Emirates / fly Dubai issues

[DANG83]

Afternoon,
So I was due to fly with my wife and 2 little kids BNE-DXB-MSQ leaving tonight... Or so I thought. Recevied an email this morning advising that they cancelled the fly Dubai flight from DXB - MSQ and instead would fly DXB - VKO THEN give us ground transport to Minsk.

Small issue... The only way Aussies (using Visa Free entry) can get in and out of Belarus is via MSQ International Airport. You can NOT cross land borders in and out of the country. If I were to try and get a VISA it would be 7-14 business days which is clearly not possible when my flight leaves today.

After 3 calls and 2 dropped calls there was nothing that could be done and they suggested cancelling the flight. They have said "I would be fully refunded" (yet to be confirmed) but it would take 7-15 business days. Being Christmas Eve don't like my chances.

So have now booked another ticket with AirChina BNE-MEL-PEK-XIY-MSQ. Cost me an additional $15.1k being $4k ontop of the $11.2k I paid for the first ticket...

Anyone had any luck with getting A: There full refund and B: Compensation for the having to fork out all that additional money for the new ticket for the family?

Also any hints or tips for PEK with a family with 2 little monsters 3 / 10 would be much appreciated.

Regards

Dan G

 

[craney]

Afternoon,
So I was due to fly with my wife and 2 little kids BNE-DXB-MSQ leaving tonight... Or so I thought. Recevied an email this morning advising that they cancelled the fly Dubai flight from DXB - MSQ and instead would fly DXB - VKO THEN give us ground transport to Minsk.

Small issue... The only way Aussies (using Visa Free entry) can get in and out of Belarus is via MSQ International Airport. You can NOT cross land borders in and out of the country. If I were to try and get a VISA it would be 7-14 business days which is clearly not possible when my flight leaves today.

After 3 calls and 2 dropped calls there was nothing that could be done and they suggested cancelling the flight. They have said "I would be fully refunded" (yet to be confirmed) but it would take 7-15 business days. Being Christmas Eve don't like my chances.

So have now booked another ticket with AirChina BNE-MEL-PEK-XIY-MSQ. Cost me an additional $15.1k being $4k ontop of the $11.2k I paid for the first ticket...

Anyone had any luck with getting A: There full refund and B: Compensation for the having to fork out all that additional money for the new ticket for the family?

Also any hints or tips for PEK with a family with 2 little monsters 3 / 10 would be much appreciated.

Regards

Dan G

My parents received a full refund for economy CBR-MEL-DXB-LGW 22 months ago when mum was diagnosed with cancer. Emirates' rules said they would charge US$200 per sector but they waived this without us asking, and actually without any proof of the diagnosis. I was very impressed.

 

[jase05]

It’s a daily flight, was it not possible to get you on another day and have a day or so in DXB instead?

 

[Daver6]

Any chance you could claim on travel insurance?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Any chance you could claim on travel insurance?

Depending on the policy, it *might* cover travel rearrangements following cancellation.

But the time to explore that would have been before cancelling the EK tickets. Ring the insurance claim line and seek their advice on what to do.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Afternoon,
So I was due to fly with my wife and 2 little kids BNE-DXB-MSQ leaving tonight... Or so I thought. Recevied an email this morning advising that they cancelled the fly Dubai flight from DXB - MSQ and instead would fly DXB - VKO THEN give us ground transport to Minsk.

Small issue... The only way Aussies (using Visa Free entry) can get in and out of Belarus is via MSQ International Airport. You can NOT cross land borders in and out of the country. If I were to try and get a VISA it would be 7-14 business days which is clearly not possible when my flight leaves today.

After 3 calls and 2 dropped calls there was nothing that could be done and they suggested cancelling the flight. They have said "I would be fully refunded" (yet to be confirmed) but it would take 7-15 business days. Being Christmas Eve don't like my chances.

So have now booked another ticket with AirChina BNE-MEL-PEK-XIY-MSQ. Cost me an additional $15.1k being $4k ontop of the $11.2k I paid for the first ticket...

Anyone had any luck with getting A: There full refund and B: Compensation for the having to fork out all that additional money for the new ticket for the family?

Also any hints or tips for PEK with a family with 2 little monsters 3 / 10 would be much appreciated.

Regards

Dan G

You’re entitled to the full refund under Australian Consumer Law. So that’s fairly easy in terms of your rights. Make sure you get back any credit card surcharge as well.

I probably would have flown to Dubai and then announced ‘no can do with the visa’ and had them put you on another airline, or the flight the next day, into Minsk. It would have been their problem then.

You might have legal recourse under the Montreal Convention for damages… the extra $4k. But it wouod likely cost you that much in lawyers to get it.

Is Air China providing accommodation for your PEK stopover? If on Aussie passports you have visa free entry. If not on an Aussie passport you may be eligible for TWOV (most nationalities are).

Depending on how long you’re going to be there, you should think about setting up alipay… but you need to sit down for 39 mins to set it all up. E-transactions are king… cash not so much.