Who to Believe?
This is a handy piece of information that you may want to make a note of, no matter what anyone tells you. Check directly with the airlines when changes need to be made before going to the airport!
I recieved a notice from Delta that there were changes to the their flights so the tickets needed to be re-issued. Trying to save the client some trouble I called Delta to find out what needed to be done. I explained that I was a wholesaler and my client had a schedule change. The Delta worker was very polite and explained that the client needed to come down to the airport to have the tickets re-issued…in fact, they said it was not a major problem and since we’ve confirmed the changes over the phone they could just come to the airport early on their date of departure. I repeated again that we were wholesalers and were they sure that we didn’t have to reissue the tickets. No, I was reassured again…. just have them come down to the airport..
To make a long story short. The client went to the airport(luckily it was 2 months early and not on the morning of departure!). After spending 2 hours with the manager, the client was told that they had to have us reissue the tickets! A big change from the confident Delta employee who told me exactly what I needed to do in a few minutes!
So…if your agent tells you that you need to go down to the airport or to an airline office to change your ticket… check with the airline first to make sure that your agent was given the correct information…. and so that you hear it with your own two ears! That will leave less room for error(although the phone call to Delta may have resulted in the same instructions for the client to go to the airport!- but at least they’ll know who told them what!