Advice: non EU airline complaint

Effieb92

Hi everyone,

I have lodged a complaint against Mexican Airline 'Interjet' to have a non refundable ticket refunded due to misleading information given by one of their representatives at the check in desk, it's a complicated one but I will try to keep in brief. I do not have any legal rights under EU regulation as none of the flights were going to or from an EU country either. But I don't know what else to do and I was hoping someone might have some sort of advice.

We flew from Cuba to Mexico, had to pick up our bags and check in again for our connecting flight to Peru (I need to stress that we had very little time to do this). The woman at the check in desk refused us and said we needed proof of onwards travel in Peru and that the government would not let us in if we didn't have a flight booked out of Peru. No wifi at the airport, missing the flight was not an option as we had the inca trail booked and check in was due to close in 10 minutes. She would not help us and lazily pointed us in the direction of the Interjet booking desk. We asked for the cheapest flight they had and paid £200 for 2 tickets they knew we wouldn't use.

The British consulate in Peru confirmed in writing that this was not a requirement to enter the country and we were therefore lied to. I have emailed Interjet with a complaint, requesting a refund and nothing more, they have replied reassuring this is being looked at by their corporate team. Initially they gave me a time frame of 5-10 business days for a reply, it's now been 4 weeks, every time I email a very polite man comes back to me apologising for the delay but he never tells me anything useful.

I have contacted the credit card company we used to pay for the flights and they have sent a dispute form but I am doubtful there is anything they can do having worked in for a similar high street bank's fraud & disputes dept in the past.

Is there anything else I can do? Does the ombudsman handle non UK/EU complaints?

Many thanks in advance for your help and advice

Effie

P.s we are backpackers, hence why we didn't book a return flight, we are travelling independently around S. America

Caz3121

Airlines use a system called TIMATIC to check visa requirements etc
Sending a passenger without the correct documentation could result in the passenger being refused entry and the airline fined

This is what the airline would have seen re a UK passport holder travelling to Peru
Destination - Peru (PE)
Passport
Passport required.
Document Validity:
Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid on arrival.
Visa
Visa required.
Visa Exemptions:
Passengers with a British passport traveling as tourists for a maximum stay of 183 days.
Additional Information:
Visitors are required to hold proof of sufficient funds to cover their stay and documents required for their next destination.
Warning:
Visitors not holding return/onward tickets could be refused entry.

I don't think you were lied to, the information does imply onward documents required. You may want to flag to query with the British Consulate why the information does not match

If you are going to be travelling on one-way tickets this is a useful site to check the requirements for each country (happens to be on the Emirates site but not specific to any airline - they all see the same info)
http://www.emirates.com/english/plan_book/essential_information/visa_passport_information/find_visa_requirements/visa_passport_information_results.aspx?NC=GB&NV=United+Kingdom&DC=PE&DV=Peru&h=ad797bed3ab2c7908f35c23777d65bad94ce13a9