Dont Fly Sas!!!

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cbourl

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Hello
I write to complain about a problem I experienced today on Friday, 31 August, 2007. i was booked to fly with Scandinavian Airlines onSAS778 from Athens to Copenhagen, then to connect with a flight from Copenhagen to Newark Airport, USA on SAS901. I checke din and after boarding the plane the stewardess was rude and threw my laptop into the overhead compartment - I was designated seat 1F from Athens to Copenhagen. I expressed my distaste at her rude behaviour which was destructive to my laptop and she called the captain of the flight from Athens to Copenhagen. He said I was to be removed from the flight, and calledthe ground staff to remove me from the flight. I asked for the tourist police and the captain responded by saying he would not negotiate and he had expelled me from the flight to Copenhagen from Athens. The capatian and his staff denied me access to the plane to retrieve my onboard goods and bags. A ground member escourted me to the Goldair Servie counter so i could retrieve myluggage. There was not contact or attempt made to reconcile with me and i proceeded to the SAS sales counter. The attendant there who came after 15 minutes was rude, and said becaue i was drunk and rude i would be flying economy class to New York via Copenhagen, despite having paid for a businness class seat al lthe way from Athens to Newark via Copenhagen. She would not help me and i stood at the counter for 1 hour, during which she called the police and a doctor to detain me. I explained that i am a medical practicioner and did not reuire the assistance of either Athenian police or an Athenian doctor. I asked her to rebook me on the next available flight to Newark via Copenhagen, and she persisted in denying me any service for another 20 minutes. During this time i calle dthe police and she persisted in denying me any rebooking, let alone compensation for denied boarding. The police and the Goldair Staff acting on SAS behalf refused to give their names and Id numbers, but I managed to note several names and police badge numbers. After I said I would call my lawyer in Zuerich, the police disappeared and the Goldair handling agent told me o return to my own country - she would not help me and she persisted in being rude, offensive and seemed to me to be quite in line with the rudeness of the SAS onboard staff on the flight from Athens to Copenhagen. Iexplaine dto her alll she needed to do was rebook me - she declined - Iunderstand that airlines have rules and regulations, but airline and ground staff alike shount NOT become personal in their attacks upon customers. Finally I was rebooked. After rebooking I was denied seat allocation, despite flying in Business Class from Athens to Newark via Copenhagen. I asked about denied boarding compensation and the Goldair ground staff told me I was not entitles to any compensation whatsoever. I quote Scandinavian Airlines - "We naturally take good care of passengers who are denied boarding and we have established routines and procedures to provide any necessary assistance and compensation. " see http://www.flysas.com/en/Generic/Help_Contact/Service_Commitment/During_travel/


I am disgusted by this incident. I am frequent traveller worldwide with many airlines, including Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Qantas, Japan Airlines etc etc - I had a meetin in Manhattan which I could not attend because of the pilot's unilateral decision to deny me boarding. As a result of this experience I have had to pay a taxi fare of Euro40 to a hotel ,the cost of Euro200 for a hotel for overnight accomodation, and will have to pay tomoroow a further taxi fare to return to Athens airport. Immeasurable is the delay and the cancellation of my business meeting in Manhattan, New York. I beleive accoring to the European Union Air Passenger Rights Charter I am entitled to Euro1000 compensation, (Euro600 for connecting flight from Copenhagen to Newark, and Euro400 for the Athens to Copenhagen sector), AS WELL AS a refund of my entire ticket with Scandinavian Airlines (Australian $5575), my hotel accomodation on the night of 31 August 2007 and my meals, transfers and communication costs (mobil phone calls incurred to New York, Australia and Greece and Denmark to relative parties)
I contacgted the SAS service line in Denmark with my cell phone and spoke extensivley with a staff member to arrange seating. The staff member said she was unable to offer me any assistance with denied boarding compensation. Scandinavian Airlies are quite specific about their conditions of carriage - see http://www.flysas.com/upload/CoC29JUN07.pdf page 12. I have not been given written notification of denial of carriage. All I experienced was the rude, curt, abrupt, unilateral verbal order of the pilot to deboard the aircraft. I was certainly not any danger to anyone, including myself, and in fact the damage casued to my laptop computer by the flight stewardess could be deemed as assault.
Can you please help me - I am at a loss. Never in my many days of flying have I experienced such a rude unilateral response from any airline. the airlines SAS (Scandinavian Airlines ) is distinctly unfriendly and unresponsive to any contacts I make with them. I have explaine dthat I have a relative who is a travel writer for Conde Nast in New York and i will be meeting with him to allow him to prepare some media commentary on SAS. Also I contacted the Danish princess from Australia who is a good freind of mine - she was disgusted and said she would speak with her husband about what I had experienced. My sister works for Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch publications are going to prepare in Australia and New York and San Francisco some negative commentary about Scandinavian Airlines, and the way the airline treats its' customers.

PS remarks made that i was rude - I specifically requested a non.seafood meal when I made my booking in Australia- (SAS have a habit of serving cheap Hake even in business class on intraEU flights ). And then on flight SK777 from Copenhagen to Athens I wa served seafood. I am allergic to seafood and value my life. If SAS are unaware of the medical consequences of serving products to which a passenger may be allergic they should cease their airline operations!!!!!!

Thank you
 
cbourl said:
I checke din and after boarding the plane the stewardess was rude and threw my laptop into the overhead compartment - I was designated seat 1F from Athens to Copenhagen. I expressed my distaste at her rude behaviour which was destructive to my laptop and she called the captain of the flight from Athens to Copenhagen. He said I was to be removed from the flight, and calledthe ground staff to remove me from the flight.

The questions are, how did you express your distaste at her rude behaviour and as mentioned later in your post, were you drunk?

If you used any sort of foul language, gesture, display an aggressive disposition or refused to comply with a request, (no matter if it was rudely expressed) then they have every right to remove you from the flight. The same goes if they believe that you were intoxicated.

I have only ever once had an argument with a member of cabin crew which was essentially over some rude behaviour, a QF flight some years ago from SIN-MEL. The argument was brief and I spoke to the customer service manager onboard the flight, who was fairly courteous and said that he would have a quiet word with the relevant crew member.

Unfortunately cabin crews can sometimes be rude, but as a passenger I make it a rule to remain polite (even in the above incident I remained polite). There is nothing to be gained from being rude to cabin staff and plenty to be gained from being friendly, even if they are not.

I have not flown SAS for years, but remember them being just okay, plain and without much style, a little cold perhaps. My Danish friends pretty much refuse to fly SAS, so that says a bit about the airline.

As for compensation, a quagmire when dealing with a foriegn carrier I suspect.
 
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seems you've also cross posted to ft.com, however the story you've told there is a tad different from the one you've posted here!

from:
FlyerTalk Forums

BizflyerNorway said:
Are you sure you tell the whole truth here? I was feeling sorry for you until the last lines you wrote:

Also I contacted the Danish princess from Australia who is a good freind of mine - she was disgusted and said she would speak with her husband about what I had experienced
<blah>
 
ioki said:
seems you've also cross posted to ft.com, however the story you've told there is a tad different from the one you've posted here!

from:
FlyerTalk Forums

The original post on FT appears to have disappeared though the follow on and responses are all there :!:
 
straitman said:
The original post on FT appears to have disappeared though the follow on and responses are all there :!:

yes indeed... i was just quoting the comment as made by BizflyerNorway at the ft.com thread...
 
And his dislike of Scandinavia isn't merely limited to the national (regional?) carrier it seems...

FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Never Fly Scandinavian!!!!!!
FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Never Fly Scandinavian!!!!!!

cbourl said:
I have explaine dthat I have a relative who is a travel writer for Conde Nast in New York and i will be meeting with him to allow him to prepare some media commentary on SAS. Also I contacted the Danish princess from Australia who is a good freind of mine - she was disgusted and said she would speak with her husband about what I had experienced. My sister works for Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch publications are going to prepare in Australia and New York and San Francisco some negative commentary about Scandinavian Airlines, and the way the airline treats its' customers.

And my mum is Queen Victoria...
 
cbourl said:
... I contacted the Danish princess from Australia who is a good freind of mine - she was disgusted and said she would speak with her husband about what I had experienced. My sister works for Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch publications are going to prepare in Australia and New York and San Francisco some negative commentary about Scandinavian Airlines, and the way the airline treats its' customers.


I'm sure SAS are quaking in their boots, now that Rupert Murdoch is on the job;). I will keep an eye on all News Corp publications in anticipation of seeing a multitude of articles decrying the appalling standards on SAS.

I do hope that getting this off your chest helped you feel better about the reported situation, although I must say that I doubt that "the Danish princess from Australia" will be terrible pleased that you have dragged her name into this. Princesses find it so distasteful when commoners try to take advantage of their friendship, even when the relationships actually exist - to do so is simply vulgar, and smacks of "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" syndrome in it's most nauseating incarnation:rolleyes:.
 
We can only hope that cbourl has left the building :!:

ie this really sounds like a windup from a Troll :rolleyes:

Me thinks that it's time for the moderators to close this thread.
 
straitman said:
We can only hope that cbourl has left the building :!:

ie this really sounds like a windup from a Troll :rolleyes:

Me thinks that it's time for the moderators to close this thread.


As requested

Dave

-- Please do not feed the trolls. They have special dietary requirements --
 
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