Getting charged for a stopover

Old Feb 18, 2019, 7:44 am
  #16  
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Originally Posted by Often1
If you need to do it, pay it and then, after the ticket is completed, take it up with your card issuer (bank) and whatever you have locally for trading standards (you haven't provided a location so don't know where you are). Fighting now won't net you anything and fighting while you the ticket is "live" risks stranding you somewhere.
Thanks for the advice. It helped because I had questioned if that might be an option. If gave me the confidence to call back and get my ticket sorted. I stated clearly that I was happy to pay it under protest since my travel is in 2 days and I just needed the flight booked! Those words seemed to have a magic power though. Suddenly the agent spoke to the supervisor and they decided to waiver the fee!
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Old Feb 18, 2019, 6:28 pm
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by Alisonnoonan
Yes I had already checked if saver seats were available before I first called so was fully expecting to just pay the 100 date change fee and be on my way
Within Saver there are 4 groups - N, Q, L and T. I wonder if perhaps there was no availablity within the fare group of the original ticket, meaning a change of booking code and the associated price difference?
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 9:31 am
  #18  
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I have an interesting update. I called my credit card company today to ask about this situation.
On 4 separate phone calls Emirates had refused to change my flight unless I paid the unfair stopover fee. They had told me that flights were available within my fare class. Despite the fact they eventually wavered this unfair charge I was told incorrect information and the delay ended up in my chosen flights selling out and me having to travel a day earlier. My credit card provider has recommended me to dispute the cost of the whole flight. They were in breach of contract in what they did.
First off I have to ask Emirates for a refund. If they refuse my credit card provider will open a dispute.
I am going to follow this advice.
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 9:47 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by Alisonnoonan
I have an interesting update. I called my credit card company today to ask about this situation.
On 4 separate phone calls Emirates had refused to change my flight unless I paid the unfair stopover fee. They had told me that flights were available within my fare class. Despite the fact they eventually wavered this unfair charge I was told incorrect information and the delay ended up in my chosen flights selling out and me having to travel a day earlier. My credit card provider has recommended me to dispute the cost of the whole flight. They were in breach of contract in what they did.
First off I have to ask Emirates for a refund. If they refuse my credit card provider will open a dispute.
I am going to follow this advice.
I think that's unethical and it saddens me to see how American credit cards allow consumers to do this. You travelled didn't you? Do you genuinely believe you are owed the entire trip for free just because of that inconvenience? I'm not saying EK is in the right and shouldn't offer some gesture of goodwill, though I don't see that happening. But a dispute of the full amount feels like theft and/or fraud to me (even though it likely doesn't meet the technical definitions thereof)
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 12:14 pm
  #20  
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Originally Posted by skywardhunter
I think that's unethical and it saddens me to see how American credit cards allow consumers to do this. You travelled didn't you? Do you genuinely believe you are owed the entire trip for free just because of that inconvenience? I'm not saying EK is in the right and shouldn't offer some gesture of goodwill, though I don't see that happening. But a dispute of the full amount feels like theft and/or fraud to me (even though it likely doesn't meet the technical definitions thereof)
It's not an American credit card.
I travelled, but I had to go a day early because by the time I had sorted out the mess they had created they had sold out of the fare class on my chosen date and I incurred additional expenses as a result. They caused massive inconvenience and stress. It is not unethical to take action when a company is in breach of contract. I was more inclined to spend 400 on a new flight with another airline than to let them cheat me of 100.
I've emailed them and asked if they would like to call me and put things right because my only other option is taking this action.
5 separate agents all gave wrong information and I felt like they had me over a barrel.
No I don't believe I am owed the trip for free. I can't dispute a partial amount with my credit card.
All I want is fair treatment, but sadly this has not been offered at any point and I've had enough dealings with Emirates to understand they are unlikely to fix the problem.
Even you don't see Emirates offering a gesture of goodwill. Herein lies the problem. If Emirates showed concern for their customers and showed even any inclination to put things right when their staff mess up I wouldn't be in this dilemna.
But I'm not willing to have them cause this stress and expense to me and not even attempt to put it right when their agents were in breach of my fare rules so I will take this course of action unless they offer an alternative.
Judge me if you want, but you're not qualified.

Last edited by Alisonnoonan; Mar 18, 2019 at 12:25 pm Reason: typo
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 12:54 pm
  #21  
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If you do go down the chargeback route, expect your Skywards points and status to disappear.
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 2:14 pm
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by Alisonnoonan
It's not an American credit card.
I travelled, but I had to go a day early because by the time I had sorted out the mess they had created they had sold out of the fare class on my chosen date and I incurred additional expenses as a result. They caused massive inconvenience and stress. It is not unethical to take action when a company is in breach of contract. I was more inclined to spend 400 on a new flight with another airline than to let them cheat me of 100.
I've emailed them and asked if they would like to call me and put things right because my only other option is taking this action.
5 separate agents all gave wrong information and I felt like they had me over a barrel.
No I don't believe I am owed the trip for free. I can't dispute a partial amount with my credit card.
All I want is fair treatment, but sadly this has not been offered at any point and I've had enough dealings with Emirates to understand they are unlikely to fix the problem.
Even you don't see Emirates offering a gesture of goodwill. Herein lies the problem. If Emirates showed concern for their customers and showed even any inclination to put things right when their staff mess up I wouldn't be in this dilemna.
But I'm not willing to have them cause this stress and expense to me and not even attempt to put it right when their agents were in breach of my fare rules so I will take this course of action unless they offer an alternative.
Judge me if you want, but you're not qualified.
As I said, EK isn't totally right here. That being said, I've found the same issue last week pricing up an itinerary and I suspect it's a discrepancy between the GDS auto-pricing vs human readable fare rules.
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Old Mar 18, 2019, 2:46 pm
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by Alisonnoonan
I have an interesting update. I called my credit card company today to ask about this situation.
On 4 separate phone calls Emirates had refused to change my flight unless I paid the unfair stopover fee. They had told me that flights were available within my fare class. Despite the fact they eventually wavered this unfair charge I was told incorrect information and the delay ended up in my chosen flights selling out and me having to travel a day earlier. My credit card provider has recommended me to dispute the cost of the whole flight. They were in breach of contract in what they did.
First off I have to ask Emirates for a refund. If they refuse my credit card provider will open a dispute.
I am going to follow this advice.
Forgive my ignorance but how are EK in breach of contract for your requested flight selling out. As I see it,
OP purchased a ticket from A-C with a transit through B, OP wished to change the contract and wished to exercute a change however a dispute existed on the terms which was resolved however the alternative flight which was not confirmed had become sold out. While the OP may feel hard done, the availibility is subject to change and no confirmed ticket was issued for the requested flight, therefore no breach exists. The OP was able to change flights without charge unless we are missing information, the OP could have flown a fay later but it was the OP's choice to select the alternate flight. I would not be supprised if a refund is issued by the card provider that EK decide to the OP on a No Fly List.
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Old Mar 19, 2019, 12:20 am
  #24  
 
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OP. You never responded to my query in post 17. Do you think that could be causing Emirates to have a different view from you?

Within Saver there are 4 groups - N, Q, L and T. I wonder if perhaps there was no availablity within the fare group of the original ticket, meaning a change of booking code and the associated price difference?
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Old Mar 19, 2019, 7:13 am
  #25  
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They told me that fares within my fare class were available and that there was no fare difference.
And anyway the terms and conditions of my original ticket would stand by law. If they had told me my fare class wasn't available that is a different story and would be my tough luck.
The terms and conditions at the time I bought the ticket said that there was a free stopover allowed in each direction and that a date change would cost 100 GBP.
They wanted 100 date change, 100 stopover fee plus stopover tax (around 20).
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Old Mar 19, 2019, 7:18 am
  #26  
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You've misunderstood. They are in breach of contract for refusing to let me swap my date according to my original ticket T&Cs. There was availability within my fare code for the 100 date change fee + stopover tax without any fare difference. This was clearly stated.
They were insisting on adding 100 stopover fee but my T&Cs said a free stopover was permitted in each direction.
I studied contract law at university. This is a breach of contract.
I hadn't experienced this before but I know in the future that it is better to book immediately and state that you are paying the extra charge they added "under protest" because that legally means you're not accepting the unfair charge they added and yes you can claim that back.

Last edited by Alisonnoonan; Apr 19, 2019 at 4:49 am
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Old Mar 19, 2019, 7:20 am
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by Alisonnoonan
You've misunderstood. They are in breach of contract for refusing to let me swap my date according to my original ticket T&Cs. There was availability within my fare code for the 100 date change fee + stopover tax without any fare difference. This was clearly stated.
They were insisting on adding 100 stopover fee but my T&Cs said a free stopover was permitted in each direction.
I studied contract law at university. This is a breach of contract. They were trying to extort an extra charge.
I hadn't experienced this before but I know in the future that it is better to book immediately and state that you are paying the extra charge they added "under protest" because that legally means you're not accepting the unfair charge they added and yes you can claim that back.
Many people have studied contract law at university, it's a pretty basic course included in most commerce degrees (hey ho, I studied it, too!). There's a difference between good and bad faith, intent matters, so be cautious throwing around such terms without anything other than circumstantial evidence.
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Old Mar 19, 2019, 3:04 pm
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by Alisonnoonan
They told me that fares within my fare class were available and that there was no fare difference.
And anyway the terms and conditions of my original ticket would stand by law. If they had told me my fare class wasn't available that is a different story and would be my tough luck.
The terms and conditions at the time I bought the ticket said that there was a free stopover allowed in each direction and that a date change would cost 100 GBP.
They wanted 100 date change, 100 stopover fee plus stopover tax (around 20).
Without being disrespectful, people who have the slightest clue about contract law make a mockery of the trade. "Contract Law" was all embedded into the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to simplify the law, The original terms and contract agreed to provide you a seat on A to C though B at specific times which you and EK accepted. EK's terms allowed you to make a change to the flight plan subject to it's terms. You wished to have a stop over for whatever reason EK advised a charge was applicable, the terms were not clear, you have Alleged that the seats were availible but did not request they were put on hold other otherwise. In either case you did not make the change and EK's terms did not guarantee you the change, infact EK's tems state

THE CARRIER SHALL LIMIT THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED ON ANY ONE FLIGHT AT FARES GOVERNED BY THIS RULE AND SUCH FARES WILL NOT NECESSARILY BE AVAILABLE ON ALL FLIGHTS. THE NUMBER OF SEATS WHICH THE CARRIER SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE ON A GIVEN FLIGHT WILL BE DETERMINED BY THE CARRIERS BEST JUDGMENT
Therefore its possible the allocation could disapear as you spoke, just like reward slots open and close. Good luck trying to take this to court and be ready for the bank to say EK stated your original ticket was X and you changed it to Y, changes were made by the OP and unless you can prove availibility existed you have no chance, even if you could it makes little differance to the fact that an error was made and you opted for another date and time. If you had had to pay for that change or the original requested, you might have had a claim for the excess paid.
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Old Mar 20, 2019, 8:46 am
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by skywardhunter
Good result and agreed the rules aren't ambiguous, at least you got there eventually. How long were the hold times? One thing that makes calling EK less of a pain is relatively no hold times in my experience (but status makes a difference there so I'm biased). I generally use ExpertFlyer to ascertain the same fare class is available before calling, the online changes thing has long been an issue which I think we'd all like to see fixed
How do you know your booking class? I couldnt figure out from the ticket printout and call centre doesnt want to give it to you!
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Old Mar 20, 2019, 8:53 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by Flywiz


How do you know your booking class? I couldnt figure out from the ticket printout and call centre doesnt want to give it to you!
Not sure why the call centre wouldn't want to give it to you, but on your e-ticket if you see the fare consteuconstand the fare basis (I think it's 8 digits) the 1st letter is usually the booking class, e.g. KLXPSSZA (made it up, but that's roughly what it would look like .That's booking code K, a Y Flex fare)
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