Stressful experience

[staykoolmyman]

Greetings fellow travelers.Since my partner has mobility issues I wanted a business class flight from Adelaide to London with an overnight stopover each way. This proved onerous. I ended up using a company based in The United States with access in Australia. I was referred to them by a relative. On the outbound journey we had a stop over in Bangkok. Sadly, due to human error, we missed our Bangkok London flight. After contacting the airline we were told to try for a standby. This failed and we were told that any flight changes had to be negotiated via another airline who had booked the tickets using frequent flyer points! We contacted our travel agent and he eventually negotiated seats 2 days later. The fee for this was $US1000. Is this legal?????

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Welcome to AFF!
I am sure you will find lots of helpful people here, although it is probably not the best place to seek legal advice.
That is always best done on a professional basis, although some of us have some knowledge and experience in these areas and are willing and able to offer what advice we can.
However you would need to provide some more details, especially in relation to the way the original booking was made.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF. Sorry you have come in these circumstances, and you are a bit vague in relevant details.

The question appears to be whether a USA based firm, with 'access' in Australia, can legally charge $1,000 to obtain for you 2 seats BKK-LHR after you and your partner missed the originally booked flight. You don't mention any charge being made for the seats themselves (nor how the seats were obtained .. same airline? in lieu of missed flight etc etc ...)

In my experience travel type firms in general can charge what they like. Its up to the customer to accept the terms, or not. if they didn't tell you the charge before you took the new flight, that would be challengeable (or at least I would).

 

[moa999]

On the whole I suspect you were lucky. 'Missing' a flight can often result in the cancellation of the remainder of the itinerary and last minute flights are often very expensive.

It sounds like you booked through a non-licensed agent who was selling tickets purchased with frequent flyer points. This is generally against the rules of frequent flyer programs and very risky for you.

Personally think you got out of it very cheaply

 

[Dr Ralph]

Welcome to AFF. You'd need to check your contract and read all of the terms to determine the legality of what happened.

However as a general principle I don't think this is a penalty which would be unlawful.

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF staykoolmyman!

Sorry to hear what has happened. Change/cancellation fees can get very expensive.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Greetings fellow travelers.Since my partner has mobility issues I wanted a business class flight from Adelaide to London with an overnight stopover each way. This proved onerous. I ended up using a company based in The United States with access in Australia. I was referred to them by a relative. On the outbound journey we had a stop over in Bangkok. Sadly, due to human error, we missed our Bangkok London flight. After contacting the airline we were told to try for a standby. This failed and we were told that any flight changes had to be negotiated via another airline who had booked the tickets using frequent flyer points! We contacted our travel agent and he eventually negotiated seats 2 days later. The fee for this was $US1000. Is this legal?????

I don't quite understand. Why didn't you just fly EK with assistance and stop in SIN or DXB. Having travelled on EK in a wheelchair, I was very impressed with their services for people with mobility issues.

It does seem from your story that, unfortunately, you used a somewhat doggy agent in the US. So you have little or no access to recourse under Australian law. Suggest you use a local agent in future where you are convered by Australian consumer law.

 

[serfty]

... we were told that any flight changes had to be negotiated via another airline who had booked the tickets using frequent flyer points! We contacted our travel agent and he eventually negotiated seats 2 days later. The fee for this was $US1000. Is this legal?????

The first sentence raises a red flag to me ... "Frequent Flyer Points" ... who's "Frequent Flyer Points"?

 

[pyffii]

Sounds like one of those USA companies that sell you frequent flyer seats so guess thats where the hook comes in !!!...Sorry to hear about this

 

[Deleted member]

Welcome to AFF. While this isn't much comfort at this stage of the process. It would be more prudent to seek advice and suggestions before traveling. That said, I'm not sure what your options might otherwise be.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Greetings fellow travelers.Since my partner has mobility issues I wanted a business class flight from Adelaide to London with an overnight stopover each way. This proved onerous. I ended up using a company based in The United States with access in Australia. I was referred to them by a relative. On the outbound journey we had a stop over in Bangkok. Sadly, due to human error, we missed our Bangkok London flight. After contacting the airline we were told to try for a standby. This failed and we were told that any flight changes had to be negotiated via another airline who had booked the tickets using frequent flyer points! We contacted our travel agent and he eventually negotiated seats 2 days later. The fee for this was $US1000. Is this legal?????

Hi there and welcome to AFF. Sorry about the circumstances.

It sounds like you inadvertently used one of the companies that either brokers frequent flyer points, or purchased frequent flyer points on your behalf.

The former, where they buy points off one party and then effectively 'sell' them to you is a grey area. Most airlines prohibit this practice.

The later situation involves the company opening a frequent flyer account for you, buying miles, and then purchasing your ticket. This is probably legal, although it would usually be cheaper for you to buy the miles yourself and make your own booking.

In both cases, the US company would have used the airline where the points came from to book your ticket. That airline (which may be different to the airline you flew on) is in essence the 'agent', and all changes need to be made through that airline.

Change fees for award tickets can vary. Usually however they would be around USD150 per ticket. The company you used may then have charged an additional fee for their time. They may even have needed to purchase more miles for you as you missed the connection and that segment of the ticket may have no longer been valid.

Is the process transparent? Not in your case. You were in the dark. However, this is one of the pitfalls of using a company such as this.

Can I ask which company and how much you paid? Knowing which company will allow us to look at the terms and conditions.

In general, you should be able to pick up tickets to Europe using purchased miles for about $4000-4500 in business class on carriers such as Thai, Singapore, Qantas or Cathay Pacific.

 

[drron]

Basically you have got off lightly.The firm you used uses illegal methods to get the tickets by buying others frequent flyer points.
You may have been denied boarding at your first checkin if the airline had become aware of it.
An expensive lesson but stick around here and learn how legally to get Award tickets for much less than most people would be aware.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Basically you have got off lightly.The firm you used uses illegal methods to get the tickets by buying others frequent flyer points.

That may not necessarily be true. There are two options for these types of tickets... brokered miles, and where the passenger has legitimately bought miles (albeit the agency has done it on their behalf).

If the company opened a frequent flyer account in the OP's name, purchased miles, then made the booking, the transaction well could easily be within the terms and conditions and result in a perfectly valid ticket. Just the OP didn't know the method in which the ticket was accrued.

 

[staykoolmyman]

Who/what is EK... Emirates? When researching flights with stopovers both ways I was told by all the airlines I contacted that they did not provide an overnight stopover on the return flight. I was trying to secure a direct flight Adelaide to Bangkok since it is approx half way but unable. Alpha Flight Guru (AFG) offered a solution but not (as I found out later) a seamless one. The flight from Adelaide to Melbourne was a normal domestic with limited baggage allowance, this resulted in added expense.
I have contacted AFG and the consultant that arranged our flights has been dismissed, They did not provide Terms & Conditions and did not reveal that the seats were FF.
They have offered me a $500 credit on my next booking which would be unlikely.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Who/what is EK... Emirates? When researching flights with stopovers both ways I was told by all the airlines I contacted that they did not provide an overnight stopover on the return flight. I was trying to secure a direct flight Adelaide to Bangkok since it is approx half way but unable. Alpha Flight Guru (AFG) offered a solution but not (as I found out later) a seamless one. The flight from Adelaide to Melbourne was a normal domestic with limited baggage allowance, this resulted in added expense.
I have contacted AFG and the consultant that arranged our flights has been dismissed, They did not provide Terms & Conditions and did not reveal that the seats were FF.
They have offered me a $500 credit on my next booking which would be unlikely.

Yes - EK is the two letter code for Emirates.

I'm not aware of any non-stop flights Adelaide to Bangkok. Did you end up flying Thai by the sounds of it?

Contacting airlines... there are very few that will offer a stopover including hotel. These are generally restricted these days (with some exceptions) to involuntary lengthy transits - where the airline doesn't have a flight leaving within a reasonable time.

For all other connections, most airlines won't give you anything for free unless 8+ hours and even then, because they don't have a flight leaving any earlier.

The agent has 'supposedly' been sacked!

 

[esseeeayeenn]

That's interesting.
I received some marketing material from Alpha Flight Guru which looked attractive, but I was suspicious because they initially insisted on telephone contact only and would not email me any fares.
Subsequently I was able to get an agent to deal with me by email. However I never made a booking with them because I was told that none of their fares earn status credits.
Now it is obvious why.

 

[moa999]

Alpha Flight Guru (AFG) offered a solution but not (as I found out later) a seamless one. T

Not the first on this board, and I suspect not the last
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tions/ripped-off-alpha-flight-guru-55652.html

 

[marki]

Have Flown with AFG twice both times cheap and in First yes no SC but due to all the horror stories .....decided a no not fly zone was implemented

 

[staykoolmyman]

We were not desirous of accommodation just enough time to rest (airbnb)