TAP Air - ticket cancellation - compensation

JayBee2605

Hi Guys - longish story but I'm trying to work out if we can claim for compensation, advice greatly received! 

TL;DR - don't fly TAP Air! 

My wife and I booked a flight to Lisbon with TAP Air through Booking.com - we got married a few months before flying and my wife updated her passport with her new surname. I called TAP Air to update the booking to her new name and paid 50EUR to do so. 

A day before our flight we tried to check in online and couldn't - I called them and they said we'll be able to check in at the airport, they said that they could see our booking and there won't be a problem. The next day at the airport we couldn't check in, the check in desk couldn't see us on the flight. 

We went to the Gatwick service centre for help as TAP don't have a desk there - they said that our tickets were still in place but our itinerary had been removed. The itinerary is what gets you on to the flight. The service centre think that when they changed my wife's name they accidentally removed our itinerary. 

We went back to the check in desk with this info, they called a supervisor but they were unable to put us on the flight despite there being seats free on the plane (the seats were in a different class to what we'd paid for apparently). They told us we had to call the TAP support centre - we did this, they said they'd raise an urgent issue and they'd come back to us. They never replied. 

We ended up having to get a flight that evening with Easyjet, spending all day at the airport. 

We've complained to TAP - they said we had to go through Booking.com as the original booking was with them. Booking.com have told us they've spoken with TAP and they have admitted it's their fault so TAP have to deal with it. TAP are being very slow in replying to us.

So, our flight wasn't delayed, or cancelled but we couldn't get on it due to no fault of our own. Can we claim compensation? Any guidance on the best way forward would be appreciated! 

eskbanker

If you had valid tickets but weren't permitted to board, then the airline is responsible both for arranging alternative flights and also paying compensation, under the denied boarding provisions within article 4 of the regulations:

If boarding is denied to passengers against their will, the operating air carrier shall immediately compensate them in accordance with Article 7 [fixed tariff compensation] and assist them in accordance with Articles 8 [rebooking or refund] and 9 [right to care, e.g. meals while waiting]

daveyjp

TLDR should also be changed to:

Don't use booking.com to book a flight with an airline that has a functioning booking system of their own.  It makes matters very complicated when things go wrong.

bagand96

daveyjp said:

TLDR should also be changed to:

Don't use booking.com to book a flight with an airline that has a functioning booking system of their own.  It makes matters very complicated when things go wrong.

I think on this occasion it's TAP that's at fault. Although the OP booked with booking.com they state they called TAP to do the name change. 

You say the tickets were in place but the itinerary wasn't, are you sure it wasn't the other way round? You usually have a PNR (5 character alphanumeric) which contains the itinerary and pax details, but within that each passenger has a unique e-ticket number (13 numbers, starting with a 3 digit airline code, 047 for TAP) 

It's very rare but I have seen it reported on forums before that you can end up with a valid PNR, but no etickets issued - especially when there's been a manual change on the booking and something has gone awry. 

Agree with @eskbanker I'd be after denied boarding compensation as well as the costs for the replacement flights. 

Westin

bagand96 said:

daveyjp said:

TLDR should also be changed to:

Don't use booking.com to book a flight with an airline that has a functioning booking system of their own.  It makes matters very complicated when things go wrong.

I think on this occasion it's TAP that's at fault. Although the OP booked with booking.com they state they called TAP to do the name change. 

You say the tickets were in place but the itinerary wasn't, are you sure it wasn't the other way round? You usually have a PNR (5 character alphanumeric) which contains the itinerary and pax details, but within that each passenger has a unique e-ticket number (13 numbers, starting with a 3 digit airline code, 047 for TAP) 

It's very rare but I have seen it reported on forums before that you can end up with a valid PNR, but no etickets issued - especially when there's been a manual change on the booking and something has gone awry. 

Agree with @eskbanker I'd be after denied boarding compensation as well as the costs for the replacement flights. 

I also think this might be the situation and a plausible cause of the problem.

If you called TAP Air Portugal to make the name change they would likely have either messaged or entered comment into the PNR for the agent (booking.com/GoToGate) to reissue the ticket/s.  If this was not done or picked up then your itinerary would show but no reissued ticket numbers.  The agency would need to reissue but if the agency did not know about this then they obviously would not have touched and taken action on that existing booking again.  This is why for ticket or reservation issues you are normally referred back to the booking party (so all changes can be agreed, actioned in accordance with the ticketing fare, and tickets reissued if necessary).

It seems like TAP have accepted the fault and that something went wrong in the process. I suspect not correctly updating the PNR is the issue, or not adding notation for the agent to re-issue the tickets for the correct passenger name.  Trying to unravel this might however prove tough. Good luck.