Travelocity, AirTran, & Paper Tickets

Let me preface this post by saying that the following problem and ensuing frustration was all caused by my own negligence and hastiness in making a simple airline reservation. The subsequent process to get the problem resolved, however, has been an astounding experience spanning all possible levels of customer service through all available technologies. You’ll have to read on to see how the story unfolds.

I was invited to the Miami International Boat Show by a client in early January and delayed making flight reservations because of needing to get some other scheduling items for the week put in place. My trip to the show would be short, a mere two and a half days. My goal was to return as early as possible on Saturday, February 14^th to attend my sister-in-law’s bridal shower. I am pleased to be at a place in life where family comes first so by all means, I intended to make it to this shower. I researched my flight options on all the various online booking agencies as well as individual airlines and found the best deal on Travelocity using AirTran for my departing flight from BWI and US Airways for my return flight. It was such a great deal and a quick and easy reservation that I immediately shared my kudos to Travelocity on Twitter which was acknowledged by @JoelTravelocity.

Realizing My Mistake

Getting my thoughts organized for the show I realized with dread the mistake I had made in booking my flight for the incorrect return date. I had myself flying home first thing Friday the 13^th (maybe the date itself is to blame for this whole thing??) instead of Saturday, Valentine’s Day (totally irrelevant but may as well acknowledge Hallmark’s holiday). Reading the fine print in my Travelocity email I could change the flight and charges may apply. I called Customer Service to make the change and was asked if I had my tickets. Huh? Looking again at the emailed itinerary I saw a FedEx tracking number for paper tickets that were on the way. I was told that I couldn’t be helped until I have the paper tickets in hand and that there might still be time to make a change to the itinerary. My brow furrowed, I hung up the phone and waited for FedEx to deliver my PAPER tickets from my ELECTRONIC reservation.

Tickets in hand, I called Travelocity who said that because my tickets are paper, I must mail them back so they can change the flight and send me back new paper tickets, and this will take up to 14 business days. Um, I only have nine business days from the day I received the tickets until the day of my first flight. I am told that the best way to resolve my flight change is to do so when I arrive at the airport for my flight. Thinking surely this must be a mistake I called US Airways to see if maybe they can change the flight over the phone and am denied. I tried Travelocity one more time and was assured that the only way I could change the flight is to do so with US Airways at the airport.

Realizing Their Mistake

Frustrated and dumbfounded, I decided to drive the 30 miles to the airport and deal with this the now eight days before my actual flight. I don’t trust dealing with airline problems at the last minute and it is definitely not something I want to try to do prior to a 6 a.m. flight. I parked and made my way to the US Airways desk and was told in about 30 seconds that they could do nothing to help me because the paper tickets were on AirTran paper stock with AirTran ticket coding. Fortunately, the AirTran desk at BWI is next to the US Airways desk so at least I didn’t have to go running all over the airport. I waited to talk to an agent at the AirTran desk who promptly shook his head telling me there was nothing he could do to change my return flight because he can’t access the US Airways system. I asked to speak to a supervisor who confirmed that there was nothing they could do because Travelocity issued the paper ticket. The agent looked at me with pity and said he felt sorry for me being stuck in the middle.

I walked back over to US Airways to see if they could please change the return flight. Please. Please may I see a supervisor? I am told once again that their hands are tied because it was a flight issued by Travelocity on AirTran’s stock. They suggested that maybe AirTran could just issue new tickets all together, which seemed reasonable so I went back to AirTran to find out. I was told again that because the tickets were Travelocity issued they couldn’t change those flights. But, lucky me, they could sell me a new flight package all together. At this point I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone or Groundhog Day or one of those hidden camera airline TV shows. My eyes were glazed over from the fluorescent lights, my head hurt, and I was trying to articulate the ranting phone call I wanted to have with any supervisor at Travelocity.

Supervisor City

All the back and forth at the airport really only took 30 minutes, mostly due to the fact that no one was in the airport. Good to know that there aren’t many crowds flying around 4 p.m.; or is that a sign of the economy? Another 30 minutes or so with rush hour traffic and I was back at home and dialing Travelocity’s Customer Service, my husband eager to jump into the conversation at any moment. I asked for a supervisor immediately and my attempt to stay calm, cool, and collected last about a minute. I lost my temper over the insanity of the whole situation. Supervisor Alex said that he could not cancel the ticket over the phone, nor could he change the return flight over the phone. Back to the original problem that I was holding paper tickets. He said that I have to go to the airport to have the ticket canceled and can mail the canceled ticket back to Travelocity for a credit. Having just returned from the airport where no one could help me I simply didn’t believe him. He said that in order to change the return flight, I would have to first fly to Miami, go to US Airways there, tell them I want to change the return flight and because we know they will say they can’t do that, we will have to call Travelocity from their desk to make the change. Alex assured me they would tell US Airways that they have to change the ticket. So from the US Airways desk in Miami with Travelocity on the phone I can have the original return flight canceled and a new flight arrangement made (assuming there are still seats available), I can mail in the old paper ticket, and wait for a credit that can be used within the year on a different US Airways flight. Piece of cake.

Twitter to Travelocity’s Rescue

While on the phone with poor Alex across the pond, my husband, @timstaines, is tweeting about this whole experience and the next thing you know I am asked to send my trip ID to @JoelTravelocity. WOW. This demonstrated to us the awareness that Travelocity as an online travel agency has of how critical a positive online presence is to the success of their business. The lesson that other companies can learn from @JoelTravelocity’s almost instant PR intervention and reaction is another topic all together and a fascinating one to say the least. Twitter connected us with a helpful human being in a matter of moments, minutes later we were emailing, and I received a call from an extremely helpful John A. in Executive Offices within the hour. And it was not within business hours. I was put at ease almost instantly, was able to calmly explain my situation, and received genuine empathy along with the assurance that Travelocity was looking into how to better resolve changing the flight. John explained to me a bit more about the relationship Travelocity has with various airlines and how unfortunately, AirTran is the only airline left using paper ticketing which just does not allow for easily expedited reservation changes. He was more than willing to work with me on the return of the tickets, reservation change, and mailing of the tickets back to me in time for my flight if they could get AirTran to cooperate with a ticket change outside of the designated time frame. If this would not be possible, he felt confident that a reservation change in Miami should go the exact way Supervisor Alex described but of course he could not guarantee it, which I understand.

Evidently there is only one person in all of AirTran that Travelocity can communicate with regarding ticketing which instantly limits Travelocity’s ability to offer their best possible customer service. John A. wanted to help and I believed him. He let me ask questions and answered them. I must have asked the previous Travelocity customer service folks a hundred times why I received paper tickets in the first place and no one answered the question (if I weren’t so embarrassed about my temper, I’d include a link to the recording of my 13-minute conversation with Supervisor Alex). I just wanted to know why. John shared more information about Travelocity and AirTran and paper tickets than I probably needed to know, but being able to put this entire situation in context makes “the pill easier to swallow.” John understood that if you educate the consumer you enhance their experience, provide better service, and improve the chances of repeat business. As we were hanging up he confirmed again with me that Travelocity would be in touch first thing the next day to follow-up. But before we said goodbye, he made sure I had his first and last name and his direct line.

Facing The Paper Problem

The problem, caused by me in the first place, is easily solved by booking a one-way ticket for the flight I need directly through US Airways. The situation is not really about money though it would be nice not to have to book another flight. The situation is entirely about the customer service experience. Is there a breakdown in communication between Travelocity and the air carriers they work with? Why could no one at AirTran’s desk help me with tickets printed on their paper stock? Is it the fact that AirTran is archaic in their ticketing and the issuing of paper tickets makes it impossible to easily change a reservation which was electronic to begin with? Is Friday the 13^th interfering with my plans after all? I’m leaning toward the AirTran paper tickets as being the major hindrance and it seems that I might not be alone in thinking AirTran systems are broken.

Because as Twitter proved, the problem sure ain’t technology.

I expect to hear back from Travelocity at some point today and will let you know of any new developments and how the situation ultimately is resolved.