Linda and Michael Birnie are on cloud nine after Raw Deal secured them a refund of more than £4,500 from an airline after a trip to Australia was thrown into disarray just hours before they were due to depart.
In November 2021, the couple booked return flights from Aberdeen to Sydney via Singapore with British Airways (BA). The holiday was to visit their son who they hadn’t seen for three years and a new grandson they had yet to meet.
The flights cost just over £3,000 and they paid using a combination of air miles, travel vouchers and cash.
“I decided to book on the phone directly with BA as I felt I would benefit from their professional help,” said Linda, from Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
However, the combination of different payment methods confused matters when a problem arose with their booking at the check-in desk at Aberdeen Airport. “I had already asked the woman who took the original booking if this could cause any issues as I wanted our luggage to go all the way through from Aberdeen to Sydney and she said this would not be a problem. I went ahead and booked the flights to Singapore via Heathrow and paid with the vouchers and air miles.”
The agent then transferred Linda to one of her colleagues to book the onward return flights from Singapore.
“I told her that I needed to connect with the flights I had just booked with my vouchers,” Linda explained. “I gave her the flight number from Heathrow.
“I did not mention baggage in this part of the call as I had already been told by the first agent the luggage would go straight through to Sydney and as the fare included baggage, I didn’t see the need to ask again.”
However, problems arose when the couple turned up at Aberdeen Airport to check in.
“A member of staff tried to check us in but had no success,” said Linda. “She could not understand what was wrong but we were then told there was a problem and we would not be able to travel. The reason we were given was that the booking had been made with not enough time to collect our luggage in Singapore and re-check in, but I pointed out it was the same plane for both parts of the journey.”
The couple made a snap decision to rebook at an extra cost of £4,477. “It meant our economy flights had now cost us £7,638 but we were going to visit our son so just paid the money thinking we would be reimbursed by BA when we got back.”
However, Linda, 62, said BA later told her that she hadn’t given them enough information when she had made the original booking and said she had not mentioned baggage – therefore, they were not responsible.
The London-based Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution did not work, so they wrote to Raw Deal for advice and help.
We contacted the airline and asked it to investigate. The good news is that BA decided to reverse its decision and refund the couple £4,642. BA said: “Having reviewed the details, we’ve been in contact with the customer to offer reimbursement for the additional costs incurred as a gesture of goodwill.”
Linda, a retired school science technician, said: “We are over the moon. We were getting nowhere with this on our own.”
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