Eva Air - very bad experience and can i get flight cost back?

marshmallow77

Hi,

I wanted to know if anyone else has had a really bad experience with EVA Air and their UK their staff being incompetent rude and totally uninformed!

I booked my parents flight to Thailand for 90 days leaving early Jan returning early April. This they have done a few times and flown with Eva previously without issue and without long term visa as they pop in and out of Thailand using it as a base for the 90 days. I know you can stay in Thailand for up to 30 days without an embassy issued visa. And that by popping across the boarders and back you then get another 30 days etc.

However the last time they went (i.e. in Jan), the rude staff at the check-in at Eva Air refused to give my father a boarding pass as he didn't have a visa for Thailand for the 90 day stay. My parents were heading to Thailand and would be taking boats/buses/internal connection flights to various other counties (Cambodia etc.) but they would make arrangements when there. This they tried to explain to the Eva staff, like talking to a brick wall.

Eva said that the Thai government would not let them into the country - this I know to be untrue and at immigration in Thailand they do not check to see the length of your stay and in fact the Thai government make a lot of money from people if you out stay you visa limit!

Anyway - Eva refused to give my father a visa until he had purchased an Eva flight out of Thailand, leaving within 30days of their arrival. This he had to do (my mother is Thai so no need for a visa).
When my parents arrived in Thailand they complained to the Eva Air there who said they would refund the money for the unnecessary extra flight out of Thailand - it has still not been refunded 6 months on.

While my parents were at Heathrow trying to get the Eva staff to understand what the Thai process was, I was on the phone to the head office in London, at around 5:45pm on a friday. The woman said there was nothing she could do to help and that if our telephone line were to go dead then there may not be anyone there when I called back!

Rude, useless staff at Eva Air UK. Eva really need to educate their staff on what country does what regarding visas!

Needless to say my parents now refuse to fly Eva and are using other carriers.

Does anyone know how I can get my parents money back for the flight they made them purchase so that Eva would issue them a boarding pass? It cost them £150(ish).

[FONT=&quot]Many thanks[/FONT]

richardw

marshmallow77 wrote: »

When my parents arrived in Thailand they complained to the Eva Air there who said they would refund the money for the unnecessary extra flight out of Thailand

Have they got this in writing?

PZH

The authorities in Thailand are clamping down on the misuse of Thai Visa's and this has been coming for a while now..

http://www.thailand-visa.com/

Note that this enforcement of the current rules are intended to end the practice of a person without a valid visa going to the border every 30 days.

Please also be aware that Airlines often check if passengers have either a valid visa or a return ticket within 30 days and will exclude you from boarding a flight to Thailand if you have neither. The Thai authorities have asked Airlines to be more vigilant in this respect.

marshmallow77

I think they do have something in writing (somewhere), as they went to the Eva Air people in Bangkok.

With the whole clamp down on visas, i don't understand how that would work with 'traditional backpackers' who land somewhere and then deceied if they want to move on night to night or stay for a fortnight somewhere.

richardw

Backpackers book a cheap Air Asia flight out of BKK towards the end of the 30 day limit as an option.

mat5664

No excuse for rudeness, but if there was no proof on onward journey after the maximum 30 day period, then they were well within their rights to refuse boarding.

No different than if you travel to the US on the visa waiver program without a return or onward ticket within 90 days - the airline would not let you on the plane as they get fined for such things.

If this has not been enforced before, then I can understand the frustration.

marshmallow77

Is it really the airlines responsibility to 'police' the onward travel of travellers or is it actually immigration of the country in question? I think if the thai authorities had turned around and sent my father home then fair enough (especially based on phoodles's link above). but i don't know about the airlines authority on this....

I've flown to the US 3 times in the past 3 years and never once has any of the airlines (BA & Virgin) checked if i have a valid ESTA. They've only asked 20mins before landing!!! (Didn't realise that the airline would be fined though.)

(Yes, it was really frustrating for the folks as they've done that length of trip many times, I think the worst thing of all though for them was the rudeness they and i encountered with the Eva Air UK staff and their general unhelpfulness.)

TakeThis

marshmallow77 wrote: »

Hi,

I wanted to know if anyone else has had a really bad experience with EVA Air and their UK their staff being incompetent rude and totally uninformed!

I booked my parents flight to Thailand for 90 days leaving early Jan returning early April. This they have done a few times and flown with Eva previously without issue and without long term visa as they pop in and out of Thailand using it as a base for the 90 days. I know you can stay in Thailand for up to 30 days without an embassy issued visa. And that by popping across the boarders and back you then get another 30 days etc.

However the last time they went (i.e. in Jan), the rude staff at the check-in at Eva Air refused to give my father a boarding pass as he didn't have a visa for Thailand for the 90 day stay. My parents were heading to Thailand and would be taking boats/buses/internal connection flights to various other counties (Cambodia etc.) but they would make arrangements when there. This they tried to explain to the Eva staff, like talking to a brick wall.

Eva said that the Thai government would not let them into the country - this I know to be untrue and at immigration in Thailand they do not check to see the length of your stay and in fact the Thai government make a lot of money from people if you out stay you visa limit!

Anyway - Eva refused to give my father a visa until he had purchased an Eva flight out of Thailand, leaving within 30days of their arrival. This he had to do (my mother is Thai so no need for a visa).
When my parents arrived in Thailand they complained to the Eva Air there who said they would refund the money for the unnecessary extra flight out of Thailand - it has still not been refunded 6 months on.

While my parents were at Heathrow trying to get the Eva staff to understand what the Thai process was, I was on the phone to the head office in London, at around 5:45pm on a friday. The woman said there was nothing she could do to help and that if our telephone line were to go dead then there may not be anyone there when I called back!

Rude, useless staff at Eva Air UK. Eva really need to educate their staff on what country does what regarding visas!

Needless to say my parents now refuse to fly Eva and are using other carriers.

Does anyone know how I can get my parents money back for the flight they made them purchase so that Eva would issue them a boarding pass? It cost them £150(ish).

[FONT=&quot]Many thanks[/FONT]

Sorry, but you are in the wrong here. It is absolutely your responsibility to obtain the correct visa for your stay or the airline can refuse to board you.
If you are rejected at the other end, the airline has to bear the cost of repatriating you and can face a hefty fine.
Why should they take that risk just because you could not be be bothered to get a visa?

Unless you purchased a fully refundable ticket, they have no obligation to give you a refund.

Apart from anything else, you have also got the visa rules quite wrong.
Crossing the border will only get you a 15 day extension.

You claim

My parents were heading to Thailand and would be taking boats/buses/internal connection flights to various other counties (Cambodia etc.)

If so, why did you not present the evidence of the bookings made?

Clearly they had no evidence of any flight to another country within thirty days, so your arguments are and were without basis.

So they informed you that without a visa, you have to show evidence of a flight out out the country within 31 days.
That is the correct advice.

So because of poor planning and research, they were forced to purchase these tickets. The choice is usually between the cheapest tickets that you can find or the most expensive fully flexible, fully refundable tickets.
If they went for the cheapest option, they will be lucky to get a refund at all.

So, instead of slagging EVA AIR off for your mistake....get a visa next time.
It appears that someone tried to save the money spent on getting the correct visa and just got caught out.

No sympathy I'm afraid. You should have known better. They are not uninformed, you are.

TakeThis

marshmallow77 wrote: »

Is it really the airlines responsibility to 'police' the onward travel of travellers or is it actually immigration of the country in question? I think if the thai authorities had turned around and sent my father home then fair enough (especially based on phoodles's link above). but i don't know about the airlines authority on this....

I've flown to the US 3 times in the past 3 years and never once has any of the airlines (BA & Virgin) checked if i have a valid ESTA. They've only asked 20mins before landing!!! (Didn't realise that the airline would be fined though.)

(Yes, it was really frustrating for the folks as they've done that length of trip many times, I think the worst thing of all though for them was the rudeness they and i encountered with the Eva Air UK staff and their general unhelpfulness.)

Yes, it is.

As to your experience of flying to the US.... that has nothing to do with Thailand.
I don't believe that the EVA staff were rude and unhelpful. They just didn't acquiesce to boarding them without the correct visa.

Doshwaster

phoodless wrote: »

The authorities in Thailand are clamping down on the misuse of Thai Visa's and this has been coming for a while now..

http://www.thailand-visa.com/

Yep, the Thai authorities have been threatening this for a few years but they are now enforcing the rules a lot more strictly. The days when you could stop in Thailand almost indefinitely just by stepping across the border then back again once a month have gone.

mat5664

marshmallow77 wrote: »

Is it really the airlines responsibility to 'police' the onward travel of travellers or is it actually immigration of the country in question? I think if the thai authorities had turned around and sent my father home then fair enough (especially based on phoodles's link above). but i don't know about the airlines authority on this....

I've flown to the US 3 times in the past 3 years and never once has any of the airlines (BA & Virgin) checked if i have a valid ESTA. They've only asked 20mins before landing!!! (Didn't realise that the airline would be fined though.)

Believe me - if you didn't have a valid ESTA you would not have got on the plane - it's all in the system.

Airlines are heavily fined for letting people without valid visas/travel documents onto flights - so yes it is the airlines responsibility.