andywaw

Here's an interesting case I found on the Internet.
A guy flew the outbound flight WAW-NCE on LOT last Wednesday with a carry on bag only, no check-in baggage. LOT claims he wasn't on that flight and cancelled his return flight the next day.
The guy has his boarding pass with his seat number on it but LOT says it won't help. I suspect the boarding pass wasn't properly scanned while boarding at the gate (what else might have gone wrong?).
I realize the boarding pass is not a solid proof of being on board but is there a way to win such case with an airline?

Tafflyer

Any other way of proving arrival at the destination would do it. Perhaps somebody picked up the passenger at the airport, perhaps a taxi or parking receipt or some other evidence you arrived faster that you could have if you didn’t fly.

In reality, I would expect any decent airline to take the passengers word for it if he checked in at the origin airport. If it was only an online check-in you may have to convince them but I believe EU law is heading in the direction of forcing airlines to honour only one leg of bookings anyway.

Carpacchio

So as of now, always take a pic of the inflight experience

YuropFlyer

Google Maps does have a timeline which will tell you where you've been. By default its imho switched on.

For travel, if's probably a good idea to switch it on even if you're otherwise not using it.

Obviously that's not a 200% proof and could be faked, but it's pretty solid especially if it shows "regular" behaviour/transportation before and after the flight beyond anything that could be attributed to pure GPS spoofing.

The_Bouncer

Google Maps Timeline screenshot?

Concerto

Is LOT a decent airline? This is not the first time I have heard of shenanigans and pure nonsense from them.

Tafflyer

Perhaps not. But I would most certainly challenge them on a call I recorded. If they do not yield then I would still try and check in as booked and buy a new ticket if check-in refused. Then comes the court case. If that’s the only way to get your rights these days, then let the lawyers earn some money too. Life is too short to waste time fighting these people.

Err..France

I had once this issue with Air France. I couldn't check online for a return flight CDG-TXL because I was labelled as "no show" for the outbond flight althought I did really fly with them from TXL. I submitted a complaint to Air France who granted me 250€ for denied boarding and refunded the flight segment I couldn't use. I just sent them the boarding pass of the inbound flight and it seems that they could retrieve some data proving that I wasn't a "Ghost" passenger (maybe the passenger manifest?). This seems to happen from time to time but is certainly not a pleasant experience.

andywaw

Thank you all for your feedback. Indeed, it's pure nonsense from LOT, and it seems they are really trying to make a few (or few, I'd say in this case) pennies instead of letting it go.
I asked the guy, he called LOT three times but didn't get anywhere.
I'm sure he's on the security cameras at the airport but I doubt he'd get help from airport officials.

hugolover

It's easy to see how this can happen. It seems from WAW there is ALWAYS a gate agent on the bus (sorry outside position in Helga talk) or the aircraft looking for pax xxx. Now that is someone who they suspect got through without properly scanning or more likely a pax checking in at the airport who has no-show. If you were not to hear, or not to reply to this call for your name, (which could be missed due to issues of pronunciation, language etc) you could be seated on the aircraft, fly to your destination and then be marked no-show.

I've never seen Basia use a tally counter like some carriers do to make sure the pax manifest tallies with the pax list meaning this is more likely on LOT.

If he just needs to prove he was in the airport, which would be sufficient reasonable doubt, then the barcode scanners at the security control will have captured his data. This data is probably retrievable under GDPR and as PPL are a government owned company that might be easier too? The records are good given I suspect they're used to charge carriers the departure and Fast Track fees. I suggest making a fuss with the airport and sending some emails, without a doubt this data can be pulled.

Did he use Uber, Free Now or another method with a receipt, airport parking? Lounge? Records kept and all create reasonable doubt he did not no show.

It might also be worth taking the security issue line, and raise this with the Straż Graniczna, the Airport Police, or even the French authorities because LOT let a pax fly for which they hold no data for within Schengen which works by good data collection on air carriers, data they have failed to complete. The penalties for this to the US could be quite high and in the times of Covid the authorities would surely like to have a complete pax list of who is coming into their country. I would go down this line if he gets no where with Basia, has to buy a new ticket and needs to wake her up from her crappy ways.

cfischer

oh yuck. Sounds like poor service from LOT. This does happen from time to time, but airlines generally are pretty good to fix this. Best chance might be the ticketing counter at NCE, because how the heck should he have gotten there otherwise

Concerto

Actually, I really feel like avoiding this airline 100% going forward. I suspect other state carriers, like Aeroflot, behave like this (I've heard that if the incoming flight is late and the pax misses the connection, then he has to pay to be rebooked, effectively a new ticket). I still stand by what I feel about all this, even though it goes against the fundamental spirit here of points collecting and enjoying travel: I would like to see all these abysmal airlines wiped out by this situation, so we could recommence completely anew with the whole air travel concept and drastically rethink how it should evolve from here, in a 21st century context and not a 1950s context.

hugolover

Apparently, LOT is slated to be shut down and restarted within weeks so you are unlikely to cross paths with LOT 1.0 maybe 2.0 will be better

I'd imagine most of the "I'll never fly xxx" stuff, unless their planes fall out of the sky, or flown into Mountains, most people will be happy to give them business when a decent fare comes along.

YuropFlyer

Avoiding state carriers will become close to impossible in the near-future, though.

Most if not all European carriers will only survive if they take huge amounts of state money (and usually, the state wants a proper stake into the airline for it)

Turkish is a state carrier, as are the 3 ME.

Most Asian carriers at least partially belong to the state as well.

And it's not like private carriers like in the US are known for their great service, either..

andywaw

I guess LOT assumes the passenger arrived at the WAW airport, checked in for his flight, got his boarding pass with his seat printed, went through the security control...
... and all of a sudden changed his mind, walked out of the airport and drove some 20 hrs non stop to Niece or perhaps enjoyed 25 hrs train ride with multiple connections.

Insane? I think LOT gives another meaning to logical assumptions.