Best flat-beds 24/11/2007
Dear Alex,
I need to fly business class between London and Tokyo and would like to know who has the best flat-beds on offer. Also what is available if I were to fly Paris-Tokyo instead?
Paul Westlake, London, UK
Compensation rights? 24/11/2007
Dear Alex,
Three passengers including myself were scheduled to fly economy class Abu Dhabi-London with Etihad in September with EY11 at 0255. We were to return two days later with EY18 at 2120. When we reached the airport the flight was full and we were denied boarding. Etihad rebooked us on the next flight at 1330 but couldn’t extend our stay in London by a day because the return flights (on the later date) were also full.
Etihad gave us US$300 compensation and a hotel stay in Abu Dhabi. However I feel that (because of our reduced time in London) I lost two appointments and incurred extra business costs. What are my rights for compensation according to the Montreal Convention?
Sanjay Amarnani, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Intelligent booking 24/11/2007
Dear Alex,
Your October issue (BTE) carried an article entitled “20 ways to be a smart traveller” with cost-saving tips. Please excuse my stupidity but what are back-to-back tickets (tip seven) and how do I book them? Also, tip eight recommends starting your journey in mainland Europe rather than the UK, so how can I benefit from using Amsterdam to fly to Cairns, Brisbane or Sydney?
Our local airport is Humberside and fares to Australia via Amsterdam [Humberside to Amsterdam with KLM is the airport’s sole international route] are very expensive, so we always fly from London for our regular trips to that country.
Sue Taylor, Hull, UK
Claiming missing miles 11/10/2007
Dear Alex,
In these days of e-ticketing, why do airlines still insist on seeing copies of boarding passes and tickets when granting a retrospective credit for missing miles? Don’t the airlines keep a record in their system?
Allan Damian, Pasig City, Philippines
Missed connections 11/10/2007
Dear Alex,
Last April my wife and I flew first class on QF93 from Melbourne to Los Angeles. On arrival we were to connect on to American Airlines to San Juan (where we were going to join a cruise) via Dallas.
We had allowed two and a half hours to make the transfer through Los Angeles’ T4. But when our Qantas flight berthed in T4 we were delayed, as first class passengers received no disembarkation priority.
Unfortunately, Qantas flight QF107 from Sydney, bound for New York, had just arrived before us. It was an hour late, so there were over 700 passengers awaiting immigration clearance.
With only four immigration officers on duty there was a very long queue. And QF107 passengers, because their flight was delayed and departure was imminent, were taken to the head of the queue.
After queuing for an hour we had actually gone backwards in line. After a wait of 90 minutes I alerted American ground staff to our predicament but was politely told to wait and “don’t be concerned as we have plenty of connections to San Juan”.
In the end it took us two hours to be processed, only to be told that we had missed the luggage check-in deadline by five minutes. Even worse was the news that there were no further connections that day to San Juan, so we would have to stay overnight in Los Angeles at our own expense.
I queried whether it should be an American cost as we had checked into the American flights at Melbourne and held boarding passes. I thought this was one of the good things about the Oneworld alliance [both Qantas and American are Oneworld members].
In the end, we flew to San Juan the following day and made our cruise-line connection in time – but not without cost and worries on our part.
Who is responsible when something like this happens? Should the accommodation be at my cost or does American have a responsibility?
Peter Simpson, Melbourne, Australia
