Much of the time we are constricted by the rules of the airline and airfare used.  There are times that while we are restricted to what we can do, we know that the airline employees have the latitude to bend or break their own rules and we might suggest that you contact them directly.  This isn’t because we don’t want to help.  Quite to the contrary, we are suggesting this course because we do want to help and we know that this can work for the traveler when our hands are tied by their rules. 

But the traveler has to keep in mind:

·         Airline reps at the airport and city ticket offices have much more leeway with bending/breaking rules than a voice on the phone.  If you are trying to get a rule broken, do it in person.

·         Kindness counts.  Talk with the rep nicely; chat them up. 
These poor people are abused and yelled at daily.  (Not to mention that there are some countries where getting angry and loud is considered to be on par with a three-year-old’s temper tantrum and gets the same result--nada.)

·         Even if you do not get the result you want, be polite and respectful.    Thank them and walk away.   They may not put a note in your record and you can try again with another rep.  (Note:  Your reservation is held in a “PNR” --personal name record.  This record is pulled up whenever anyone at an airline is speaking with you and it travels with you for your entire trip.  The airline reps can put notes in about a passenger for other reps to read.  This record only remains active while you are on this specific itinerary.)

·         If they insist that you need to check with your travel agent over the matter, they are telling you “No”.  They don’t want to be the bearers of bad news, so they off-load that task to the  travel agent.  (The rules of the tickets are the airlines’.  Only the airline can break their own rules, regardless of who issued the ticket.)

·         If you truly feel that you are being treated unfairly, get the rep (or better yet the manager) to write up and sign why they cannot accommodate you.  Without some sort of written acknowledgement, there will be no way for us to go back and fight them over the matter.

Tomorrow…Part 4.  How to best use customer service.