the earlier flight.

Call FbC and asked why they re-booked us again, when we talked to ticketing and got re-booked on the flights we wanted. They were gone for about twenty minutes trying to figure it out, They said what appears to have happened is when we talked to the supervisor on Friday and she put the notes in the reservation that was sent to a department to be worked on. On Monday they worked on it, but never saw,  or never read the notes from ticketing from Saturday that we decided to go with the later flights and were booked and ticketed on those. So they canceled those flights and put us on the earlier flights. The person I talked to said they will send for the later flights to be reinstated, and it should take 48-72 hours.

Another supervisor called Tuesday and apologized and said if we don't get the new confirmation by Thursday to call back. Nothing came, so called FbC back on Friday. That person said, the person Monday sent it to ticketing, but didn't put in the new flights. So they would need to resend it again, and it would be another 48-72 hours (not counting weekends). This morning I get a flight confirmation email from Celebrity, this time with the correct flights. Check the reservation on Delta.com and it's showing the correct flights.

I am going to see if Delta is willing to take over the flight reservations, which should prevent Celebrity from making any more changes to it, since it won't belong to them anymore.

 

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On 4/16/2022 at 8:42 AM, cruisellama said:

I've used A2S and Flights by Celebrity a few times.  Observation is the tickets are not purchased until after the cruise is paid-up.  Not sure if that contributed or not.  Now I'll use them for overseas flights with connections as they provide some level of protection  getting you to/from port cities, but now making my domestic flights directly through my airline.  We really prefer direct flights when possible as we live near a major airline hub.  The early cruise line  flights (well ahead of cruise date) offered by A2S or FBC tend to withhold those direct options until much closer to the cruise (when they become more expensive).  Same for the upgraded classes.  As we'll pay the premium for direct, we've also observed watching one of our direct flights (which we paid a premium) become a connecting flight adding ridiculous added travel time (3hr to 8 hrs - NOT).  That's another thing to watch.

Another observation (and need to always check the airline), is equipment changes that change seats.  Cruise lines will not alert you to this.

Trust but frequently verify- you're doing the right thing.

The cruise was paid off at the end of February. The flights weren't set for ticketing until April 9.

When we originally booked the flights with Celebrity, we booked the only nonstop flight available in Prem. Economy. It's about a 5h 45m flight.  (We live in a Delta hub) They could reinstate us on that same flight, but only in coach, since Prem. Econ was sold out. We decided we'd rather have the Prem. Economy even if that meant adding in a connection. Now we have a 3h 30m flight to Seattle, 90 minute connection and a 3h 45m flight to Fairbanks. We've gone from 5h 45m of travel time to 8h 45m

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 4/15/2022 at 12:25 PM, sftraveler said:

I also recently had a very bad experience with FbC. I booked the now cancelled Millennium Panama Canal 15-night cruise over the holidays. Because it's holiday season and flights can be scarce I went ahead and reserved flights through Celebrity for the return (it's a one-way cruise and we live in the departure port city). They cancelled the cruise, but shorted us $200 per person for a supposed FbC cancellation fee. I say it again: they cancelled the cruise. Never mind that a benefit of FbC is that you can cancel until final payment. The flights weren't ticketed or paid for, nor was the cruise beyond the fully refundable deposit. None of that should matter since they cancelled, not me.

They won't talk with me directly since it was booked through an agent, and she was not able to get clarification from them. I've disputed that charge on my credit card. Nightmare of a service experience.

This is one reason I always book direct.  Further I always book through Casino Royale. Its a IRONCLAD guarantee for all my booking and airfare.  I can cancel to the day of cruise and get my port charges and taxes refunded. If Royal cancels the cruise,  Air2Sea refunds no questions asked.  I know this process of booking is not for all, but if you are going to gamble on the ship, you might as well join the program and take advantage of it. Casino Royale is a separate entity and must deliver on its promises.   There is a lot of revenue at stake.  

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  • 9 months later...

We haven't even gone on our cruise yet but we will NEVER use Celebrity flights again. They issued flight times that are awful for us. I've called to have them changed and was told I had to do it with the airline. Called the airline and said they couldn't do anything, it had to be done by the agency. 

I spoke to a supervisor who assured me that she would she what she could do and call me back. It's been a day in a half and haven't heard from her. The customer service with Celebrity air flights is absolutely awful! Actually there is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE because they don't care about their customers. If it wasn't for fees I would cancel our whole cruise.

We will NEVER again go on a cruise with Celebrity let alone allow them to arrange our flights. We are disguested and disappointed in the lack of trying to do the best for their customers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Celebrity is absolutely refusing to book our tickets back to the states.  We've got our flights out, Celebrity keeps obfuscating with the flights back and is blaming Italia Air Lines.  When I call Italia airlines, they tell me Celebrity hasn't paid for anything and until they do, I don't get a seat.  I call Celebrity back.  Give it 4 hours, they say.  I do.  Nothing.  I call Celebrity back.  Give it a day, they say.  I do.  I call Celebrity back, they try to reiterate from the beginning to wait a few hours.  I say no, no, no.  I am on hold for hours.  The flights were paid for but the lower end is booked solid.  Celebrity doesn't want to pay for the premium seating (my surmise, not their admission).  Celebrity sucks.  They are causing angst, will not come clean, keep kicking the can down the road and they've forced me to write to the Attorney General of the State and go to the BBB.  Customer no service makes an irate customer, especially when I already paid for this.  They aren't even offering to give the money back, etc.  

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  • 3 months later...

Just completed a 12 day cruise aboard the Beyond in Europe. Utilized Choice Air and it was a horror story. Especially the part where they re-booked our flight due to a missed connection, but the tickets were not issued. Had written confirmation from Choice Air, got to the gate and were told no reservations and no seats. Ended up arriving home 17 hours later than planned. All I want is a email address where I can submit a complaint. The one I was given by Choice Air came back with an automated reply that said they would get back to me in 30 days. Won’t EVER be using Choice Air again. Up front cheaper, but if you need to re-book because of a flight cancellation, they offer you multiple stops. If you want direct, or 1 stop it will cost you a fortune. 

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I booked flights for a cruise next May last week via the Celebrity website. Selected the flights, put in all the information, and I don't know how new this is, but I don't remember it being an option last year: you now have the choice to either pay for the flights as part of final payment, or pay immediately when the flights are booked I chose the pay immediately option. Credit card was authorized right away, but then nothing. No confirmation emails, nothing. Waited a few days, and still nothing. Contacted the TA to see if anything was sent to them, they didn't get anything either.

Called the flights department, explained the situation, and they found no reservation, and they couldn't find anything where they authorized the credit card for any amount. I was thinking this isn't starting out good.  The rep said the website was having issues the last few weeks, and that could be why nothing was booked. I told the rep, that I would wait until the authorization falls off, and then maybe try again. The rep also suggested that if I did rebook to call and request ticketing be expedited.

When we booked flights through Celebrity last year, the main issue was that Celebrity never ticketed the flights, so the airline canceled the space, and then the space was sold out, and Celebrity couldn't reinstate the reservation. If Celebrity had ticketed the flights when they were supposed to, none of what happened, would have happened. Hopefully, by being able to pay for the flights immediately, and request expedited ticketing, the problems will be avoided.

Saw the authorization fall off today, and so decided to call and book flights with Celebrity over the phone. Flights were booked, they asked if I wanted to pay now or later with final payment. I said now, got the confirmation email, checked the airline website, and the flights were showing under my upcoming trips. I asked when the flights would be ticketed, and the rep said he would request expedited ticketing. Checked the reservation on the airline website a few hours later, and there were ticket numbers. I assume then the reservation was ticketed.

I am hopeful that paying for the flights immediately and having the ticketing expedited, that it's a better experience than last time

 

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On 6/18/2023 at 1:02 PM, David Richards said:

Just completed a 12 day cruise aboard the Beyond in Europe. Utilized Choice Air and it was a horror story. Especially the part where they re-booked our flight due to a missed connection, but the tickets were not issued. Had written confirmation from Choice Air, got to the gate and were told no reservations and no seats. Ended up arriving home 17 hours later than planned. All I want is a email address where I can submit a complaint. The one I was given by Choice Air came back with an automated reply that said they would get back to me in 30 days. Won’t EVER be using Choice Air again. Up front cheaper, but if you need to re-book because of a flight cancellation, they offer you multiple stops. If you want direct, or 1 stop it will cost you a fortune. 

Excuse my ignorance, but I've never heard of choice air. I've heard of air2sea and flights by celebrity.  

Can you explain choice air?

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/15/2022 at 12:25 PM, sftraveler said:

I also recently had a very bad experience with FbC. I booked the now cancelled Millennium Panama Canal 15-night cruise over the holidays. Because it's holiday season and flights can be scarce I went ahead and reserved flights through Celebrity for the return (it's a one-way cruise and we live in the departure port city). They cancelled the cruise, but shorted us $200 per person for a supposed FbC cancellation fee. I say it again: they cancelled the cruise. Never mind that a benefit of FbC is that you can cancel until final payment. The flights weren't ticketed or paid for, nor was the cruise beyond the fully refundable deposit. None of that should matter since they cancelled, not me.

They won't talk with me directly since it was booked through an agent, and she was not able to get clarification from them. I've disputed that charge on my credit card. Nightmare of a service experience.

aw this is just a lack of communication - your agent just has to ask them to refund the $200 and they will - but airfare is so tricky if you or your agent do not know "key words" when talking to air desk people is so confusing - I always tell my clients until they have air ticketed its not really active for them and you can ticket anytime once they are held, but you should not have had to go through the million calls to find this out- bummer air is the hardest part of travel nowadays

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