Capot you have it precisely. I go back a fair way in the business, to the 1960's and as an ex commercial and managing director of an airline fully understand how the system works. My argument is exactly as Capot says, in the old days it was possible to make allowances, do the logical thing, give customer satisfaction simply by manually over riding the booking system, no longer is this the case and it is not just in the airline business.Today it is all by the book, here is another example.
AC told me "You will have to go back to your Travel Agent and ask them to change the flight".... " I didn't book with a Travel Agent, I booked direct with BA as I always do".... " Sorry Sir, the system says you booked through a Travel Agent, so you must have done"....They still refuse to accept I booked direct with BA just because the screen says I didn't, to the point of calling me a liar, absolute billhooks.
There was always a big joke that one days computers would rule the World, it is not looking so funny now. The machine is now managing the operator and the operator is not trained, hasn't the authority or ability to change things.
As to the revenue calculations, the flight I want to leave is the most popular of the day and only has a couple of seats available at £441. The one I wish to switch to the seats are on sale at £139, now in my book that means AC would make more money than before......
I have now asked to go top of the standby list for the earlier flight in case there are last minute cancellations or no shows, let's see if I even get a reply to my request for that. Next time I will take the ferry.
Last edited by GROUNDHOG; 18th Oct 2013 at 17:34.