compensation for missed flights due to travel agent error

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Despite the airline contacting the agent and the agent failing to make any attempt to contact you, ultimately you need to take some responsibility for failing to reconfirm your flight times hadn't changed, as the agent really can't be held liable when your only contact point is an email, because who's to say you were going to be checking it anyway.

TG

While you do go on to qualify the point a little bit further on in your post, I cannot accept that:
"the agent really can't be held liable when your only contact point is an email, because who's to say you were going to be checking it anyway"
is even close to an acceptable approach.

If the agent had notification and did not pass it on, then not only is that a sloppy business practice (and for which I would ditch an agent in a flash), but it also leads to liability.

Whether or not that liability should be offset to some degree due to the OP's failure to recheck, is a separate question.
 
First of all, I would sincerely like to thank everyone for their input into my unfortunate situation. Although maybe not as helpful as I would have hoped, your posts have been very enlightening and with all this new information, i can't see this situation happening to us again (hopefully)! From reading your posts, it is obvious that I need to clear a few things up about the situation:

Firstly, our itinerary DID ask us to reconfirm our flights 48 hours prior to departure. We tried to do this on the airline website but were unable to log on using the reference number given to us by the TA. We later found out that this was because they gave us a TA ref number not the airline ref number that could be used via the airline website. Because of this, we could not use the e-check in feature which we normally do to reconfirm our flights and choose our seats. Instead we could only use the 'e-ticket search' feature by entering our ticket number and last name. This was checked less than 14 hours before our scheduled departure time and still showed the departure date as the 25th. The rescheduled departure date was the 24th.

Secondly, the airline offered to put us on the next flight but could only get us to the first destination where we would of had to wait for at least 5 days for the next available connecting flight. The airline gave us a customer service number to ring in case there was something extra they could do for us, but the number was closed when we rang.

Thirdly, we didn't call our TA when all this transpired because it was a Sunday and they were closed. We were not given any emergency numbers to ring. Because we needed to be home on a certain date, we had one hour to decide what to do and whether we should book ourselves onto the last plane of the night that would get us home at the required date.

And fourthly, the travel insurance issue. We purchased our travel insurance for the 10 months we were abroad at the same time as we purchased our flights. Our flight was due to depart on the 25th at 12.10AM in the morning. For some unknown reason, our travel agent only booked us travel insurance until the 24th. I have no idea why she did this and it makes no sense to me whatsoever. But being a slightly niave person who trusts people to do their job correctly, i never picked up that the travel insurance was one day short. I have not tried to contact our travel insurance provider about this problem yet as i am assuming we won't be covered because the original departure booking, as well as the actual flight that we ended up taking, was on the 25th. In saying this, the original flight was actually rescheduled to the 24th, so perhaps there might be some hope??

Does anyone know of a code of practice for travel agents and airlines that i could access?
 
I still do not understand why the airline was not able to re-accommodate the passengers on the next flight? Why is it the passengers responsibility to re-confirm flights when airlines specifically mention that flights do not need to be re-confirmed? Just because we are in the computer age does not mean that everyone has to have access to phones or email when away on holidays.

In my opinion the airline should have held 2 seats on the next flight (note I am not saying 'next available flight') after the original scheduled flight.

most of us are perpetually on checkmytrip in the last 24 hours to see if that upgrade has come through so would have seen it!
When you say "Most of us" do you actually mean a few people on AFF and Flyertalk? My guess is points upgrades are not a very common occurrence. Not that it means anything but I have only ever come across 1 person outside of AFF/FT, and this person is now a member, that used points to upgrade from business class to first class.
 
When you say "Most of us" do you actually mean a few people on AFF and Flyertalk? My guess is points upgrades are not a very common occurrence. Not that it means anything but I have only ever come across 1 person outside of AFF/FT that used points to upgrade from business class to first class.

The comment was meant for a bit of a laugh - i do mean those on here that lodge points upgrades and then access checkmytrip frequently in the 24 hours before the flight leaves to see if their upgrade has come through!

I doubt very much whether the passenger the subject of this discussion was flying Qantas - i am guessing they were on one of the Pacific airlines.
 
I still do not understand why the airline was not able to re-accommodate the passengers on the next flight?

I'm assuming you were typing this while the OP was posting their reply.

Next flight was offered, but the problem was it then would have missed their connecting flight (and the next available was 5 days? odd...):!:
 
I'm assuming you were typing this while the OP was posting their reply.
Yes I got sidetracked with work and was a little slow in posting the response I typed. :oops:

Next flight was offered, but the problem was it then would have missed their connecting flight (and the next available was 5 days? odd...):!:
Either way I still find this story hard to believe. The airline contacted the travel agent who gave the airline an Australian mobile phone number and the airline assumed that all was OK now with the re-scheduled booking even though no contact was made with the passengers.

I can understand if the airline rescheduled the flight after the original departure time but in the case they moved the flight back a day. This is totally unacceptable. What if you are on a cruise? Or a trek? Or a tour? I still believe the airline should have accommodated the passengers and if this meant putting them on another carrier then so be it afterall the passengers were able to purchase new tickets to make their way home on time. The airlines have to start accepting responsibility for their actions and stop hiding behind the fine print....
 
perhaps it was an obsure location like easter island that was the ultimate destination- flights from chile to easter island only go twice per week.
 
I can understand if the airline rescheduled the flight after the original departure time but in the case they moved the flight back a day.

I still believe the airline should have accommodated the passengers and if this meant putting them on another carrier then so be it afterall the passengers were able to purchase new tickets to make their way home on time.

Just to clarify this point - the flight was moved back just over an hour but because the original flight was at 10 past midnight, a one hour backwards time change meant a new time AND date (from 0010 on 25th to 2300 on 24th).
 
Given the time of day the flight was, and it being brought forward only 1 hour; I cannot see how this would have been a major issue in the first place. Even if you got to the airport at the recommended time you would have still been fine :confused:

Maybe I'm missing something here.
 
Some of the information here is not making sense to me. crabby said they were originally scheduled to depart LAX at 12:10am. Also noted this was the very end of a 10 month trip and as travel insurance was only paid until 24th and the TA was based on Sydney, so assume the missed journey was for travel from LAX to SYD.

However, it seems the planned journey home was not direct as there is mention of this journey being a multi-destination routing to get home ("the airline offered to put us on the next flight but could only get us to the first destination where we would of had to wait for at least 5 days for the next available connecting flight"). Now that really has me trying to guess what routing from LAX to SYD could possibly result in a 5 day period of not being able to find a connection to SYD?

As the original scheduled departure time was 12:10am, and a direct flight was not available, I think it reasonable to rule out QF and UA as the airline involved. I think the 5 day problem also rules out the likes of NZ via AKL. So that only leave various routings via Asia (CX, SQ, KE etc) or via the central Pacific such as FJ or TN. My guess is TN as they have only 2 flights per week PPT-SYD, and these originate in LAX at 6:40pm. They updated their schedules for the northern winter with the changes announced at the end of June 2008, which would have been after crabby commenced their 10 month journey.

I cannot find information about TN's departure times prior to the winter schedule changes for flights connecting to SYD.

So if my guess is correct, this was not a last minute change of schedule and there was plenty of time to try to make contact with the passengers. This does, however, show the importance of keeping a check of one's own itinerary during such a long trip.

Note that the old process of confirming your flights 24-48 hours out was not for the purpose of checking that the passenger knew of any changes. It was for the passenger's purposes at all. It was so the airline knew who was planning to travel and could make adjustments to loads etc at the last minute. It was for the passenger to confirm to the airline that they planned to travel as planned, not for the airline to confirm to the passenger that the flights was scheduled to depart on time. New fare rules protecting the airline against no-shows for the more discounted fare types, and the drive to reduce costs by reducing the labour and call centre infrastructure to process the confirmation calls, resulted in the airlines removing the need for passengers to confirm their intention to travel.
 
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Now that really has me trying to guess what routing from LAX to SYD could possibly result in a 5 day period of not being able to find a connection to SYD?

Ok, ok, it seems i can't get any advice without revealing ALL the details of the airline and travel agent involved which is not something i wanted to do originally. So please see below:

China Airlines - LAX to Brisbane via Taipei

Sun 25 Jan 09 - Flight CI7
Depart Lax 0010 arrive Taipei 0540.
(rescheduled to Sat 24 Jan 2310)

Mon 26 Jan 09 - Flight CI53
Depart Taipei 2145 arrive Brisbane 0820.

Travel agent - Harvey World Travel
Travel Insurance - HWT essentals travel insurance issued by Vero Insurance Ltd.

Because of the popularity of flights from Taipei to Australia, we could not be connected to Australia for at least 5 days. We also inquired about flying into Sydney but got the same story.
 
perhaps it was an obsure location like easter island that was the ultimate destination- flights from chile to easter island only go twice per week.
No they miss out Mondays and thursdays but wednesdays and sundays there are 2 flights one of which goes on to PPT so it is IPC-PPT which is only twice a week.
 
I share the mystification at how a 1 hour change could have led to the flight being missed...

What time did the OP get to the airport???:shock:
 
Harvey World Travel... thats a worry. You'll be fighting an up hill battle trying to deal with their head office. The people in there are probably the most disgusting excuses for customer service reps that I've ever encountered. A small claims court session might unfortunatley be required.
 
Given the time of day the flight was, and it being brought forward only 1 hour; I cannot see how this would have been a major issue in the first place. Even if you got to the airport at the recommended time you would have still been fine :confused:

Maybe I'm missing something here.
I am not criticising the OP in any way but with a 12:10am departure you should be planning to be at the airport no later than 10:00pm and given this is LAX it would be better if planning to be there at 9:00pm if not earlier. So if new departure is only 70 minutes earlier at 11:00pm how was the flight missed? :confused:

China Airlines

China Airlines said:
Hours of operation for China Airlines check-in counters and the time required for pre-boarding procedures vary from airport to airport. In general, we recommend that you check in 2 hours before the scheduled departure time, but you may need 3 hours or even more for some busy airports with strict procedures such as those in the U.S.
Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here to get to the airport as early as possible even if it means waiting around in the terminall longer for check-in to open. I have cut it fine so many times but one of these days....
 
Travel agent - Harvey World Travel
Travel Insurance - HWT essentals travel insurance issued by Vero Insurance Ltd.


On your insurance query with dates, you will be covered on that, Vero has bonus days to cover those stranded on the way home etc, on a 10 month policy it should have around 5 bonus days so you're more than covered on that.

TG
 
I'd like to know what time they tried to check in for the (originally scheduled) 12:10am flight. A 9:30pm, even 10pm checkin should have seen them make the flight which was by then leaving an hour earlier.

Note they were flying at beginning of Chinese New Year so that is why all flights (on the airline the were flying with) were full.
 
crabby, I think your chance of getting anything from your TA is extremely remote. For a 1-hour time change, you should have been ok if you followed the airline's recommendation for checking-in 2-3 hours before departure for flights from the USA. So I doubt the TA is going to provide monetary compensation for your missed flight.

Your only hope for any compensation (in my opinion) is from your travel insurance provider. But check the conditions of the policy as you may have been required to contact them for authorisation before spending the money on the alternative travel arrangements. Some providers insist on this so they can be part of the decision process and perhaps source the alternate transportation at cheaper prices than you can at the time, hence limiting their financial exposure.
 
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I would first try the travel insurance company with regard to the clause relating to compensation for missed flights due to 'travel agent error' however, my guess is they would hand ball that back to the travel agent and not pay out on it.

Having said that most travel agents should be covered by professional indemnity insurance whereby they can claim the costs back they are out of pocket from their insurance company should they have to shell out for new airfares for their client because due to their own errors or omissions. This may well depend on what state or territory the agent is in ie QLD.

Like everyone else above I guess I'm curious as to when you first showed up at the airport on the 24th January to checkin. A common problem when flights depart in the wee hours of the morning ie in your case 0010 on 25th January is people turning up say at 2200 on 25th January to checkin for a flight not understanding the concept of actually having to turn up on the evening of the 24th.

Working in Darwin I see this regularly as would people in Perth, Honolulu, Singapore etc.

Look I'm sure there are many people on this forum, even platinum FF's who would be the first to say they've missed flights under these circumstances.

If people find themselves in a situation I would exhaust all avenues before forking out money for new tickets ie call the travel agent, your travel insurance company to see if they can sort the problem out first. The more reputable the airline the more likely they are to assist getting you on another one of their flights.

Failing that they may be able to endorse your ticket over to another airline for uplift. If holding a paper ticket the flight coupons are stamped "endorsed to XYZ airlines". These days where the majority of tickets are electronic the original airline would need to write out a FIM (flight interruption manifest) for you to give to the new airline in lieu of a flight coupon.

I would try and sort it out in this order:

a) Travel insurance company
b) Harvey World Travel - contact the head office in Sydney or QLD State office if you reside in Brisbane re the agent making a claim on their agency's professional indemnity cover.
c) If both of the above wipe their hands of it I would call the QLD Law Society and ask for a referral to a solicitor who may handle his type of claim. Some legal firms have a one off fee of $77.00 for your first consultation which may be all you need to get the advice you want.

I'm sure a solicitor could point you in the right direction re your next course of action whether it be the Small Claims Tribunal or Consumer Affairs (ACCC? now).

You owe it to yourself and your bank balance to exhaust all the above options before writing it off as a $7000.00 mistake.

I wish you all the best with getting it sorted and look forward to hearing the outcome.

Cheers OBB ;) ;)
 
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