Todd P.

Months ago I booked My dream vacation with cheapo air. I was very excited to be able to book business class for such a long trip from SFO to be BKK. When booking my trip I purposely looked for flights with no more than one stop. I found and purchased a ticket for one stop each way. I booked a confirmed my seat assignments with my spouse for all flights. In booking my trip I purposely looked for flights with no more than one stop. I found and purchased a ticket for one stop each way. I booked confirmed my seat assignments with my spouse for all legs of our trip. I was very excited to receive everything I wanted in a flight through cheapo air. However on March 7 at 9:59 am I received an email from cheapo air stating that my scheduled flight had been changed and due to the fact that another stop was added in my return trip home that I would be required to get a transit visa for my spouse and I. The email gave me the option to book another flight with a single stop, to get the visa or to cancel my reservations. Knowing that my spouse may have a problem getting a visa I quickly called cheapo air and asked the customer service agent about the email. He looked up the email and looked at my flight and apologized and said the email was sent by mistake. I asked him repeatedly if he was sure and I asked why that email would be generated to me if it was untrue. I asked over and over and over again that there would be no issue that will require my husband to get A visa. He assured me over and over and over again that my returning flight would only have one stop in China. I left the conversation feeling very secure that his words were true. Upon our return from Bangkok after checking into to the China Southern counter we sat down at our boarding gate. One of the other travelers told us that there was an added stop to our flight. We were shocked because we did not get that information from either China Southern airlines or received any notification from cheapo air. We had hoped that maybe we werent getting off the plane and so there would be no issue. That was not the case. From Bangkok to our first stop in China things went fine. But once we got off the plane it was a nightmare. We quickly made our way to security who redirected us to an immigration counter for transfers. Immediately our passports and about 15 others were taken from us with no explanation And when we try to ask questions we were very rudely interrupted and told to sit down until called. Treated like criminals! This is where we stayed for two hours until they return our passports and told us to continue with our transfer. After going through security. We were herded like cattle to our gate. When asked where we could find the first class lounge we were told by an airport employee that we did not have access to one. We asked if there was somewhere we can get food or drink. We were told we do not have access to any. Mind you overall our layover was five hours and 45 minutes. Mind you also the reason we purchased business class tickets was to have access to lounges during these long layovers. Finally after hours of waiting with no food or drinks we boarded our flight to our second stop and China. Upon boarding the aircraft we were shown to our business class seats that were not seated together. When we asked the flight attendant what was going on and showed her our confirmed seats she informed us that our confirmation was not for this flight that they had added. I explained to her that this was unacceptable that they added the flight to our itinerary without notifying us and that we were not sitting together. She shrugged her shoulders smiled and said its only an hour flight. I asked her if we would be sitting together from our final stop in China to San Francisco. She assured us that we would be. As we arrive to our final destination in China we boarded our final flight and of course we were not sitting together again. We talk to the flight attendant and she after some convincing moved us to a joining seats. We arrive safely in San Francisco but very irritated and anxious. Not at all what we expected from a business class flight. These are my concerns with cheapo air. Obviously cheapo air knew about this flight change and the added stop in China because I received an email stating that it was going to happen. Why when I called the agent told me that it was a mistake email and that there would be no changes to our flight. Was he lying or just ill-informed? Had we not been told that everything would be OK by your agent and that there were no additional stops in China I would have changed my flight to a one-stop flight and not had to go through this nightmare of getting a visa. I also would not put in a position where I was without food and drink for five hours and 45 minutes. It is without doubt that cheapo air has to take responsibility for this nightmare of a trip. Had your agent not advise me to keep my trip the way it was and told me that everything would be OK I wouldve simply changed my itinerary to fit my needs. I fully expect to be compensated through cheapo air for the nightmare that I endured. Please know that I am a very frequent flyer as is my extended family of about 30. We have often use cheapo air to book our flights. I would hope that you value us as customers enough to take care of this issue. I called customer service last week and spoke to an agent named Spencer. He informed me that all calls are recorded. Im very happy to hear that so that a supervisor can review those calls and confirm my testimony. I have not herd anything from cheap air accept for a short email saying my complaint was forwarded to a supervisor.