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Holiday Fiasco - response options please

1964meb

1964meb

pfm Member
Hi People

We have just had fab holiday tarnished (!) by a number of things. I am unsure what my options are now. Any advice is welcome. I apologise about the use of bold font in places, but, it helped me to punctuate the details.


The company we booked our holiday to celebrate our 60th birthdays specialises in flights and the packages that go with them (I am not naming them here). We opted for drivers and nice hotels as my wife doesn't 'backpack' like I prefer to do. It has taken over 20 years for me to get my wife to visit India. I was a recidivist backpacker and India is obviously a 'must see' sub continent.

We flew to Kerala and had a lovely time there for 8 days or so. Our driver and guides were delightful and Kerala is also just that ..... delightful

We then flew to Delhi to complete a second package - Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Delhi was fine, Agra was stunning (as you would expect)


So far: so good


When we returned from the Taj Mahal to our hotel, we noticed that our fight was as planned leaving on

Sat 13th April from Delhi 18.30 --> Riyadh arriving Sun14th April 20:45 (these are the times and dates on our paperwork)

Our onward flight to London Heathrow was on Monday 15th April at 1.40am

Note: Passengers are allowed 12 hours for connecting flights unless they have a VISA for Saudi Arabia This is issue number 1 (only realised after we got to Riyadh) The first flight would be 5 hours +/- not over a day!

Then we noticed that our package (Delhi / Agra / Jaipur) ran until Sunday 14th April - the Sunday was to be 5 hours travelling back from Jaipur to Delhi airport in time for the 1830 departure. These details would mean that at 18.30 pm on Sunday 14th of April, the package has overrun the departure day in italics above. This is issue number 2 the company booked us onto a package that did not fit with our flights


This caused a panic and swift emails to the company . I suggested a number of things: 1 they found us new flights to London - I had to be in London by 6.30am on Monday so get back to the midlands in time for work on Tuesday morning. Also, I said that waiting in a Saudi Airport for over 24 hours was not acceptable. (I did not know that a VISA was needed for such a long time in the airport at that point) Issue number 3 having to wait over 24hours in an airport (especially when the package overran the flight from Delhi!)

I also suggested that they move the first flight (Delhi to Riyadh) back a day to allow the package to finish and to reduce the time spent in the airport awaiting the connecting flight home.

Lots of emails back and forth later

Saudi Arabian airlines changed our flight to London by bringing this flight forward (this meant we would lose a day of sightseeing in Jaipur) Issue number 4 having to lose a day's sightseeing
We cut our losses and agreed to lose a day of the holiday and return a day early. It meant we had to travel for 5 hours from Agra to Jaipur and then do as much sightseeing as we could that afternoon and evening - Not relaxing for us or our driver!. When we became too fatigued to continue / stopped enjoying the sightseeing we cut the sightseeing short. This is still issue number 4 (I think)

OK so far a pain in the backside, a stress whilst on holiday, but, not the end of the world.

Unfortunately, there is more with our new, second batch of flights. In short, whilst in the departures lounge, the first flight to Saudi was so delayed that is overran the second flight to London.

Saudi Arabian Airlines removed us from the departures lounge (this is another story in itself but not for here!) and tried to get us onto another flight. They suggested they could get a direct flight from another airline but in the end there were no alternative flights available. At this point, we were sent to a hotel waiting news / progress.

We had no contact for over a day. We had no clean clothes and no opportunity to clean any as we might have been called to the airport at short notice.

We spent 2 nights in the Hotel (still no clean clothes !! Nice!!) and were then given flights to Jeddah and then onto London. We arrived in London on Tuesday morning - Issue number 5 arriving a day too late for work on Tuesday) - We arrived home on Tuesday evening.

India is and was fabulous. Kerala is delightful and stunning in places. The Taj Mahal is possibly the most serene and beautiful building on the planet. Our Guides and especially our Drivers were excellent and nearly all the accommodation was super. Our holiday was marred (to say the least) by all this stress. Mrs B refuses to return to India in the future because of this.

What are my options here please (The company have ABTA cover, we booked using a visa credit card, we have holiday insurance)

Regard and Thanks in advance

Mike + 1
 
Seems to me you have some claim against the travel company and are entitled to compensation from the Airline for delays/cancellations.
 
Sounds as if it's totally down to the travel agent, that's what they're paid for.

My OH used to be a travel agent and had a few stressful days when flights were changed but i can only remember one which was her fault and she fessed up and got it sorted well enough to keep the customer.

Packed up after a few episodes where she spent a lot of time sorting complex itineraries only for the client to book online for £50 less.

You deserve a big credit / refund.
 
Cav said:
Seems to me you have some claim against the travel company and are entitled to compensation from the Airline for delays/cancellations.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit vague about the details but airlines usually have some get out clause. Iirc if any change is well in advance you have options but if the imposed change is too late they have obligations. Had three changes to my BA flights last year but they were all in good time.
 
Hi Mike,
I am peeved for you having what sounds like a fabulous time tarnished by situations out of your control. I will ask The Wife about your predicament and see if she has owt useful to say as she has loads of experience with travel compared to me.

@1964meb edit - ABTA first, if you used a credit card to pay for the holiday, then claim via that route/credit card company.
 
EU compensation for flight delays only applies if the carrier is a U.K./EU based airline and if the flight originated from EU/UK.
So Saudi airlines flying from India won’t be covered.
 
The travel agent screwed up and should be on the hook for a partial refund. Learn the lesson and check all your travel (and accommodation) arrangements before you depart next time. I do this to the point of contacting accommodation directly to confirm where I've booked though third parties.

Your wife's response is bizarre. In what way was any of this India's doing? Not wanting to use the same travel agent again would be more understandable! Oh, and get direct flights, the more connections you have the more risk you introduce.
 
having flown in and out of India, 50+ times, with itineraries created by agents - this strikes me as a travel agent curated package, perhaps using local agents on the ground. The travel agent has clearly failed to understand the connections between the local tour timings and flights. Flying via KSA strikes me as the travel agent taking the cheapest option. Also I do not understand the 5 hours Jaipur to Delhi. I always flew the 55min journey.

Anyway this is down to the travel agent.

PS - i flew many places (50-60 flights per year) over about 12 years and i can say Saudi Arabian Airlines is one of the worst airlines I have flown on - Inc Aeroflot, Biman, PIA, Nigerian........
 
Having travelled extensively on business I learned to double check every aspect of any itinerary set up by third parties very quickly.

It seems your initial package had one error, the flight out of Delhi should have been on the Sunday not the Saturday and the inconsistency of departure and arrival dates clearly shows it's an error. The problem then seems to have been badly handled by the travel agent but essentially it's their fault you lost a day of holiday so some compensation ought to be due.

The horror story of the flights they then actually booked you onto is a separate issue and may well be a knock on effect of the flooding in Dubai which will have affected most operators in the general vicinity. You won't be able to pin that on the agent so it's down to whatever you can get out of the airlines and travel insurance.
 
colasblue said:
Having travelled extensively on business I learned to double check every aspect of any itinerary set up by third parties very quickly.

It seems your initial package had one error, the flight out of Delhi should have been on the Sunday not the Saturday and the inconsistency of departure and arrival dates clearly shows it's an error. The problem then seems to have been badly handled by the travel agent but essentially it's their fault you lost a day of holiday so some compensation ought to be due.

The horror story of the flights they then actually booked you onto is a separate issue and may well be a knock on effect of the flooding in Dubai which will have affected most operators in the general vicinity. You won't be able to pin that on the agent so it's down to whatever you can get out of the airlines and travel insurance.
Click to expand...

yes my thoughts as well - multi flight itineraries are a pain. I always flew direct to Delhi, but it can add to the cost significantly.
 
colasblue said:
Having travelled extensively on business I learned to double check every aspect of any itinerary set up by third parties very quickly.
Click to expand...

Definitely this, i have a friend who recently had a major holiday booked which required a visa.

He did the visa himself and found he'd got one digit of the passport number wrong, got to check in desk and holiday was over.
 
I made the mistake of flying out of Delhi via Dubai on Emirates once. Never again. The planes used by Emirates on their India runs are absolute "sardine machines". Most uncomfortable flight ever!

Also once I got there I had to go through immigration and my passport wouldn't work the E-gate so I had to go through with the herd at the back. 3 hours later ....
 
colasblue said:
I made the mistake of flying out of Delhi via Dubai on Emirates once. Never again. The planes used by Emirates on their India runs are absolute "sardine machines". Most uncomfortable flight ever!

Also once I got there I had to go through immigration and my passport wouldn't work the E-gate so I had to go through with the herd at the back. 3 hours later ....
Click to expand...

did you turn left? I always found it ok
 
I'm afraid so! Fooled by the quality of economy class on their A380's and Universities won't pay for business class.

Could have got away with Virgin premium economy direct.
 
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