Carmel Calleja, Tarxien
Grounded by the national airline's Flypass Unit
What is the scope of Air Malta's Flypass Unit if it does not help or better still, serve Air Malta's loyal customers?
Flypass magazine Fly in Colours expressly states that KMiles can be bought for "Standard and Upgrade awards".
On the same page, it classifies Business Class seats as "Standard Business Return".
As my flypass account was short by less than 3000 KMiles to qualify for this award I phoned the Flypass Unit (it took me nearly an hour to get through as two lines gave me a busy signal all the time and nobody answered the phone on the other two lines).
But the woman who finally answered the phone insisted that buying KMiles for Business Class awards did not apply.
She insisted that buying KMiles referred only to Standard Economy Class. It was useless for me to try to convince her that the word "Economy" did not feature at all in the conditions. She was adamant to stick to her decision. (I can supply the name of this person if needed).
Then I asked her to suggest a date in July or August when I could upgrade a Flexiplus Ticket to Business Class to Paris and return within a week. I was not interested in any particular date. She wanted me to suggest a date. When I did so she replied that on that date (it was over a month away) the seats allocated for upgrades had already been taken.
Once again I tried to convince her to find me a date herself as this would save a lot of unnecessary time and work, but she then replied that I should e-mail my dates to the Unit. I did so to please her but her immediate reply was that no seats were available on the three dates I proposed and she proceeded by saying that requests can only be made after the economy ticket is purchased.
How ridiculous can this unit be! They do not supply dates which today are easily accessible at the touch of a button and want me to purchase a ticket which, by the way, is non-refundable if not made use of. Which dates will I ask for when purchasing the ticket?
If Flypass Unit cannot help and serve Air Malta's customers, Air Malta would do well to scrap the Unit completely and save some revenue which they badly need.
2 Comments
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M. Lavelle
Jul 2nd 2009, 14:33
Wow someone actually got a reply to their email from flypass. Well done, congratulations!
I've been emailing dates for a reward in for two years now. No reply? I too have tried phoning in with dates but every date I give is fully booked. Great reward scheme Air Malta. lol.
Phil Humphries
Jul 2nd 2009, 12:52
I share the writer's frustration. It must be easier to gain an audience with his holiness than it is to speak on the phone with Air Malta's Flypass Unit . If and when you do eventually get to speak with someone, they seem unable or unwilling to confirm whether or not the flight (or whatever) you want is actually available and you have to ring again the next day ( if youre lucky ) or e-mail and await a response. It is almost as if there is an incentive not accomodate Flypass members requests.
Unless I'm mistaken, the purpose of Flypass is to encourage brand loyalty and to reward Air Malta's regular customers; small wonder then that budget airlines are continuing to grow.