Refused Boarding at Airport

stickymaggot

pmduk wrote: »

Any contract will be with the company you bought the ticket from. Who were they?

Really?, they are a company called 7-Continents Travel, although they said that they needed to claim the refund from the airline. I contacted the airline initially who told me verbally that I was entitled to a refund but to claim it via 7-continents. They have now in turn contacted the airline and thats how I have got to the current state.

Alan_Bowen

Good luck with trying to deal with China Southern! Did your wife not check the times 72 hours before return, most agents, and I admit I have never heard of 7 continents, would print a warning that you must check flight times and I would certainly do that when flying an airline like China Southern. The routing itself seems unusual and clearly it wasn't KLM's fault that she presumably missed the flight home from China.

stickymaggot

She didnt 'miss' the flight - they wouldnt let her board it. As soon as I get the paperwork I will be able to see what they did to the times - it may well be that the connecting flight in China was put back and hence the stay in China exceeding 24hrs.

Caz3121

There was another thread recently where someone had their travel plans changed without them knowing. Most agents will advise to reconfirm flights 48/72 hours before (and most people don't bother)
The danger is that, if they have this on the paperwork, you may find they will use that as their 'get out of jail free'
All schedule changes should have been advised to the travel agent and they, in turn, would be responsible to let you know through the contact details held.
It is indeed the travellers responsibility to ensure they have all the correct visa's for their journey (although I know she originally did not require this)
Your main contact is with the agent
1) when were they advised of the schedule change
2) why did they not contact you to advise
If they had not been advised of the change, they should take this up with the airline
Did you try and contact the agent to rectify before buying a new ticket?

Voyager2002

Caz3121 wrote: »

There was another thread recently where someone had their travel plans changed without them knowing. Most agents will advise to reconfirm flights 48/72 hours before (and most people don't bother)
The danger is that, if they have this on the paperwork, you may find they will use that as their 'get out of jail free'
All schedule changes should have been advised to the travel agent and they, in turn, would be responsible to let you know through the contact details held.
It is indeed the travellers responsibility to ensure they have all the correct visa's for their journey (although I know she originally did not require this)
Your main contact is with the agent
1) when were they advised of the schedule change
2) why did they not contact you to advise
If they had not been advised of the change, they should take this up with the airline
Did you try and contact the agent to rectify before buying a new ticket?

Some interesting points: however, in this situation the passenger's failure to reconfirm would not let the airline off the hook. The schedule change meant that the passenger was unable to travel without a visa; usually you can only obtain a visa in your country of residence (and the passenger clearly lives in the UK); in any case, Chinese embassies are generally unable to issue visas within the limited time-frame between reconfirmation and departure.

Note that there is no need to deal with China Southern, since the ticket was issued by KLM and so China Southern were acting on their behalf. (In the same way, if you luggage gets damaged by an airport handling company, you deal with the airline rather than with their contractor).

stickymaggot

I dont beleive the agent was contacted by the airline, or if they were then they certainly didnt contact me. I was unable to contact the agent at the time due to Bank Holidays etc, and to be honest my thoughts were with getting my wife home at the time

Anyway, I have given the people that the agent is dealing with until Friday to come up with a refund before I take this further.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and advice on this matter.
I will update when I have further info.

Caz3121

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Some interesting points: however, in this situation the passenger's failure to reconfirm would not let the airline off the hook. The schedule change meant that the passenger was unable to travel without a visa; usually you can only obtain a visa in your country of residence (and the passenger clearly lives in the UK); in any case, Chinese embassies are generally unable to issue visas within the limited time-frame between reconfirmation and departure.

Very true but they may have had more time to get the agent/airline to arrange alternate flights which they could have travelled on. The OP managed to get another flight with KLM and I would have hoped that the agent/airline should have been able to get their flights changed to this same one without the OP having to fork out and fight for a refund....or do I have too much faith in the role of the TA

Oliver_Zarmy

copa_feela wrote: »

When was she notified of the changes, and when did the airline make the changes (was information not passed to you at the correct time)?

Post all the information and we can have a look. However, in terms of dealing with KLM, I would suggest posting on their board on Flyertalk - far more knowledgeable people there.

You said it!

stoneman

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

Good luck with trying to deal with China Southern! Did your wife not check the times 72 hours before return, most agents, and I admit I have never heard of 7 continents, would print a warning that you must check flight times and I would certainly do that when flying an airline like China Southern. The routing itself seems unusual and clearly it wasn't KLM's fault that she presumably missed the flight home from China.

Are you reading the same thread as the rest of us?