Lisa Manzelli

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: The vendor is wrong re the ticket number issueAs you can see we contacted the two airlines and were given the actual ticket numbersAs you can see there were TWO numbers for each of usWe had to call both airlines to get this information because neither airline was in possession of the other's ticket informationAlpha Flight Guru is just wrong Even if AFG was correct (which they are not) and the airline made the mistake, Alpha's own terms and conditions (also in the attached letter) are clear that they will take care of the issue for us at no cost to us They just will not admit their agent made a mistakeThey have done this before (per Trusty Pilot) Sincerely, [redacted] ***

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/09/04) */ This customer received exactly what she requestedApparently she was concerned about a "dummy return" booking regarding her daughter's flight, but refused to accept the agent's explanation of why the flight was booked in that mannerDespite the customer's accusations, the fact is that her daughter on the same flights as the rest of the family(A dummy return flight is a common practice used by passengers [redacted] or travel agencies in which a flight is booked with a return segment that will not be flown to reduce the overall cost of the flightMore often than not the airlines will charge the same thing if not more for a one way versus a return (round trip) flightA dummy return will negate that additional cost.) Despite our agent's detailed explanation, the customer insisted on cancelling her daughter's flight because of the dummy returnOur agent assisted her in cancelling but she was not comfortable cancelling though AFG because the cancellation form could not be designated to state that only her daughter's flight would be cancelledThe customer insisted on calling the airline directly to cancel that segmentand our agent cancelled the return portion booked with milesOur agent disclosed to the customer this was a mileage ticket and that she would have a credit instead of a cash refund if she cancelled; nonetheless, the customer elected to cancel the flightThis customer has received a refund of $1,directly from the airlineDespite our clear terms of service which specify that in the event of a cancellation the customer is entitled to a credit and will not receive a cash refund, in the interest of good customer relations, we have approved and have refunded to her a cash refund of $1,050, which includes a fee of $that AFG paid to the airline to cancel the mileage portion of the ticket Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/09/09) */ 9-9- Sent via email: I am corresponding with [redacted] to get detailed information about the flights they bookedAs it stands now, they charged more than they quoted on the phoneAnd my daughters flight was not out of the city that they told me it would beHopefully they will reimburse on our visa the same that they charged on our visa for my daughters flight that was not agreed upon And any other extra surcharges that was not mentioned in our quotewhen I get the information requested from an individual named [redacted] ***, I am told by Flight Guru that he is the manage for [redacted] , who I dealt with on this purchase Hopefully they will clarify the details they charged and I can close this dispute I you need the email correspondence with [redacted] and his manager, [redacted] ***, let me know how to get this to you Sincerely, [redacted] Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/09/15) */ This customer has been sent, on multiple occasions, detailed emails, receipts, and all documentation concerning the flights that were booked, as well as the flights that were cancelled (at the customer's demand), and all refunds to which the customer is entitled have been processedThere is nothing more that we can, or will do, with regard to this dispute Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (2000, 11, 2015/09/21) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) We are still perplexed about how Alpha Flight Guru does its business, but they have now refunded our visa 1,on X-which puts the business class tickets we purchased through them at about the same price as we were quoted initiallyTherefore we are dropping our dispute with themI feel that in the end Alpha Flight Guru obtained very good flights at a below retail priceThank you to Revdex.com for being there to help the consumerI am not sure if we would have been able to iron this out without you

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
Alpha Flight Guru (AFG) has offered a myriad of excuses from “we were afraid’, “we did not understand”, we should have known we needed visas, then we did not need visas, now it is the airline’s faultNone have any validityLet’s consider what actually happened - we were there!
We tried to check in at South African Airlines (SAA)for our originating flight to San PaulaWe were told that SAA had no record of our connecting flights on Unitet Airlines (UAl) in their computer systemThus they could not provide boarding passes to Sao PaulaWe would have to leave the secured area to get boarding passes from UAL and to recheck our luggage, to do so would require visasSince we had no visasSAA refuse do to board us on their flightThis was all confirmed at the time by two SAA supervisors, and later by representatives of both airlinesWow have found several cases on Trusty Pilot where AFG has done the same thingSo AFG alleged that the airline was wrongIn what way? The only valid reason for what happened is that AFG made a ticketing error
A key issue is AFG’s terms and conditionsThey basically state that if we have problems with the airline, to call AFG and they will fix itWe called our guru Gary well in advance of the flightAsk AFG if they fixed things with the airlineobviously they did notso the terms then say that AFG will stand behind the original booking, and will rebook the clients at no costDid they do that? No, they issued new tickets and charged us an additional $
So there was a problem with the airline which AFG failed to handle, and they do not provide us with a no-cost alternativeThey failed to adhere to their own terms and conditions, and owe us $
Sincerely,*** ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: Response to AFG direct below makes it clear that they have not gone far enoughWe did try to contact their sales person before purchasing new tickets and it took us days to get a hold of him on the phone or by emailAlso *** are quite clear that the tickets were not purchased validly as per attachment
Dear ***
Your offer of credit against further bookings is not a satisfactory resolution and your latest response is also full of incorrect claims
You falsely claim that you fully disclose that you use ** mileage accounts to obtain deep discountsThis was never disclosed to us by anyone from AFG until you advised us after we were embarrassed and severely distressed by being accused of fraud by the *** supervisor at Melbourne AirportFurther more when we finally got *** *** on the phone we told him that we were denied boarding because AFG had purchased the ticket using someone else’s frequent flyer miles*** specifically told us “that should not have happened we had some problems a few years ago but we do not use ** *** anymoreWe use bank credits.”
AFG is clearly aware that Airlines do deny boarding due to your method of purchasing tickets so AFG should specifically advise customers that this may happen and that they should call your emergency numberWe were not warned that this may happen nor obviously instructed on how to deal with itAlso knowing that this does happen and that your customers would be in shock (and possibly not thinking clearly), and would almost certainly call their AFG consultant, you should ensure that if the consultant does not answer the phone then their answering service message should advise the customer to call the emergency number and then quote that numberWe were never warned of this possibility nor were we guided by *** answering service to call the emergency number
Your claim that if you reimburse us for the full cost of the replacement tickets we would have received free premium air travel is absurd as we paid AFG for the flightAny reputable business would not hesitate to pay us the full costs that were incurred by us to rectify the situation AFG put us in, and also provide Store credit as compensation for the distress both at the Melbourne Airport and on going as we try to recoup our substantial loss
Your offer is not satisfactory for several reasons
It is not enough to cover our loss
We may never be in the position to use the credits due to *** heath issues (cancer among other things),and our financial position
Credits cannot be used to pay the $16,that we had to put on a credit cardWe cannot pay that card as we currently have no source of income
A fair and equitable resolution is for AFG to pay us the $16,being the full cost of replacement tickets, and then if AFG truly made a Valid booking with *** AFG could seek to recover the cost from EtihadIt is your responsibility to pursue *** and not ours because you did not disclose the use of ** *** nor advise us how to handle the cancellation by the airlineYou should also be in a better position to prove to *** that the booking was valid and they have done the wrong thing in cancelling the tickets
Anything less than this resolution would only serve to convince us that your methods are fraudulent and your company should be avoided at all costs, by us and all of our friends and acquaintances across the world, and also should be reported to each and every authority that can discipline and/or deregister AFGComply with our requested resolution and tighten up you procedures so that customers know what to do in these situations and we might be convinced that you are a reputable company worth dealing with
Sincerely,Carol Mcmillan

We have investigated his complaint, and agree that, because our consolidator fare became unavailable, he should receive a full refund instead of the credit that we normally provide when a ticket is cancelled. We have processed a refund to his Visa card in the amount of $3801.00, and the credit
should show up within 7-business days. We apologize to *** *** for any inconvenience
Regards, *** ***

Tell us wI have fully investigated the facts and circumstances raised in this complaint, and have earlier responded directly to the customer on this issue. I have determined that the fundamental problem was that the information given to the customer by the airline desk agent with whom he dealt
was, quite simply, wrong. The customer was in fact correctly booked on one ticket with one e-ticket number per client for the entire tripHowever, the airline staff incorrectly told the customer that he had been booked on two separate e-tickets and that he would need a visa. Even though the customer was changing airlines on a codeshare booking, because the itinerary had been booked as one ticket, there in fact was no requirement for him to have left the transit area. Under our terms of service, we make it quite clear that we do not undertake responsibility for ensuring compliance with requirements for international travel:INTERNATIONAL TRAVELYou are responsible for ensuring that you meet foreign entry requirements and that your travel documents, such as passports and visas (transit, business, tourist, and otherwise), are in order and any other foreign entry requirements are metWe have no special knowledge regarding foreign entry requirements or travel documentsWe urge customers to review travel prohibitions, warnings, announcements, and advisories issued by the relevant governments prior to booking travel to international destinations.Passport and Visa: You must consult the relevant Embassy or Consulate for this informationRequirements may change and you should check for up-to-date information before booking and departureWe accept no liability if you are refused entry onto a flight or into any country due to your failure to carry the correct and adequate passport, visa, or other travel documents required by any airline, authority, or country, including countries you may just be transiting throughThis includes all stops made by the aircraft, even if you do not leave the aircraft or airport.Even though visa requirements are not our responsibility, I have been able to confirm that no visa is needed to simply change planes in Sao Paulo. When the customer arrived at the airport in Johannesburg for his return, he was incorrectly told by the agent in Johannesburg not to board the flight and that he would have to leave the transit area to re-collect his bags and go through Customs again which may have required a transit visa. As noted earlier, that information was entirely incorrect, and the agent should have known better than to make that representation. The customer should have boarded the flight as booked.After we were notified by the customer of the missed flight, we made a major exception to our standing policy regarding missed flights and changed his flight at our cost of $1,per personBooking a new flight entirely would have resulted in a cost of more than $3,per person.The responsibility for the trouble that our customer experienced on this trip falls squarely and solely upon the airline staff, and we have strongly urged him to make a claim with the airlines for compensationWe have booked a large number of clients on this same exact route, on the exact same airline, through the same city and have not had any issues.Although the customer’s difficulty was caused by airline employees and not due to any fault of AFG, we value our clients and were very distressed to learn that he had a less than “concierge white glove” experience. For that reason, we provided the customer a credit with us in the amount of $2000.00, good for a period of one year for future bookings with AFG
hy here

We are not sure what the customer has received from the airlines, but we remain confident that the customer was incorrectly advised by the airlines, and that their remedy lies with the airlines. The second set of e-tickets they referenced are the ones from the flights we changed them onto with their written approval after they did not board the original return based on the bad advice they got at the counter. Please see the PDF’s attached. The “original confirmation” has the return they didn’t get on and has one e-ticket for each person all the way through. The “changconfirmation” is the one for the return flight we booked them on after making an exception to our policy in order to change their flights to that. Please note that typically e-tickets are digits and the ones they sent are 14. The difference is there is an additional digit on the ones they sent but it’s the same e-tickets. Sometimes airlines add an additional number for some reason but a boarding pass will still only show the digits. The two itineraries are attached

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
1. The vendor is wrong re the ticket number issue. As you can see we contacted the two airlines and were given the actual ticket numbers. As you can see there were TWO numbers for each of us. We had to call both airlines to get this information because neither airline was in possession of the other's ticket information. Alpha Flight Guru is just wrong.
2. Even if AFG was correct (which they are not) and the airline made the mistake, Alpha's own terms and conditions (also in the attached letter) are clear that they will take care of the issue for us at no cost to us.
They just will not admit their agent made a mistake. They have done this before (per Trusty Pilot).
Sincerely,[redacted]

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I anxiously await my refund.Sincerely, [redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/04) */
This customer received exactly what she requested. Apparently she was concerned about a "dummy return" booking regarding her daughter's flight, but refused to accept the agent's explanation of why the flight was booked in that manner. Despite...

the customer's accusations, the fact is that her daughter on the same flights as the rest of the family. (A dummy return flight is a common practice used by passengers [redacted] or travel agencies in which a flight is booked with a return segment that will not be flown to reduce the overall cost of the flight. More often than not the airlines will charge the same thing if not more for a one way versus a return (round trip) flight. A dummy return will negate that additional cost.) Despite our agent's detailed explanation, the customer insisted on cancelling her daughter's flight because of the dummy return. Our agent assisted her in cancelling but she was not comfortable cancelling though AFG because the cancellation form could not be designated to state that only her daughter's flight would be cancelled. The customer insisted on calling the airline directly to cancel that segment. and our agent cancelled the return portion booked with miles. Our agent disclosed to the customer this was a mileage ticket and that she would have a credit instead of a cash refund if she cancelled; nonetheless, the customer elected to cancel the flight. This customer has received a refund of $1,306.20 directly from the airline. Despite our clear terms of service which specify that in the event of a cancellation the customer is entitled to a credit and will not receive a cash refund, in the interest of good customer relations, we have approved and have refunded to her a cash refund of $1,050, which includes a fee of $150 that AFG paid to the airline to cancel the mileage portion of the ticket.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/09) */
9-9-15
Sent via email:
I am corresponding with [redacted] to get detailed information about the flights they booked. As it stands now, they charged more than they quoted on the phone. And my daughters flight was not out of the city that they told me it would be. Hopefully they will reimburse on our visa the same that they charged on our visa for my daughters flight that was not agreed upon.
And any other extra surcharges that was not mentioned in our quote. when I get the information requested from an individual named [redacted], I am told by Flight Guru that he is the manage for [redacted], who I dealt with on this purchase.

Hopefully they will clarify the details they charged and I can close this dispute.

I you need the email correspondence with [redacted] and his manager, [redacted], let me know how to get this to you.

Sincerely,

[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/09/15) */
This customer has been sent, on multiple occasions, detailed emails, receipts, and all documentation concerning the flights that were booked, as well as the flights that were cancelled (at the customer's demand), and all refunds to which the customer is entitled have been processed. There is nothing more that we can, or will do, with regard to this dispute.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2015/09/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
We are still perplexed about how Alpha Flight Guru does its business, but they have now refunded our visa 1,000 on X-XX-XX which puts the 2 business class tickets we purchased through them at about the same price as we were quoted initially. Therefore we are dropping our dispute with them. I feel that in the end Alpha Flight Guru obtained very good flights at a below retail price. Thank you to Revdex.com for being there to help the consumer. I am not sure if we would have been able to iron this out without you.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/31) */
We are disappointed,and frankly, surprised, that this customer has filed a complaint. We have worked closely with her to resolve this issue, and just within the past week have reached a resolution that she indicated was what she was seeking. ...

To our knowledge and understanding, this matter has been completely resolved.

We have reached a satisfactory resolution with this customer.   We have provided a full refund of all funds paid to us, and $1000 in credits for future travel bookings.   The customer has accepted this resolution.

The customer purchased tickets from AFG which the airline refused to honor, even though they were validly issued.  In such cases, although rare, customers are required by our Terms of Service to immediately contact their sales representative in order to provide the company to remedy the...

problem.  The customer did not follow that procedure, but instead purchased replacement tickets themselves, and now wish to have AFG reimburse them for what they paid, effectively giving them two free business class international flights.  Although our Terms provide that if the customer does not follow the procedure set forth above, then their tickets are forfeit and non-refundable, we have, as a gesture of goodwill, given the customer a credit against future bookings in the full amount that they paid to AFG for their booking with us.  Additionally, we have provided them with two additional credits in the amount of US$500 each as an apology for the problem that they experienced.