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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Trying to claim for flight tickets, AIBU?

8 replies

cockcrowfarm · 08/04/2020 15:21

First of all, am I being unreasonable and secondly what would you do next?

I am trying to get money back from flight tickets that I wasn’t able to take and so far it isn’t going well.

I live in China and bought tickets through an agent company to fly home to the UK via Hong Kong. Usually flying from Hong Kong is very simple from where I was living and
I could either take a bus or ferry there or a ferry directly to the airport. A few days after I bought the tickets Hong Kong introduced a 14 day quarantine to people coming from China. My flight was in a week so it wasn’t possible to do that even if I wanted to. I couldn’t travel immediately to Hong Kong because my baby’s passport hadn’t been issued yet but was due in the next few days (before the flight but after the boarder restrictions).

I heard conflicting information about taking the ferry directly to the airport so I first called the ticket agent company, they didn’t know. So I called the ferry at the airport and they told me yes, for now at least they were as long as the flight company had a counter in the terminal to check in and I must contact them. I contacted the flight company and they told me if I went to HK I would get quarantined. I repeated the question about ferry to the airport but they told me I would go to quarantine.

I am travelling with a young baby and luggage alone so I don’t want to take risks and tried to cancel the flight but the travel agent told me I wouldn’t get any money back. It would also cost me more money to change the flight and they advised me that wasn’’t worth doing. There has been some backwards and forwards that went nowhere so I have been in contact with the flight company directly and they also said they won’t compensate me.

The reason that I had to cancel was because the flight company’s customer service told me I would go into quarantine and couldn’t get to the airport but apart from that at that time I had mostly spoken with the travel agent.

Am I being unreasonable? It is a lot of money for me and I had to rebook more expensive flights from a less convenient city after that (same travel agent but different flight company). Now I have their decision and I want to appeal further, what would you advise I say and to which company do you think I should take it up with?

I hope I have given all the information, any advice or suggestions are much appreciated.

OP posts:
BringMeSunshineInMyLife · 08/04/2020 15:42

I dont think that many people will know about Chinese legislation?

In what country was the agent based? The applicable legislation will most likely be either where you are living or where the agent is based.

Travel insurance?

PleasantVille · 08/04/2020 15:46

I agree with bringme you'd do better to post on a Chinese consumer site imo or maybe re-post with a title that says you need Chinese law advice

BringMeSunshineInMyLife · 08/04/2020 15:49

You could try flyertalk- they have a board for each airline and loads of advice.

cockcrowfarm · 08/04/2020 15:59

The flight was with Emirates and trip.com (HK based company used worldwide) so not sure it is a specifically Chinese. I am just hoping for some advice just now, it is still in the early stages.
I can kind of see that it is my responsibility to get to the airport but under normal conditions that would have been no problem, in fact, I heard from a friend later that it was possible to take the ferry to the airport but I am still not sure if Emirates have a counter there so it may well have been possible. I would have gone if the agent hadn't told me me (and my baby) would end up in quarantine for two weeks. Am I being unreasonable to want to take it further or should I just accept it as bad luck?

OP posts:
cockcrowfarm · 08/04/2020 16:02

@MeSunshineInMyLife I didn't see flight talk, thanks

OP posts:
Soontobe60 · 08/04/2020 16:06

In a nutshell the flight from HK went ahead but you couldn’t get it because to do so would have meant Going from China to HK and having to be in isolation for 2 weeks. This isn’t an airline fault. You need to query it with your travel insurance provider.

cockcrowfarm · 08/04/2020 16:42

@Soontobe60 ok, thanks. When you put it like that is much more clear!

OP posts:
UpEarly8268 · 08/04/2020 17:12

Had flights cancelled by Emirates

The only advice they offered was to go to Embassy to arrange a rescue flight

They have not given a refund for the cancelled flight, but voucher to use in future

I don't think anyone is flying at the moment

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