Aeroflot Missed connection extortion

Giraffe19

[FONT=&quot]Hello All,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So, I had the recent unfortunate experience of flying Aeroflot with my young family, Flying London-Moscow-Ufa to go visit family for a few weeks. Book a through-ticket for entire journey (single reservation code), direct with Aeroflot, and a transfer window of 1.5 hours[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Flight from London was fine, land in Moscow Sheremetyevo airport, which looked out the window to be undergoing serious construction works, taxi around for 10 minutes, and then it's a slow 20minute bus ride back to the terminal. Race through passport control (Well, tried to), security, security again, sprint to the gate - and get denied boarding, as we're too late. (annoying, as the plane is right there, still connected to the bridge.) Aeroflot rep there sends us back out of departures to the Aeroflot ticket office to rebook us onto the next available flight. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]At the ticket office, we're told we need to pay a re-booking fee of 35,000 Ruble ( £470 ), as we missed our flight?!?! (Oh, and we can only do this for you in the next 30 minutes. And by the way, if you don't do it, you lose the return leg of your flight. Really does feel like a calculated extortion.) We're tired, we have a screaming infant & a screaming toddler, we try to argue against this, but in the end we just pay. It also becomes evident from the steady stream of angry passengers to the ticket office that this is not an isolated event. (Consider it a warning if you're considering flying with them). We got to our final destination about 10 hours later.

Now, I was under the impression that booking a through-ticket with an airline protects against problems like this, and the Airline should just re-book you onto the next earliest possible flight? Certainly, the guidence of UK CAA seems to suggest that, but doesn't say what regulations define this...

Have contacted Aeroflot Customer services, and just received what looks like a standard cut & paste Fob-off - saying they weren't responsible for the missed connection, and the 1st plane wasn't late, and you should have booked a longer connection time. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](Technically, the 1st plane was 1 minute late according to the stats, which might have just made a difference for us, but I doubt it means I can argue it using regulation EC261/2004. Would be a satisfying middle-finger to them to somehow get refunded the initial amount, plus compensation for delay though.)

Now, the entire reason for booking through-tickets with the airline is to ensure that theres some sort of cover for missed connections. (Queues at passport control, security, etc.) But I can't seem to find any regulation or anything really enforcing that unless its a direct result of delay of the first plane? Have I actually got a case here against Aeroflot? Any suggestions of legislation I can actually use to back up my position against them?[/FONT]

Westin

I don’t have a solution for you but do agree with your thinking that on one single PNR connection ticket, the airline should be responsible for the miss connection given your circumstances.

jpsartre

If you paid the fee by card you can take it up with your cardprovider. They might be willing to refund the money.

Giraffe19

I booked both the original tickets and the "rebooking" cost using a creditcard - and have now flagged to the cardprovider, who have requested further information.
Along with all booking info / receipts, I need to include a letter saying why I'm contesting the charge - but have a feeling that just me saying it was an unfair charge is a bit weak. (well, why did you pay it then?)

But if I can find some sort of regulations that support my case, I might be in with a chance...

JGB1955

This shows the minimum transfer times Aeroflot reckon you should allow.


https://www.aeroflot.ru/gb-en/information/airport/transit


I don't know if that helps or hinders your case but it might indicate whether the 1.5 hours you allowed should have been more than adequate.

EveryWhere

JGB1955 wrote: »

This shows the minimum transfer times Aeroflot reckon you should allow.


https://www.aeroflot.ru/gb-en/information/airport/transit


I don't know if that helps or hinders your case but it might indicate whether the 1.5 hours you allowed should have been more than adequate.

Nothing to do with what the OP allowed. If Aeroflot sold a ticket with those transit times, then Aeroflot are responsible.

The only issue is that the family might need to demonstrate that they didn't hang around on the way to the next flight. So emphasise that in your covering note.
May have helped if you signed 'under duress' on the card receipt.

Giraffe19

Placing 'Under Duress' on the receipt is a new one to me... (Will remember that for the future - hopefully never need to)


Will certainly emphasise that we did everything we could to try get there as fast as possible. (We sprinted, children in arms, trying to get them there. **** at the gate just watched impassively as we arrived huffing & puffing, before saying impassively that gate is closed. Go back at out to ticket office and deal with it there.

So if Aeroflot sold a ticket with a unfeasible connection time, does that mean I should be looking at trading standards rather than airline regulations for compensation?

EveryWhere

As an aside, I met a pleasant girl from Bashkortostan on my travels not so long ago.

EveryWhere

Giraffe19 wrote: »

Placing 'Under Duress' on the receipt is a new one to me... (Will remember that for the future - hopefully never need to)


Will certainly emphasise that we did everything we could to try get there as fast as possible. (We sprinted, children in arms, trying to get them there. **** at the gate just watched impassively as we arrived huffing & puffing, before saying impassively that gate is closed. Go back at out to ticket office and deal with it there.

So if Aeroflot sold a ticket with a unfeasible connection time, does that mean I should be looking at trading standards rather than airline regulations for compensation?

Your best friend in this case is the airport. If you can get them to confirm that you proceeded directly to the gate, your CC dispute has a higher chance of success.

Voyager2002

EveryWhere wrote: »

Your best friend in this case is the airport. If you can get them to confirm that you proceeded directly to the gate, your CC dispute has a higher chance of success.

Since the airport was in Moscow, I don't rate the chances of this very highly.

Giraffe19

EveryWhere wrote: »

As an aside, I met a pleasant girl from Bashkortostan on my travels not so long ago.

Everywhere - Might have been my wife. (She's sometimes pleasant ;-) )

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Since the airport was in Moscow, I don't rate the chances of this very highly.

Unfortunately Voyager2002, I agree with you... Think the chances slim...