CO har holdt seg for god for alt dette tullet, men de har nylig innført det suverent verste gebyret i bransjen i USA så langt: Same day stand by fee. Og det har backfired. Sjekk dette fra CO forumet på flyertalk.com:
As I feared, this fee has beome a toll booth in the effort to arrive home on-time.
Yesterday Mrs. Mudder and I were transiting EWR on our way from SXM to PIT. We were booked on the later flight to PIT, 3240 scheduled to depart at 8:05pm and arriving at 9:57. There is an earlier flight, 3238, that is scheduled to depart at 6:00pm. Our arriving flight, 860, was scheduled for 5:36pm, so I had to book the later flight as the earlier would have been too tight a connection, especially with customs.
Of course, flights were backed up at EWR last night, so when 3238 was delayed until 7pm and 3240 was already showing a 40 minute delay, I went to the PC to get on the standby list. The agent, while helpful, was unable to get us on the list as the flight was already under "gate control", and when she attempted to call the gate no one answered. We returned to the gate, and when the agent appeared, he said "you have to go to the service center, and it's $50" I replied "Since this flight and my later flight are delayed, isn't this irregular ops?" "No", he replied. I then asked why he wouldn't take the fee at the gate. He curtly said "You have to go to the service center, and pay the $50 there"
I hustled back the the PC, where the PC agent obviously had the problem of trying to collect the fee while being unable to confirm our seats because the gate had control. After a few phone calls to the gate and help desk, she managed to charge us the $75 for the two of us (Mrs. Mudder is not elite). The agent said there were 3 seats available, which I confirmed on the pda site, but she told me I had to go back to the gate for BPs. I returned to the gate and handed the GA my receipts, and he told me there was only one seat available. I checked the pda site and saw that we were not on the standby list, yet somehow CO had managed to take our $75.
Luckily, after boarding there were still 2 seats available and the GA put us on the flight. We arrived at the gate in PIT around 9:25, 30 minutes before our originally scheduled time. Flight 3240 arrived at the gate at 10:57, one hour late.
As far as I'm concerned, CO can have all the revenue it wants from people who change their mind and want to leave earlier in the day. Good for them. But given that EWR is obviously a problem airport where they overschedule flights, this fee ultimately puts me in a situation where I try to be nimble to get home some time around when CO originally has me scheduled, and CO now wants to charge me for that.
(as an aside, I'm assuming this was just a one off GA who wouldn't take my credit card, I'm hoping sending people to the service center isn't new policy)
Fulgt opp av:
Had the chance to test the new procedures again last night. This time my originally scheduled flight to PIT at 8:05pm was on-time. and I was originating in EWR, not connecting. When I arrived at the airport, I found the thre previous flight, 2888, was delayed from 6pm to 7pm. Now since my booked flight was on-time, I have no issue with the fee and gladly tried to pay it.
Tried.
My first stop was terminal A check-in at 5:45 pm. The agent at the counter was unable to put me on the standby list, saying the flight was already under gate control. She did give me a gate pass to get to the gate and try there (I had a terminal C BP). I checked the pda site and there were 6 people on the standby list for a full flight, but being a Platinum I wanted to give it a shot to see if I would get bumped to the top (I always have been on this route -- not too many Plats in PIT).
I went to the gate, and the GA gave me the "Go to the service center, it's $50" speech. So clearly, this is now procedure.
I went to the PC, where the PC agent said "can't do it, flight is under gate control". He called to the gate, where the GA flat out refused to put me on the list, saying the flight was oversold. The PC agent tried his best, but had no luck with the GA. The PC agent did tell me that the flight was only oversold by 1, and there was one seat still unassigned. He suggested I look for a red coat at the service center.
On my way to the service center, I saw a long line waiting for the GA, so I didn't stop at the gate. At the center, there was no red coat to be found, but the agent there was even less helpful. She gave me some song and dance about "There are two lists, the oversold list and the standby list" and that the GA will be offering compensation and has there is no chance of getting on yada yada...I'm not helping you. I tried my best to explain all I wanted to do was get on the standby list JIC someone doesn't make it, but she wouldn't budge, telling me everyone was already at the airport. I know she could see that there would be no misconnects but apparently she was also clairvoyant about people who checked in online the night before and made it in successfully from Manhattan at rush hour.
I returned to the gate, somewhat resigned to the fact that there was no way I was getting on this list without lighting up the GA, which I wasn't about to do. Ultimately, no compensation had to be offered, and no one cleared the standby list either as exactly 50 people showed up (The last one running to the gate right as the GA was about to give the seat to someone hovering, presumably #1 on the standby list). Since no one cleared, I let the matter drop and trundled off to my original flight, but I was pretty frustrated that I was never given a shot to begin with.
So, after twice in two days getting the run-around while trying to standby for an earlier flight, I have come to the conclusion that if one wants on the list, one has to get on it at least a half hour before the originally scheduled departure. After that, even if the flight is delayed and everyone is sitting around, it's going to be a real fight at best, at least as far as EWR is concerned.
Ikke bra av CO. For et kaos
