Credit card conundrum 29/10/2009
Dear Alex,
Living in Europe but travelling frequently to Asia, I tried to book two return business class seats online with United Airlines from Ho Chi Minh to Hong Kong. However, I was unable to pay with a credit or charge card since United requires that passengers have a US billing address. Why should this be the case?
When in Vietnam, I tried to book with the Novotel in Nha Trang. But I can only get confirmation of a room provided I send over details of the credit card, plus photocopies of both sides of the card, and a signature via an unsecured site. Do you think this hotel has a crazy policy?
Do N Tran, Luxembourg
Airline independence 29/10/2009
Dear Alex,
Why have none of the four major Gulf airlines (Emirates, Etihad, Qatar and Gulf Air) or the two Taiwanese carriers (China Airlines and Eva Air) joined an alliance? I am a Star Alliance gold member and every few months a new carrier joins, but the ones I am really looking forward to never show up.
Gery Emonds, Bangkok
Luggage mix-up 29/10/2009
Dear Alex,
I flew into London Heathrow Terminal 5 last year and it’s probably no surprise to you that British Airways lost my luggage. My missing case was eventually found two months later, but rather than have BA return it to me in Manila, I suggested the airline send it to a relative in London. I had a trip planned to Europe in a couple of weeks’ time, so I would be able to bring it back with me.
BA doesn’t serve Manila, so I returned there from London with Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong. Cathay would not carry the extra suitcase free of charge, so I had to use 20,500 Marco Polo [Cathay’s frequent flyer programme] bonus miles to take it along. After I returned home, I thought BA would be able to refund Cathay’s bonus miles because the two carriers work closely with one another. But, after much correspondence, BA is only prepared to pay US$80 in compensation. Am I being unreasonable in asking for my miles back?
Helge Oliversen, Manila
No refund this time 29/10/2009
Dear Alex,
In August last year, I bought a British Airways first class ticket in A class [a promotional tariff code] from Mauritius to New York JFK via London.
In July, I was about to use the return portion when BA told me it no longer provided a first class cabin on the London-Mauritius sector, and suggested I fly business class on this leg (taking first class between New York and London) and accept that no refund was due. Is that correct?
Gool Santchurn, Mauritius
Driving demand 29/10/2009
Dear Alex,
I hired a Ford Galaxy [people carrier] from Hertz at London
Heathrow. Its mileage was high and it was covered in dents, but it worked okay.
The problem came when I had to extend the rental. It took four hours to do this, and during this time the vehicle could not be used as, technically, it was uninsured. Is this normal service for Hertz?
Chris Musitano, London
Ticket refunds 28/09/2009
Dear Alex,
I purchased a London-Zurich-Barcelona return excursion with Swiss for about £130, but could use only the outbound portion. I submitted the parts of the ticket I didn’t use to Swiss, expecting that at the very least the unused taxes and fees would be refunded. I did not realistically expect Swiss to refund the tariff element.
But Swiss refused any refund because in accordance with its conditions of carriage, “any calculation of the refund value must be based on the normal one-way fare for London-Zurich-Barcelona, which is £540”. Is this correct?
Peter Rejchrt, London
Restrictive FFP rules 28/09/2009
Dear Alex,
I am amazed that British Airways in the UK has been allowed to invent a set of ticketing rules and a mileage programme (or frequent flyer programme) that would never have been allowed to take off in the US.
I am a million-mile flyer with US carrier United and am used to paying change fees on low-fare nonrefundable tickets to upgrade before and after departure [on return or onward flights, for example].
But when I have flown with BA (paying both with cash, and part cash, part BA mileage) I have lost money when I wished to change because of BA’s restrictive rules. Such fleecing of customers would not be allowed at a major US carrier. Do you agree regulators should examine such sharp practices?
Peter Marshall, London
Bad timing 28/09/2009
My wife and I were recently booked on to Cathay Pacific’s flight CX548, departing Hong Kong at 0925 for Tokyo. We had checked in online a couple of days earlier. When we reached the airport we were told the flight [normally rostered for a 251- to 311-seat A330] had been cancelled because only 50 passengers were booked on to it. We were rebooked on to flight CX520, scheduled to leave 70 minutes later at 1035.
What I don’t understand is why Cathay is insensitive to its customers’ time commitments. We took time off from our busy schedule to have a nice break but were delayed because of insufficient passengers on the flight.
Cathay holds our phone numbers and we are both Diamond members [the highest tier in Cathay’s Marco Polo loyalty scheme], so I believe the airline should have contacted us the night before and put us on the earlier rather than the later flight.
We have written to the Marco Polo club many times and were finally offered 7,500 goodwill miles to compensate for the delay. What more can we do?
Billy Liew, Hong Kong
One-way or return? 28/08/2009
Dear Alex,
Heavy competition among airlines means a return ticket can often cost less than a one-way ticket. Until now, I believed you could purchase a return ticket and use only the outbound flight. Now I am informed by a travel agent in Japan that this isn’t possible for a Tokyo-London trip. The agent said the airline might later charge a penalty if the return leg hadn’t been used. Is this correct?
Michael Kurtz, Jakarta
Seat sale pricing 28/08/2009
Dear Alex,
On May 5, I purchased a £2,232 British Airways return business class ticket to fly from London to Vancouver in early July. At the time of booking, ba.com flashed the message “only two seats left at this price”. A week later, BA announced a summer sale and I found the same flights had been reduced to £1,949. Is this legal practice?
I later phoned BA to check the status of my flights and staff told me business class was “wide open” so that’s why the airline had decided to run a seat sale. Do EU passenger rights cover this eventuality? Could I challenge British Airways for a refund of the price difference?
Mike van Gerven, Riyadh
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