Advice Needed Please - TRAVEL HORROR HOLIDAY PACKAGE

SS1990

Please be advised on this email to both the travel agent TUI and the flight operator Air Canada.

 

The timeline of events is listed below, with supporting evidence of phone calls records, chats over the messenger and CCTV.

 

18/12/2023 - 5/5 we turned up to the airport to check in and it was not until this point we realised there was a passport issue, which we accept full liability for. After hours of speaking with various people from TUI / Air Canada and passport. We would need to sort the passport and rebook a separate flight for the 2/5 members of the family who were not able to join us on the flight even though all 5/5 did show up - they were not a no show. 1 parent had to stay with the 1 child so we could sort the passport and we join the rest of the holiday.

 

20/12/2023 - New passport was sorted and flights booked separately on our own cost to rejoin the family on the holiday destination. 

 

20/12/2023 - I spoke with TUI at 18.42 and 18.47 local time in DR to number 0203 830 3111 myself who advised it was not the company policy to move any return flights regardless of them being flexi or not and I would need to discuss this with the flight operator Air Canada. I was not told any flights were cancelled. (screen show of the call attached)

 

21/12/2023 - I was contacting TUI as well as my husband calling Air Canada to request pushing back the flights home by a few days as we had a flexi flight that was possible, because it was with a travel agent they had to do this. That call was made to Air Canada on 21/12/2023 at 8.14AM to number 00 800 66992222 for 21 minutes. Our booking information was given and full names, in this call it was not stated that any flights were cancelled at all by Air Canada (screenshot attached)

 

Ultimately, TUI did not speak to Air Canada to support the family, just trying to get together for Christmas on the most expensive holiday we have ever booked and took so long to save for.

 

27/12/2023 - The day we are due after the worst holiday we have ever had and Christmas ruined, I contacted TUI to re-explain the situation clearly on the messenger chat to confirm the travel plans for going home would be straight forward (screenshot attached) I was advised rest assured that this issue will not affect your scheduled flight by TUI in writing (again see attached).

 

27/12/2023 - 7.30AM approx, it is the check in staff that have issue locating the tickets for husband and daughter for the scheduled flight home, their support is extremely limited and I was just handed a phone to call Air Canada Reservations who said the flights was cancelled. I asked how much were tickets for the same flight we had already paid for - 12,000 dollars, even though online for the same flight I saw them for approx £940.00. massive difference. Unfortunately we had issues with the Air Canada website accepting over 6 different cards to pay for extra flights by this time, they had sold out. Calls to the UK for VISA/BARCLAYCARD and BARCLAYS DEBIT, to confirm they no cards were blocked and it was the websites issue (call logs can back this up). 

 

All calls made have cost so much money on our phone bill only adding to the stress and disappoint of the holiday with no support from TUI or Air Canada.

 

I booked a flight home for the 2/5 members of my family for 10PM because I needed to board the flight before the check in closed with the 2/3 childrens whose tickets were not cancelled. Being only 9.30AM in the morning, my husband and daughter booked a local hotel and got taxis as they cannot wait at the airport all day. The cost for the flight was £1,400 approx, this flight I have swallowed as a loss out of desperation as we found a better flight home that meant we would land at similar times and have extra travel costs to get home . Hotel was £101 and the taxi was 65 dollars (confirmation attached of the 1st flight booked and temp hotel).

 

As I am on the flight we originally booked, I found another flight leaving at 3PM that would land 40 minutes after our original scheduled flight at the same airport, out of desperation I booked this to get my family home, my daughter is only 5 and she has been through too much as it is on this nightmare holiday. These flights were 2,400 dollars (attached confirmation), I expect this to be reimbursed.

 

The lack of support or accountability for either company to help in this extremely stressful situation has been shocking, three children are in the centre of this who are all very young and with 2 stressed parents trying to prevent 2/5 of our family being stranded.

 

AC cancelled the flights and no one told us, we made it clear in our calls on the 20/21 December we would be on the originally planned holiday.

 

When I asked TUI to confirm everything was good, they confirmed this in writing.

 

I want to be reimbursed for the second flight which cost 2,400 dollars, taxi fees, temp hotel fees, alongside the actual part of the flight which was cancelled within the package with TUI, phone call costs as well as fees towards the amount of stress.

 

When I brought this up with TUI all they advised was to discuss this with Air Canada. Although my contract as a consumer is with TUI. Both businesses have failed to provide a happy service and failed to communicate and changes with us to allow for us to make alternate arrangements and leave us in the worst case scenario. 

silvercar

To summarise, please correct if I’ve got it wrong.

The original holiday was 18-27 December.

on 18/12 you find out that there is a passport issue with one child. 3 of you travel on original booked flights. 2 of you travel at further expense on 20/12.

although you wanted to delay return home for all 5 of you, this didn’t happen.

on arriving at the airport on 27/12 you find that the 2 who didn’t fly on the outbound have had their return flights cancelled. You then finance their new return flights yourself.

is that all correct? Why was the actual holiday a holiday “from hell”?

bagand96

What exactly was booked with TUI and how was it booked?  Was it an actual TUI package holiday?  They don't routinely use Air Canada but I know they sell some dynamic packages now which use scheduled flights.

It's quite normal for scheduled airlines to cancel the rest of a ticket if a leg isn't flown.  This would be a condition of the ticket, although I'm not sure how exactly that would work with the PTR's if you had a TUI package. If it was a TUI operated flight they have far more control over reservation status. It does seem poor service on TUI/Air Canada's part that they didn't pick up on the cancellation in your conversations with them.

SS1990

To the first comment - yes that is all correct and the holiday was not good, the child who flew out later is only 5 and had sickness and diahorreia for the entire holiday which the passed through the who family and husband is suffering still today. Alongside air Canada losing our hand luggage they made me put underneath containing a lot of electronics and personal items like house keys. I had a baby in my arms and they literally took it off me as we was walking up the stairs as all above storages was full.


The package was 100% fully with TUI I chose, I paid directly and only to them.

The error which triggered the first issue, I accepted and took the additional costing to get other flights we sorted ourselves.

Although throughout several conversations with both businesses no one told us the bookings was cancelled or no notification. 

I have written confirmation from TUI advising the flights are all scheduled and no issues.

Westin

The passport error was presumably picked up at the airport check-in?  Did you tell Air Canada at that time of your intentions to resolve the passport issue and desire for two of you to travel in a few days?  It would normally be at this point that the operating airline would add comments to the reservation and protect the return flight from being automatically cancelled (which the system does if you don’t fly on the previous flight segment).  If AC were not aware of your intention this may not of been done and the second problem starts.  If you did tell the airline at this point then a failing on AC not TUI.

On 20/12 when you rebooked new flights, was this with Air Canada?  Did you tell AC again of the original issue and check the return segment was protected?

You make mention of having Flexi flights? Is this the extra option you paid TUI for against the package or mentioned somewhere on your AC ticket reservations?  TUI offer an add on flexible offer to change the holiday but a paid extra option, is restrictive and would not apply once you reach departure date.  Tickets on scheduled carriers (like AC) packaged by a tour operator would normally be FIT fares with set travel dates. They are not normally flexible at all. Certainly not one the first flight segment date has passed. TUI’s response to your request on 21/12 therefore normal. I fear trying to change the return flights post departure is either a red herring or created more issues to an already messed up situation.

I’m not seeing any TUI issues here. Possibly some AC issues if AC did not act upon the problem on 21/12 and protect your two return flights - but that assumes they were made aware of your intentions and later travel booking. Perhaps if you could clarify that part of the story.

400ixl

When you re-arranged the outbound flight, was it as a separate one way ticket or was the original outbound flight re-scheduled?

If the former, what do the T&C's say about any passengers who do not make use of the outbound flight? Typically this means the return is void and automatically cancelled.

If AC have followed the T&C's then I don't see where they are liable. 

Do you have it in writing that TUI confirmed that the return flight would not be effected, from what I read they just pointed you back to AC?

NoodleDoodleMan

Regardless of the other aspects of this very unfortunate experience - the illness problems are not the fault of TUI and/or Air Canada, so can't reasonably be included as their responsibility in the "holiday from hell" scenario.

As above, it appears that it's Air Canada that need to address the flight issues.

silvercar

I would have thought, at the very least, it was the duty of TUI as your travel agent, to let you know that the return flight would be automatically cancelled if you fail to take the outbound. At least then it would have given you options eg to have your return flight rebooked, even if there was a cost in doing so. 

It seems to me that Air Canada probably acted within the terms of the ticket you bought ie if you fail to take the outbound the return is cancelled. TUI weren't acting as your agent - they failed to keep you informed of the rules and gave you wrong information when you enquired. Had they been more proactive it may be that they could have rearranged your outbound and protected your inbound if they had done this before you took the later outbound flight. Though there may have been a cost, it would have been cheaper than what you ended up paying.

Lost luggage is an Air Canada issue and there are probably set rules about the amount of compensation you could get, certainly reimbursement of your reasonable out of pocket expenses.

bagand96

silvercar said:

I would have thought, at the very least, it was the duty of TUI as your travel agent, to let you know that the return flight would be automatically cancelled if you fail to take the outbound. At least then it would have given you options eg to have your return flight rebooked, even if there was a cost in doing so. 

It seems to me that Air Canada probably acted within the terms of the ticket you bought ie if you fail to take the outbound the return is cancelled. TUI weren't acting as your agent - they failed to keep you informed of the rules and gave you wrong information when you enquired. Had they been more proactive it may be that they could have rearranged your outbound and protected your inbound if they had done this before you took the later outbound flight. Though there may have been a cost, it would have been cheaper than what you ended up paying.

This is the bit that's interesting and I wonder how (or if) the Package and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations interact with the flight ticket issues.

TUI generally sell packages on their own flights or flights chartered by them. In this case it's a scheduled flight as part of the package. I wonder what T&Cs are shown to the customer at the time of booking? Do you tick a box to accept TUI T&Cs and the T&Cs of the air ticket, or just the TUI Package terms? Do the TUI T&Cs have any clauses about reconfirming scheduled flights? Would the PTRs give any additional protection here? 

I don't know the answer unfortunately, someone with better understanding and experience may do. Would AC even have notified TUI the tickets were cancelled for example? 

silvercar

bagand96 said:

I don't know the answer unfortunately, someone with better understanding and experience may do. Would AC even have notified TUI the tickets were cancelled for example? 

OP spoke to TUI, so TUI (being a travel agent who should be expected to know what they had booked on their customer's behalf) should have known that the return would have been cancelled unless they proactively got involved. IMHO they should have rearranged the outward so as to protect the return. There would have been a cost to this, but OP would have had a choice whether to accept the cost to make the change or to book a totally new return ticket for the 2 people involved. 

This is actually what happened to someone I know. They had a visa issue and couldn't board their outbound, their travel agent moved the outbound flight to 3 days later and protected the return flight at the same time. This was an independent abta bonded agent.