I thought our story was over, but it just took one more unexpected twist.
Today I received a call from Tadesse, the Ethiopian Airlines Bangkok station manager I praised for handling my situation as well as he could. I didn’t answer it, but he left a short message saying to call him back.
Laos is out of network for T-Mobile’s generous worldwide data plan. In Laos, calls are $4.50/minute and text messages are $0.50 each. Before I could even get back to the Crowne Plaza in Vientenne to use T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling, he sent me an email.
Here it is, unedited—
Dear Mr Matthew !!!Greetings from Ethiopian airlines Bangkok!!In the first places we sincerely apologize for the in convinces encountered due to internal system error while calculating your tickets trips on22may,BKK-YYZ, taking in into consideration your valued customer , case has been reviewed separately by HQ level , and has been decided honors your C9 class seats BKK-YYZ, on next available flight , hence , once again regret the error on behalf of Ethiopian airlines and conform willrespect your C9 class on next available flight,Kind Regrds,Tadesse
*sigh*
A little late…
C9, in case it is not clear is “Cloud 9” business class.
I had just confirmed the Biman reservation and purchased the ticket via Vayama so that I could pay with my American Express Platinum card (I’ll have a whole post on the difficulty I had booking this ticket).
Even had I not booked Biman yet, if I left tonight from Bangkok, I’d not arrive in Toronto until Thursday morning, not giving me enough time to fly to Madrid to catch my Iberia flight home to LA.
I wrote him back—
Dear Tadesse,
I was very surprised to read your note. Thank you for writing
it and for the favorable change in opinion from HQ level.First, I want you know how much I respect you. You treated me with
kindness and professionalism last night. I will not forget that. I
hope that should you ever try the new Addis to Dublin to Los Angeles
service, you will come over to my house for dinner. It would be an
honor.Second, unfortunately I have booked an alternate ticket back. I have
to make extra stops, but I will fly Biman to London via Dhaka then
Iberia to Los Angeles via Madrid. I’m all set now and those tickets
cannot be refunded. Please convey to HQ level that I appreciate their
change in heart and I will try to come up with a solution.I am sure that our paths will cross again.
Regards,
Matthew
And I mean what I wrote.
The Roadmap
Now I’m in the middle of my Biman trip and not sure how to handle this. I welcome your thoughts. I’m tempted to ask them to change the round-trip to Los Angeles to Bangkok on the dates of my choice.
I don’t know if was my blog (the Twitter team reached out to me yesterday and I did not respond), Tadesse’s persistence, or something else, but it does appear Ethiopian Airlines had a change of heart. What a shame that change did not happen on Sunday instead of Tuesday…
Out of curiosity, since you declined their offer of the original ticket, does that allow them to refuse the refund? I know it is impossible for you to take the offer, I was just wondering if this is them trying to avoid issuing the refund.
I would say the answer is no because that would amount to a bait and switch. I believe if I have to dispute it, I will easily win.
MATT, this saga has reached a riveting level, talk about the power of dialogue & perseverance, plus the principle of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ all rolled into one!
I’d ask to allow for a date change for a future trip, that way you can experience their product, which I did in from ADD to IAD in C9!
I wish I could say that a normal customer would get a follow up call of this nature but I highly doubt it. Good thing your blog/hobby/job has perks that HQ will respond to you, otherwise i feel like you would have never heard back. Maybe you would even get the Emirates email treatment….
Glad to hear you were finally proved correct!
Also shows you that the foot soliders of the airline know more about their passengers than the big wigs running the place….
I agree – very unlikely I would have heard back otherwise. Then again, if it was one offhanded tweet and suddenly they see, “Oh, this guy has a lot of followers” then perhaps the key for others is to buy followers! 😉
You didn’t confront them properly at BKK, did you mention that you were a blogger, that you have been offered a free trip by them in the past, did you threaten lawsuits, any of that?? You didn’t pull all the stops.
Now I agree, ask for a free LAX-BKK ticket.
No I didn’t…
I think this is the power of having a BA blog where you can publicize this situation rather than anything else. Yesterday you admitted that they previously had offered you a free flight so you could review their product.
The station manager sounds like a genuinely nice guy. Your note back to him is also very nice.
You can ask for them to change the ticket or take a refund. They are getting some publicity out of this, which is not terrible.
If you were an “average”‘ traveler without a blog, the answer still would have been “pound sand.” I’m never going to fly Ethiopian if I can ever help it.
Oh look, a blogger complaining enough getting special treatment. No, I’m not talking about LoyaltyLobby.
Yeah honestly this station manager in BKK should be the face of their CS department. Props to him
You must maintain journalistic integrity. I have a very strong opinion on what you should do.
Don’t accept the rebooking offer.
Don’t request a refund.
Get your money back by disputing charges through your credit card. If this doesn’t work, eat the cost.
The trustworthiness of this blog will take a hit if you start accepting “special offers” from airlines.
Choose a schedule that fits into your plans and travel on them.
You’ll get the experience and the review.
If anybody reading this still has a tkt that will not be honored please refer all interactions with Ethiopian staff to this blog, since, obviously the only reason they are doing this is because of this blog.
Now that they would have honored it, its case closed. You did what you needed to do, fly to BKK to see if they would honor it, There is no reason for you to go back there and fly the route. I think it’s pretty karmic that you didn’t get advised before your other flight was paid for.
It’s a trap!! They just want to lure you to Addis Abba so they can offload you and throw you in the clink! Don’t fall for it! 😉
It was especially nice of the station manager to buy you a hotel room; that probably cost the company more money than flying you in a J seat would have.
Didn’t you state in a previous post that you have known other persistent people who had their tickets honored in the past? If so, why do you think yours was initially denied in BKK and then miraculously had a change of heart?
Especially as you hold Mr Tedesse in such high esteem, perhaps it’s time to remove his photo which I doubt he consented to in the first place. It was disrespectful to use it.
I disagree that it was disrespectful. It was used to convey a point and properly contextualized.
If somehow the change of heart is because Ethiopian knows you’re a travel blogger with a lot of followers, they would also know your itinerary for this trip. Honoring your ticket would seem as a good gesture in their part (better late than never) but also mess with your itinerary (your backup plan – you already book a ticket).
You lose, they win. They can simply said to the public, yes Ethiopian made a mistake but rectify it soon as possible.
They simply mocking you with this.
So the lot of us who said they ‘d stop reading didn’t.
For me, I wanted to see how low you’d go.
Your conclusion of
“Sadly, my story has a tragic ending. I failed” took the crown – that on top of saying every dollar you spend could be for charity, or your family etc. right after you took a transpac positioning flight in the name of what? consumerism? In the era where margins are paper thin in all industries you wasted resources, and time of others. When workers like Tadesse don’t get raises or bonuses, where do you think that money went??
It’s because it came out of the comped ticket. That’s who hurts, not ET. The king stays king. But you got your ticket – hope that sits well with you in C9.
I hate name calling that others have saying you’re petty, and a little man, but really this episode highlights our petty, entitled nature. Good luck.
The silver lining, some closure and some satisfaction knowing ET stuck to their guns at first, and was prepared. I’m sure the likes of Tadesse thought they were doing the PR a solid by helping you, but really just widening the gap to the top.
Now I’m out – hope many of you join me to.
Frankly, it all depends on whether or not you wish to take the High Ground.
You received a ticket for a price which was obviously a mistake. The Airline ( a huge bureaucracy,which is always difficult to coordinate ) eventually decided to honor your ticket. Unfortunately you are unable to use the ticket at this time. Why not request a credit for the same level of service on a future flight? The airline sacrifices nothing more than they have offered, and you get an exceptional deal on a flight.
I do not believe your journalistic integrity would be compromised in any way (and I am the mother of a journalist :)). Your interactions with the carrier were as an individual, and you took the high road, and it worked . . . eventually. I would request the opportunity to take the trip at a later time, at your convenience, for the price you have already paid.
Picture Ethiopian management doing the great big face palm. They just discovered that they’re getting bad press for hosing a prominent travel blogger. The obvious solution for them is to make an offer. On your end, things are a bit more murky. If you take them up on their offer, you’re a sellout. If you don’t take them up on the offer, you’re an idiot. I’d probably take the highest road and ask if they will honor all of the similar tickets, and if not, request a refund. This course isn’t the most personally beneficial for you if it doesn’t work, but if it does, you’re a hero with gobs of integrity. I’d say it’s worth the risk.
Riveting??? I’m stifling another yawn
What a shame they caved to your persistent harrassment