Booking With Priceline May Be a Priceless Experience

We do not spend enough time to thank those who help because we think we are too busy.

In this case, I must stop and write something about our experience with Priceline's supervisor: Mary from Manila, who fought for her clients till the end!

This is not just to wrap her around our eternal thanks for resolving an issue than seemed doomed from the get go and ready to take a total loss of funds, yet she helped us battle some uninterested and insulting Air France rep from Miami blessed with that gentle superiority complex that sadly has defined the character of that coastal town in recent years.

But what I want to share if how on May 26, Mary of Priceline handled it because we have rarely seen such efficiency and care in 30 years in travel. In fact, never.

And the sincere care for creating a real solution for her customers with an emergency situation.

Our passenger canceled her Delta ticket for a family emergency within 2 hours of departure. The flight was on Air France. Our office is in Washington, our manager is in Japan, Delta is in Atlanta, and Bruce - the Air France rep/tourist who could not care any less was in Miami, while Mary of Priceline, in The Philippines.

Mary handled ALL of these opposite parties within a single call, hoping from one person to another in total understanding of the situation which Delta claimed it could only be canceled by Air France, who at the moment, was in control of the ticket.

Yet, AF was only interested in charging us nearly $500 in cancellation fee because we were off by an hour. We shall always advise passengers to undergo emergencies BEFORE the cancellation bell starts to toll.

We told the Air France Floridian that we were within the 24 hour-no-fee cancellation time right, His reply was so shocking that it hit us after the call. It was priceless.

Before he hung up on all of us without confirming the outcome of the problem, he stated quasi verbatim that "none of this refund nightmare would have happened if we had purchased the ticket directly through the airline, instead of a third-party reseller!". (Please read it aloud once more).

And he had no problem saying this in front of Priceline's supervisor !

So the only alternative which Bruce-the AF-tourist casually offered was to forfeit the entire ticket amount, or pay $450 over the phone ASAP. When we requested to speak with a supervisor, he claimed that his imaginary supervisor had already agreed with him, and refused to let us speak with him/her/it.

Therefore, in a last condescending slap at Priceline with his tactless and detached attitude as to what happens to the Air France passenger, he just hung up.

Maybe because the passenger was with Delta...we'll never know. Maybe it was lunchtime in Miami.

But I admit it worries us when someone working in the Accounting Dpt to process refunds & handling credit cards tells you: "you will get some sort of credit but you have to figure it out by calling Delta", The Air France guy did not actually know the process ! Nice training.

At that moment, the ticket being still active, Mary of The Philippines decided to call Delta again to try reopening the ticket in a desperate attempt to cancel it with Delta again, and hopefully bypass Air France...

And it worked !. And we were told to expect a full refund instead of "credit".

The experience we just went through is proof that as long as Priceline will continue to shine such caring and efficient individuals like Mary, we will continue to book our clients' tickets through Priceline. Not the airlines!

By the way, the amount was refunded by Priceline within 24h without an issue.

Moral of the story: Let us ensure to plan future emergencies more efficiently.

A priceless experience with a Priceline royalty known in our offices this week around the world as The Queen Mary.

Brava!

Arno Agman