The so-called low-cost airline Pobeda has announced that it will suspend its booking system and all online services for 15 hours. All of this will be down from 8:00 PM Tuesday 17 October until 11:00 AM Wednesday 18 October. Later, the suspension period was reduced by 3 hours - until 8:00 on Wednesday, reports Travel.ru's own correspondent.
The suspension applies not only to the Pobeda website itself, but also to all of the company's sales channels, including the call center and third-party agents, websites and airline ticket offices. Thus, purchasing tickets, exchanging them, returning them, purchasing additional services, etc. during these 15 hours will be impossible - with the exception of registration directly at the airport before the flight departure.
Passengers planning to use any of these Pobeda services in the next 24 hours should do so before 20:00 Tuesday. This is especially true for those planning to purchase additional services for flights departing before Wednesday evening, October 18. Online purchases are significantly cheaper in most cases, and should be made before the system is turned off.
Pobeda cited the transition to a new booking system platform as the reason for the suspension. The company did not say whether this would bring any changes to the process of issuing tickets or additional services.
Passengers intending to use Pobeda services should keep in mind a number of features of this airline, exercise extreme caution and attentiveness, and be prepared for various complications and surprises both when booking a ticket and during the flight itself. Let us remind you that for tickets sold from September 30, Pobeda allows free transportation of one strange piece of hand luggage with dimensions of 36x30x27 centimeters and a weight of no more than 5 kilograms (plus free items from the list of Federal Aviation Rules (FAR), including a briefcase or a lady's or computer bag).
At the same time, although small checked baggage is no longer free, it is still cheap. Pobeda has introduced a new fee for 10 kilograms of checked baggage, which is 499 rubles (1,000 rubles when paid at the airport). Baggage of 20 kilograms still costs 1,499 rubles (3,000 at the airport). It is worth remembering that 2% must be added to all online fees and Pobeda tariffs.
There is no food on board regardless of the flight duration, and attempts to take your own food in a separate bag will result in a fee of 2,000 rubles as for paid carry-on baggage. When purchasing a ticket on the Pobeda website at the minimum Standard fare, the company includes paid insurance by default, to get rid of which you need to independently uncheck the corresponding item at the bottom of the additional services selection page. In addition, paid seat selection for passengers flying with others is now included by default.
There are also problems with returning or changing a ticket in case of flight disruptions or schedule changes - Pobeda hides the toll-free call center phone number for forced changes and refunds. There are also problems with boarding a flight - Pobeda can herd passengers into an apron bus even before the plane itself appears at the airport. In addition, when boarding, you can encounter another huge fee that has no analogues in the world - for carrying purchases from Duty Free stores (collecting this fee is prohibited in a number of countries and airports). Seat selection is paid, and to stimulate the purchase of this service, Pobeda can deliberately seat passengers flying together at opposite ends of the cabin and prohibit changing to another seat. Last year, this led to a big scandal: Pobeda turned in a family with a baby to the police for trying to reunite the parents on a plane — after the airline itself had deliberately seated them in different rows in an effort to earn an extra 149 rubles for changing seats. Since then, Pobeda has also at least doubled this outrageous fee for the opportunity to sit together on a plane.
Source: travel.ru