Holiday disaster

Caz3121

QueenDH wrote: »

Intention was to get to airport earlier but situations beyond my control meant we were not at the desk at 515.

Usually the guidance is to be at the airport 2 or 3 hours before the departure time so I assume you had a significant delay for this reason.
have you checked if your travel insurance covers the situations that were beyond your control?

Edi81

I would have expected travel insurance to be the first port of call in this situation...perhaps the OP doesn’t have any (as expecting section 75 to pick it up)

TheShape

QueenDH wrote: »

I booked an All-inclusive holiday in October to go to a hotel in in the sun (£1900). The flight was 6am. I booked in online at 1.15am and paid £28.00 for four seats.........Following this I contacted the tour company who said I could travel 7am the next day but would have to pay £320 for another flight, or to travel to and from Cardiff or Bournemouth airport as suggested later that day. I don’t know how much I would have been expected to pay for transfer from the airport to the resort.

QueenDH wrote: »

The children and I were looking forward to this holiday and were devastated not to be going away.

QueenDH wrote: »

Financially paying more money to travel the next day was not a viable option. Thanks for your feedback.

It appears that upon missing the original flight there were three options:

1)Go Home.
2)Pay £320 for an All-Inclusive Holiday in the Sun.
3)Travel from another airport at additional cost of transfers.

If 2 was financially not viable then I can't be the only one to question whether it was a good idea to spend £1900 on a holiday in the first place.

This seems to be a situation where having an emergency fund would stop someone having to choose between spending £1900 for a holiday they can't take and getting 6 days All-Inclusive in the Sun, albeit for an extra £320.

18cc

Yes it is a sad fact that most if not all airlines require you to be in the departure lounge a specified period before takeoff and they are pretty strict on this. It is in the booking contract. You can send luggage separately via air freight some people have to do this if their luggage is overweight for example. It is expensive - quite a lot per kg.

I think you are lucky to have had such a helpful tour company who offered you alternatives. I can tell you that Ryanair, for example, would have just told you to …….

eco_warrior

Sorry but I agree with the comment that FOS won’t be finding in your favour here.

Nasqueron

If you booked in online at 1:15am I don't understand why you were not at the airport for 4am (arriving early just means you cover any delays) unless you live 4 hours from the airport in which case why not leave earlier?


Unless you left enough time and were delayed by circumstances beyond your control (in which case, claim on your travel insurance), I don't see any reason for the credit card firm to be liable under S75 as the airline provided the flight, you just didn't arrive early enough to check your bags in and then get through security and walk to the terminal.



I recent flew from Heathrow and after check in there was a fair walk, multiple sets of stairs and then a train to Terminal 5 to fly from, it would probably have taken 30 minutes at a normal pace, thus I arrived at the airport 2 hours before the flight.

elsien

The problem is many travel insurance policies only cover a delay due to public transport issues. If there's an accident and you're stuck on the motorway or your lift doesn't arrive you're a bit stuffed.

jimbo26

A long winded post by the OP, which in a nutshell boils down to them arriving at the airport late.

Sec 75 doesn't cover you, and you will be wasting your time pursuing this any further.

It was your fault you didn't get to the departure lounge 45 mins before the flight. Take some responsibility and in future leave enough time. Put it down to an expensive lesson.

Sncjw

Do you realise why there is a set time to be there. It’s so they can do the the paper work? Get bags into the plane, get the right amount of fuel for the weight of the plane.

Penelopa.Pitstop

elsien wrote: »

The problem is many travel insurance policies only cover a delay due to public transport issues. If there's an accident and you're stuck on the motorway or your lift doesn't arrive you're a bit stuffed.

Nationwide and other companies cover traffic delays, but they must big bad enough to be announced on traffic info websites. I doubt there was huge traffic on a way to airport at night, unless there was accident or road works. But road works are announced early and it's possible to check them in advance.

I suspect, in first post it's onlince check-in at 1.00am, not actual booking of holiday.