Our consumer editor Alex McWhirter answers your travel queries.
Simply email editorial@businesstraveller.com. Please note that due to the popularity of Alex's advice, we cannot guarantee a reply to every query.
Alliances and codesharing 24/01/2012
Dear Alex,
My father recently booked, through a travel agent, a return ticket from Cape Town to Nice via Johannesburg and Frankfurt. He ended up with South African Airways (SAA) as far as Frankfurt then Lufthansa for all the other sectors on to Nice and back to Johannesburg. [The carriers codeshare on routes between South Africa and Europe.]
The problem came when we tried to check in online for the flight out of South Africa. Because the SAA flight carried a Lufthansa code, call centre staff said he couldn’t use flysaa.com. When we contacted Lufthansa for help, we were told we couldn’t use lufthansa.com for check in because it was an SAA-operated flight.
I thought the idea of alliances and codesharing was to make travel easier. Or am I wrong?
David Settle, Cape Town
First or business? 24/01/2012
Dear Alex,
Last October I flew from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing with Air China. The plane was a B777-300ER, which, according to the display on seatplans.com [Business Traveller’s sister website], is configured for three classes – first, business and economy.
Even though I had purchased a first class ticket I occupied seat 15A, which I believe to be business class because the seating was six across, 2-2-2. When I asked the cabin crew if it really was first class, they informed me that this particular aircraft was not equipped with regular first class. I was told the plane’s first class was “super first class”. Can you explain what’s going on?
Ulrich Schade, Singapore
Refund refused 26/11/2011
Dear Alex,
Earlier this year I bought a return business class ticket with American Airlines to fly Bahrain-London-Miami-San Juan. The total online cost was £3,000. [Note: Some of these flights are operated by British Airways under a codeshare arrangement.]
I had to cancel the trip owing to the political situation in Bahrain at the time. But when I applied online for a refund, it was blocked by a proviso that the ticket was non-refundable.
I cannot believe an airline can walk away with your money when you have a valid reason to cancel. It is not as if I had booked with a budget or low-cost carrier. What recourse do I have?
Colin Clarke, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Thai Airways seating upgrade 26/11/2011
Dear Alex,
Any news on when Thai Airways will upgrade the business class seating on the A340-500 that plies the Bangkok-Los Angeles route? The seat pads are quite worn down and not easy to sleep on anymore.
Ken Bechtel, Pasadena, California
East Coast loyalty scheme 21/11/2011
Dear Alex,
I am a frequent rail traveller in first class on East Coast, travelling weekly, if not more, from Yorkshire to London. East Coast has introduced a new loyalty scheme called Rewards. For every £1 spent you earn one point – or one and a half if you travel first class.
The points are redeemed on free tickets. However, I now learn that only tickets purchased through the website earn points. And since my tickets are bought through a travel manager at our company in Yorkshire, I am unable to qualify. Have you heard of a loyalty programme like this one that refuses to reward its highest spending and most loyal members?
Name and address supplied
Excess damage 21/11/2011
Dear Alex,
Last December, I rented a car from Thrifty (Australia) at Adelaide airport. Before leaving the UK, I had taken out a 60-day worldwide excess policy through insurance4carhire.com. Included in this firm’s helpful tips was to “decline the car rental company’s excess at the counter”.
Unfortunately, a week into the trip I reversed my Thrifty hire car into another parked vehicle. It caused AU$150 [£98] of damage to the Thrifty vehicle but more severe damage of AU$1,500 [£975] to the other car.
Thrifty promptly charged my credit card with AU$1,900 [£1,235] including taxes. Believing I was fully insured, I had no quibble with that at the time. But I now find the UK insurance firm will pay only for the damage to the Thrifty vehicle, which means I am more than £1,100 out of pocket.
Insurance4carhire says that all car hire firms have Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance so I should not have had to pay Thrifty for the other vehicle’s damage. But Thrifty maintains that its CTP insurance applies only to personal injury, not vehicle damage. What should I have done to avoid this situation?
Leslie More, Peebles, Scotland
Royal Brunei kangaroo route 21/11/2011
Dear Alex,
Why is Royal Brunei cutting back on the kangaroo route? It serves Brisbane, Perth and Auckland and was a favourite carrier of mine on account of its good prices. Now I understand it will cease all of these destinations from the end of October, leaving only Melbourne.
Brad Simons, London
Missed connection 21/11/2011
Dear Alex,
My partner and I recently came back from a trip to India. On our return we booked a Kingfisher flight (using a separate ticket) out of Goa to Mumbai – from there we were to connect with Emirates’ late-night flight to Dubai and Johannesburg. We allowed 4.5 hours to make the domestic-international transfer at Mumbai.
Two days before our Kingfisher flight from Goa, the airline emailed me to say that the flight had been rescheduled to depart 80 minutes later. We weren’t unduly worried because we still believed there was adequate time to make the connection.
On the day of travel, Kingfisher check-in staff told us that the flight was delayed [beyond the revised departure time] by 65 minutes. We were assured we still had sufficient time for our transfer. An alternative but earlier Jet Airways flight, which would have provided an earlier arrival into Mumbai, was fully booked. To cap it all, as we proceeded through the security checks we discovered that our Kingfisher service had been delayed by a further 30 minutes.
We reached the Emirates check-in desks at Mumbai 50 minutes before departure [Emirates has a 90-minute check-in deadline] but were turned away and told to telephone a call centre. The Emirates duty manager would not help us. The call centre staff charged us more than US$1,000 to change our tickets to a flight the next day and we spent the night in the airport terminal.
Although I have been a gold member of Skywards for many years, it seemingly meant nothing. Do I have any recourse with either Kingfisher or Emirates?
Greg White, Johannesburg
Aircraft on SAA flights 21/11/2011
Dear Alex,
I have a problem with South African Airways (SAA) – it treats its passengers from airports other than Johannesburg as if they don’t deserve its business. When I departed Cape Town for London in May, I was shocked to see an ancient B747 being used. The plane was so old it had no AVOD [audio-video on-demand] and there were no seat-back monitors. For entertainment, each cabin had two Stone Age monitors hanging from the ceiling.
Because of this, most people were bored to tears. Nobody could watch the single film playing on repeat so people chatted and walked listlessly up and down the aisles. Those who wanted to sleep simply couldn’t do so.
By contrast, all SAA flights leaving Johannesburg for London use new Airbuses. I realise SAA is not a big player on the world stage, but for us people living in Cape Town, it is a snub by our government-owned airline. Do you agree?
Sang Fung, Cape Town
Redeeming features 21/11/2011
Dear Alex,
I am a 1K member (the highest tier) of United’s Mileage Plus frequent flyer scheme. Last December I took my wife and daughter in business class using Mileage Plus miles for a trip around Asia with stops in Shanghai, Bangkok, Denpasar in Bali, and Tokyo. We took United across the Pacific and used Thai Airways for the regional sectors. [Both carriers are Star Alliance members.]
Before we left home, United was unable to obtain confirmation from Thai that our flights would be in business class. Instead, we were instructed to explain the situation and request business class each time we checked in for a Thai flight. This became an arduous process.
We only managed to secure business class on a single Thai flight [between Bangkok and Denpasar] and then only thanks to a proactive Thai gate manager at Bangkok.
I could understand the problem if business class was going to be full but on the Thai flights where we sat in economy class, we saw that the business cabin was either fairly or completely empty.
I reported the problems we had to both carriers after returning home. United attended to my complaint favourably but Thai will not respond. Why was there a problem with Thai?
Migara de Silva, Virginia
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