Airline Forces Passengers to Cough up $31k in Fuel Money
Nov 17, 2011, 4:05 pm
#1
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Airline Forces Passengers to Cough up $31k in Fuel Money
Hahaha, I wonder what could have happened on this flight, really! Wonder if the this was a dumped fare with no YQ.
http://consumerist.com/2011/11/airli...off-plane.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/11/airli...off-plane.html
Nov 17, 2011, 9:06 pm
#4
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Traveling the World
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Is this a hoax?
Man you can be sure I would be calling my lawyer if this happened to me. Wow $31,000 for fuel taxes and I thought it was part of my ticket. It seems like airlines in America are cheaper than paying this expensive fuel surcharge. It would have been cheaper to take the train or drive.
Nov 17, 2011, 11:02 pm
#5
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Oh, it's real all right
I'm worried the major carriers will pounce on this incredible money-making opportunity. Gander will once again become a waystation across the Atlantic!
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/17/travel...ash/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/17/travel...ash/index.html
Nov 18, 2011, 7:00 am
#7
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Who was thinking this would be a Kingfisher flight? 
Given this sounds like some kind of charter arrangement between travel agent(s) and a charter operator and perhaps even a charter sub-contracted operator, something like this happening can't have been unique and/or won't be unique.
Given most Indians need a visa for travel in the Schengen zone but this flight was headed to the UK, perhaps taking a bus or other surface transport may not have been much of an option at least in terms of timeliness.
Given this sounds like some kind of charter arrangement between travel agent(s) and a charter operator and perhaps even a charter sub-contracted operator, something like this happening can't have been unique and/or won't be unique.
Given most Indians need a visa for travel in the Schengen zone but this flight was headed to the UK, perhaps taking a bus or other surface transport may not have been much of an option at least in terms of timeliness.
Last edited by GUWonder; Nov 18, 2011 at 7:14 am
Nov 18, 2011, 7:57 am
#8
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Mint Airways (yes, that's right) - some Spanish charter outfit with a couple of clapped-out 757s.
http://www.airplane-pictures.net/ima.../11/105378.jpg
http://www.airplane-pictures.net/ima.../11/105378.jpg
Nov 18, 2011, 9:30 am
#9
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The airline has apologized and said they will refund whatever people paid.
Wonder if they got receipts?
They are also working to get everybody back home since they suspended their flights for them.
Wonder if they got receipts?
They are also working to get everybody back home since they suspended their flights for them.
Nov 18, 2011, 11:13 am
#10
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Once they let you on the plane, their dispute with the travel agent should be the Airline's own issue.
This is a great example of a company fighting over $30,000 and getting several million dollars worth of bad publicity for themselves.
Does the airline have a stock we can sell short, perhaps?
This is a great example of a company fighting over $30,000 and getting several million dollars worth of bad publicity for themselves.
Does the airline have a stock we can sell short, perhaps?
Nov 18, 2011, 2:57 pm
#11
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I'm surprised the pax went along with it. I'm sure there are numerous travel options between Vienna and Birmingham - it's not like neither of them are small cities not served by commercial aviation or rail. I would've told the airline to shove it and flown on a different airline or taken a train, even if it cost me more. It's the principle of the thing.
Nov 18, 2011, 5:27 pm
#12
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I'm surprised the pax went along with it. I'm sure there are numerous travel options between Vienna and Birmingham - it's not like neither of them are small cities not served by commercial aviation or rail. I would've told the airline to shove it and flown on a different airline or taken a train, even if it cost me more. It's the principle of the thing.
This airline just added an additional twist to nab additional funds.
Any airline Charter or regularly scheduled who does this should face fines and penalties.
Nov 18, 2011, 7:10 pm
#13
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I'm surprised the pax went along with it. I'm sure there are numerous travel options between Vienna and Birmingham - it's not like neither of them are small cities not served by commercial aviation or rail. I would've told the airline to shove it and flown on a different airline or taken a train, even if it cost me more. It's the principle of the thing.
I would have insisted to swipe my cc.. and get it reversed back home anyways..
Nov 18, 2011, 7:43 pm
#14
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As most of the stories have reported, they were not accepting credit cards, it had to be cash. If you didn't come up with the cash, they would have left you there and the other passengers would have had to cough up more. They waited six hours for people who insisted on credit cards to go to a cash machine and find the cash.
Credit cards were not an option in this case.
So you would have been stuck in Vienna.
Credit cards were not an option in this case.
So you would have been stuck in Vienna.
Nov 19, 2011, 5:38 am
#15
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As someone in the comments of the linked site pointed out, there was actually an Onion article about this a while back. Once again, The Onion turns out to be forecasting the real world!