Airline or Travel agent Woes! please help

isotonic_uk

Hi All

Was wondering if anyone can advise what options I have with this issue I have.

In January my father booked a flight only through Travel Agent - Travel Trolley to go to India with Qatar Airways to see family, unfortunately he never made the trip as about a week before he was admitted to hospital for major heart surgery. At no point till he was admitted were both himself or doctors aware he had heart condition.

My father had travel insurance so we are now claiming the cost of the ticket back however the insurance require some evidence that my father never took the flight, I contacted both Airline and Travel agent and both are not able to help.

I understand why the travel agent can't help as they only deal with bookings and have no way of telling if my father took the flight but I would expect the airline to have record of this.

I have sent email and filled in customer support requests on the Qatar website but to no avail. The last one I got back from Qatar was that because I booked through a travel agent they are unable to help me!

Does anyone have any advice how best I move forward with this? From the insurance side there is no issue they have all the required documentation, they only need evidence that my father didnt take the flight and then they can proceed with the claim.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thank you

eDicky

How about some documented proof of him being in hospital recovering from major surgery at the time of his booked departure?

isotonic_uk

eDicky wrote: »

How about some documented proof of him being in hospital recovering from major surgery at the time of his booked departure?

He was out of hospital by then and was recovering at home. There was some medical information that needed to be filled out as part of the forms the travel insurance company sent out which needed to be filled out by doctor it stated can the passenger travel and it was a no. I dont think they believe this information is sufficient.

Voyager2002

Try approaching the airline and/or travel agent to claim back the tax paid on his unused flight. They may actually give him some kind of refund, or otherwise will give some reason for not repaying it (administrative costs or whatever). Either way, that should be evidence that he did not take the flight.

peachyprice

Try giving the Qatar Airlines desk in Harrods a call. My mum was having terrible problems at one point, the only people she could get any sense out of were the girls in the Harrods office, even better, if you're in London, go there. My mum gets them to do all her bookings now, they really know their stuff.

NiftyDigits

He'll be down as a 'no show'. But the problem is getting the airline to give you paperwork to that effect.
Send an email to the address in your PM inbox with your request, replete with ticket numbers and salient details and I'm sure you'll get what you need.
Dealing with first line customer support can be quite painful.

isotonic_uk

Thanks for everyones advice.

I am pleased to say Qatar customer support delivered!

I received proof from the airline and I was able to continue the claim with the insurance. Very pleased even though it did take a while.