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Flight Centre service is definitely "Beatable"!
We recently returned from a 4 month tour of New Zealand and Australia. We booked our airfare with Flight Centre in Victoria on Air New Zealand. ANZ is an Aeroplan Partner so we gave the agent our membership numbers and she included them in our booking. Not long after our return, I contacted our agent at Flight Centre and informed her that the recent flights and not been credited to our Aeroplan Accounts. She informed us that it sometimes takes a little time for the points to appear on our accounts. After 6 months, the points were still not credited. I contact our Flight Centre agent again and asked her to contact Aeroplan to see what the problem was. I was informed that Aeroplan would not let her inquire on our behalf and we would have to call them on our own. I called Aeroplan and informed them of our problem. The Aeroplan Agent asked why our travel agent was not contacting them as they have all the information and most often, this is how this is handled. I told her we were told that the travel agent could not contact Aeroplan on our behalf. She said that was not true, agents do it all the time.
The Aeroplan Agent then proceeded to tell me that we had 6 months to claim points that were not credited. It so happened that my call was 6 months and 4 days. I informed her that I had made inquiries with Flight Centre concerning these points and was assured that they would be credited and to just be patient. After a bit of a battle, she agreed to speak with her supervisor to see what could be done. They would contact me via email if there were any problems and explain the situation. Needless to say I was quite annoyed at both our Flight Centre Agent and the Aeroplan Agent. Within a few days, points were credited for our trip from Los Angeles to Melbourne but not our return trip from Sydney to Los Angeles (approximately 16,000 pts for both Leslie & I). Once again I contacted Flight Centre to see if she could intervene and act on our behalf to clear up this matter. I heard nothing. Finally I contacted Aeroplan and was informed that the reason we were not credited points on the return flight is because they were discounted tickets that were ineligible. I told her our fares were around $5000, which appeared to be the regular fares on most airlines and we were never informed of any discounts, or the fact that all points relating to these flights would not be credited. Again, I emailed our Flight Centre Agent and she informed me that she did contact Aeroplan and got the same answer.
So here we are, 1/2 the points credited and I guess that's that! I feel that Flight Centre basically left us hanging to deal with this situation on our own. Regardless of the out come, I would have felt much better if they would have intervened and aggressively fought on our behalf but that did not happen! Good customer service does not end at the booking.
As far as Aeroplan, this type of customer service does not surprise. We have flown Air Canada for business and pleasure over the past 38 years and have never been overly impressed. As far as Air New Zealand, they are fantastic!! I was going to attach all the corresponding emails concerning this matter but I think this story is long enough as it is and I think you all get the drift!
We recently returned from a 4 month tour of New Zealand and Australia. We booked our airfare with Flight Centre in Victoria on Air New Zealand. ANZ is an Aeroplan Partner so we gave the agent our membership numbers and she included them in our booking. Not long after our return, I contacted our agent at Flight Centre and informed her that the recent flights and not been credited to our Aeroplan Accounts. She informed us that it sometimes takes a little time for the points to appear on our accounts. After 6 months, the points were still not credited. I contact our Flight Centre agent again and asked her to contact Aeroplan to see what the problem was. I was informed that Aeroplan would not let her inquire on our behalf and we would have to call them on our own. I called Aeroplan and informed them of our problem. The Aeroplan Agent asked why our travel agent was not contacting them as they have all the information and most often, this is how this is handled. I told her we were told that the travel agent could not contact Aeroplan on our behalf. She said that was not true, agents do it all the time.
The Aeroplan Agent then proceeded to tell me that we had 6 months to claim points that were not credited. It so happened that my call was 6 months and 4 days. I informed her that I had made inquiries with Flight Centre concerning these points and was assured that they would be credited and to just be patient. After a bit of a battle, she agreed to speak with her supervisor to see what could be done. They would contact me via email if there were any problems and explain the situation. Needless to say I was quite annoyed at both our Flight Centre Agent and the Aeroplan Agent. Within a few days, points were credited for our trip from Los Angeles to Melbourne but not our return trip from Sydney to Los Angeles (approximately 16,000 pts for both Leslie & I). Once again I contacted Flight Centre to see if she could intervene and act on our behalf to clear up this matter. I heard nothing. Finally I contacted Aeroplan and was informed that the reason we were not credited points on the return flight is because they were discounted tickets that were ineligible. I told her our fares were around $5000, which appeared to be the regular fares on most airlines and we were never informed of any discounts, or the fact that all points relating to these flights would not be credited. Again, I emailed our Flight Centre Agent and she informed me that she did contact Aeroplan and got the same answer.
So here we are, 1/2 the points credited and I guess that's that! I feel that Flight Centre basically left us hanging to deal with this situation on our own. Regardless of the out come, I would have felt much better if they would have intervened and aggressively fought on our behalf but that did not happen! Good customer service does not end at the booking.
As far as Aeroplan, this type of customer service does not surprise. We have flown Air Canada for business and pleasure over the past 38 years and have never been overly impressed. As far as Air New Zealand, they are fantastic!! I was going to attach all the corresponding emails concerning this matter but I think this story is long enough as it is and I think you all get the drift!
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