[IanFromHKG]

Dear esselle, I have been reading this thread with interest and had – until I read the last few posts – intended only to ask you to to write some reviews of your flights!

However, your news about the booking class has trumped that. May I ask where you made the booking from? If from the UK I suspect you may have some remedies available (and I will be happy to explore those with you further and do what I can to point you in the right direction). The basic thrust of this is that you tried to book, and thought that you were booking, first class, and (I assume) there was nothing to suggest otherwise and no reason to suspect otherwise (as I am sure you know some airlines have avoided “mistake fares” on the basis that pax must have known it was a mistake), so you should be able to enforce that contract and get F seats. I suggest you try to rebook the same itinerary (right up to the payment stage) and screenshot every part of it to help demonstrate that there were no “warning signals”.

In the meantime I would send a message to AF (through their website, by email or by letter but in any event in writing of some sort) explaining that you booked, expected, and paid for F seats and that you expect to receive what you contracted for.

Good luck!

[esselle]

Hello Ian

Thanks for the comments and offer of support.

I’ve sent AF a pretty detailed analysis of why I think they’ve got it wrong, and am waiting for their reply. Frankly, the trip is a while away, and I’ve got plenty of options open to me if I need to can this booking, so currently I am relishing the prospect of a bit of sport with them.

Will keep you posted.

SL

[IanFromHKG]

Fingers crossed for the right result, esselle!!

[paulkaz]

Hi Esselle have you tried booking the flights on the Qantas system as QF flights on AF metal. QF actively encourage this code share Paris Aust route. Just unsure how the SQ flight would fit in. You’ll earn One World rather than Sky Team points and SC s though if that is a problem. QF First support team are pretty helpful too. Best of luck.

[capetonianm]

Welcome to the arcane world of airline pricing. I am not sure I will be able to explain this apparently illogical and incorrect pricing. It is in essence a question of ‘computer says no and I can’t override it.’

You requested the fare quote from AF, logically their system looks at their own (biased) carrier display and fares. By default, they don’t display or sell F on SQ or QF for those sectors. Depending on the input to the system used by the operator, or interface from the website, the system can quote a F fare for the entire journey, even if some segments are booked in a lower class of travel. There is sometimes a requirement for this, such as to maintain the F baggage allowance and other ‘benefits’, therefore the GDS needs to be able to price in this way.

The agent should be able to override the defaults, but they are usually not trained to do so.

I would be interested to know what you were quoted. I don’t know what the AF system would have quoted you as I don’t have access to their internal pricing, but my attempt to replicate it gave me €10338. I put in hypothetical dates in December and assumed a stopover (i.e >24 hours in SIN both ways).

There is also a hypothetical fare of €3140 but that would only apply if you could fly on AF onthe SIN MEL SIN segments.

If you can give me your approximate dates of travel, I may be able to unravel it a bit more.

[capetonianm]

I discussed this with an ex-colleague and he thinks it may be an AF website error in the way they programmed their carrier preferred display, not that they would every admit this.
“Erreur, ce n’est pas possible!”

Looking at it, I don’t agree with him since a number of other carriers, when you request the same, also show no availability on their displays. I suspect it’s not an error, but a policy. Stupid. The problem is that the agents are often unable to display the neutral availability which shows all flights, either because they are not allowed to, the idiot proof user interfaces don’t allow it, or they have not been trained properly.

SNAF18NOVSINMEL/KF
** AIR FRANCE – SN ** MEL MELBOURNE.AUVI
NO AVAILABILITY FOR SELECTED PREFERENCE
NO MORE LATER FLTS 18NOV SIN MEL

On the other hand several carriers do show availability :

SNLX15NOVSINMEL/KF
** SWISS INTERNATIONAL AIR LINES – SN ** MEL MELBOURNE.AUVI 92 FR 15NOV 0000
1SQ:LX9024 FL AL /SIN 3 MEL 2 2150 0815+1E0/77W
2 SQ 237 F2 AL /SIN 3 MEL 2 0025 1050 E0/77W
3 SQ 217 F8 A2 /SIN 3 MEL 2 1100 2125 E0/388
4 SQ 227 F4 A2 /SIN 3 MEL 2 2150 0815+1E0/77W

[esselle]

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

AF sent me a “case” number but have not responded to the three “prompts” I have sent them.

Interesting to note that their website is still selling exactly the sectors/cabin classes/carriers/prices that I bought, only for different dates, so they haven’t reacted yet.

[esselle]

Compromise reached.

Mix of AF and QF in F, dropped SQ, but happy with the outcome and looking forward to the trip.

Only uncertainty is the opening date of the new QF F lounge in SIN, due “end of 2019”.

Anybody have an ideas as to when that means?

SL

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