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AIBU?

..to wonder if I can claim for any of this holiday saga?

66 replies

KnowBetterDoBetter · 06/12/2019 18:45

Very long, apologies. I think most, if not all of it, is relevant.

Me and 4yo DD went to Disneyland Paris from Monday - Wednesday. Booked shuttle bus transfers to and from CDG airport from a well known company.

Wednesday afternoon, we got on the shuttle bus to go back to the airport and make our way home. My ticket is taken and the barcode is scanned. Traffic is shocking due to the strikes going on in France, but we get there with 90 mins to spare (online check in and no bags to check). Pulling in, I see signs for 'Orly', which is the airport on the other side of Paris. I panic, nobody else speaks much English on the bus, but I work out that we are a long way from the airport I'm flying out on.

I ask the driver for the quickest way to get to CDG. She's very defensive, saying that she asked everyone if they were going to Orly. She didn't, but I said it did not matter right now and I just needed to get there. She directed me to a taxi, but they said it would take over 90 mins due to the traffic and would cost £££. My phone said the train was quicker. And if I was going to miss it any way, I didn't want to pay €100. So DD and I rushed for the train, helped by some lovely people... and made it there just in time for the plane taking off.

Easyjet said their next flight was tomorrow night, as they've cancelled 70 of their flights due to the strike, and they'd book us on it for €400. The closest hotel with rooms available online was 15km away, and would cost €200. I couldn't afford it.

There was a flight leaving at 7am the next morning, which I was trying to book, but I kept getting error messages. So I rushed to the terminal where the airline was (a fair old walk in the freezing cold with DD and our suitcases on a trolley), where they told me it was overbooked, hence why I couldn't book it.

So I paid €400 for a flight to Venice at 7am, with a connecting flight to Gatwick, getting us home at midday Thursday. We went back to the other terminal, and I got DD as comfy as I could on the chairs with all our coats, ready to check in early morning. I get this was maybe shitty parenting, but I was worried about getting taxis to far away hotels in a country where I can't speak the language, have next to no money, and I know there are a lot of riots and tension in France ATM. I was scared. Anyway, I stayed awake all night keeping an eye on her and our bags.

Went to check in at 5am the next morning, and was told that the airline had received no payment from the travel company, so had cancelled our booking. I called the travel company, who said they'd call me back in 10 minutes. I waited half an hour, searching for coach tickets. I found one, and called my DM to ask her to transfer me the money for a taxi and tickets.

The travel company then called back and said sorry for the inconvenience but they'd book us on a flight to Germany that night, and Gatwick tomorrow morning. I said no, I just wanted a refund but I didn't have much battery and couldn't talk right then. Asked them to call me that night when I was (hopefully) home.

Go to the coach station, the taxi ticking up by 10c every few seconds and the taxi driver chatting on WhatsApp the whole way. When we get there, the shutters are all down. I ask the taxi driver about it but he just drives off. Google translate tells me the signs say that it's shut from 5th - 8th due to the strikes.

I was at rock bottom. It's -2, we're stuck outside, I've just spent €60 on a taxi for no reason and will have to spend it again to get back to the airport. I see a family rush past with suitcases saying something about a bus. I rush with them, through a park, and find a coach station with a coach going to London at 10am. Got very cheap tickets (£19 each!) and finally get back to London at 5pm, and back home by 7pm - 27.5 hours since we left the hotel.

I've requested the refund from the travel company that did not pay for the second flight tickets - they say that very few people get refunds, and I'd hear in 30 days (). Can't see how they can't not give me a refund for those tickets, but what about all the other costs I've incurred?

The train tickets from Orly to CDG, food and drink at the airport and for the coach, the taxi to the coach station, the coach tickets, the train fare home from Gatwick, lost earnings from yesterday when I should have been at work etc. all adds up to at least £250. Including the flights is £650+.

I've spent more on this cock up than I did on the whole holiday (which I've been paying off monthly for a year). And I guess it all stems back to whether I should have asked whether the shuttle was going to my airport or not? I just thought that I had a ticket which was checked and scanned, there were no markings on the bus. I don't believe I'm at fault here.

And if I'm not, who should I be trying to claim this money from? Travel insurance, or the shuttle company? Do I have any chance.

Sorry for the length; I still feel absolutely shattered and have had the usual post-holiday stressful day at work with a full to bursting inbox, I owe my family so much money, feel so bad on my poor DD (who actually hardly moaned at all and was a little star throughout; I tried to make it a fucked up kind of 'adventure' for her) and I just wondered if I had any chance in recovering any of this, or if IABU and am at fault for it all.

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endofthelinefinally · 06/12/2019 18:50

All you can do is ring your insurers and ask.
I am so sorry your holiday was ruined. I think a lot of people have been caught by this strike and I understand it has been extended by a further 2 days.