The Travel Department , Aer Lingus and British Airways :(

M

mikedublin

Registered User
Messages
13
Hi

I would be very grateful if anyone could give me any advice or suggestions on what I can do about what has happened as my Christmas holidays have been totally ruined.

I was due to go on a holiday yesterday on a tour to China booked with "The Travel Department" and it was due to start yesterday with a flight from Dublin to London,and then a conecting flight from London to Beijing.

There was me and 4 other passengers, and we all had checked in on time and everything, and our Aer Lingus flight was due to leave at 12.10 yesterday afternoon. The connecting flight with British Airways was due to leave at 4.30 (we even had our boarding passes and all). The Aer Lingus flight was delayed - first by a half an hour, then an hour, and we finally took off at 3.

We received texts before we left from The Travel Department saying they were montitoring the flights and to check in as normal for the 12.10 flight.

Anyway we landed in London, about 4 and as soon as we arrived the Travel Department were calling and texting us to say we had missed the connecting flight, and to come back to Ireland.

(so no option was given to us to book onto another flight to Beijing, or re-route to get there somewhere). So the whole trip has been cancelled.

British Airways and Aer Lingus at London Heathrow gave us all different information but in the end no-body would re-book us onto another flight.

So we have all ended up back in Dublin with no holiday at all

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions ? I thought airlines would work together to re-book passengers onto the next flight if a connection was missed.
 
It's up to The Travel Department to sort you out. Why not E-mail them and ask them what options they are offerring you.
Your problem is not with the airlines
 
A single ticket with one reference number/letters code. And I should explain that when I checked in at Dublin (with Aer Lingus) the machine had all the information about the 2nd flight - even the seat allocation, and thats why I was sure that when the 1st flight started getting delayed, I didn't panic too much, as I believed the airlines and Travel Department would re-book us onto the next flight if we missed the connection completly - instead of just cancelling the whole thing.
 
And just in case anyone from British Airways or Aer Lingus is reading this : I still want to go, and even if I have missed the tour, I have my visa and passport and if you can help re-route or re-book me in any way anytime between now and 6 Jan (when I am back in work) I would be so grateful.

I will post my PNR here , just in case anyone from British Airways or Aer Lingus might be able to help : Z6GQMD

Its Christmas eve, and if by any chance anyone from BA or Aer Lingus would like to help it would be a great Christmas present.
 
It's The Travel Department's problem not the airlines. If you landed at 4 was it not possible for you to make your flight connection? I thought that London Heathrow flights were delayed as well as the Dublin flights? You had a ticket!
 
SlugBreath said:
It's The Travel Department's problem not the airlines. If you landed at 4 was it not possible for you to make your flight connection? I thought that London Heathrow flights were delayed as well as the Dublin flights? You had a ticket!
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I know and thats what I thought, I believed the Travel Department would try and re-book us onto later flights or re-route us someway so we could catch up with the tour. Only they wouldn't do anything except tell us all to turn around and come straight back. All of us got the texts and calls from The Travel Department as soon as we had landed, so I still don't understand how they were so adamant we had missed the connecting flight and were against us even going to Terminal 5 to try and get it.

They have said they will do a refund. But I will still be badly out of pocket as I took un-paid leave to do this trip and now have nothing to do with it.
 
Well I would have gone to Terminal 5 to satisfy my own curiosity if nothing else. I am sure that you will be entitled to some sort of compensation but I would say that it would only be a nominal amount. Did you get a response from Gina?
 
mikedublin said:
But I will still be badly out of pocket as I took un-paid leave to do this trip and now have nothing to do with it.
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Looking at your posts on Tripadvisor I can understand why you were on unpaid leave. Am I right in saying that you were in Munich, Brussels, London, Gran Canaria, Tallin, Helsinki, Milan and Malaga in 2010? As a seasoned traveller I cannot understand why you did not question the Travel Department in more detail about your connecting flight.
 
SlugBreath said:
Well I would have gone to Terminal 5 to satisfy my own curiosity if nothing else. I am sure that you will be entitled to some sort of compensation but I would say that it would only be a nominal amount. Did you get a response from Gina?
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Sorry - I should have explained. We did all go to Terminal 5, and then back to Terminal 1 and then back to Terminal 5 , each time sent from one airline (BA) to the other (Aer Lingus). There were seats on the next days flight with Qantas to Hong Kong (BA 's One World Partner) from where we could have connected to Beijing but Aer Lingus or The Travel Department needed to do something with the original ticket to get us onto that flight.

There were also standby seats on the next days Beijing flight, but again BA would not actually do anything without the authority from Aer Lingus or The Travel Department to put us on it.
 
WaterWater said:
As a seasoned traveller I cannot understand why you did not question the Travel Department in more detail about your connecting flight.
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The flight connection was the one booked for the whole group (coming from Dublin, there was another flight load of people for the tour coming from Cork - and it appears they made it).

So there was no option for the individual passengers to choose the time of the outbound flight. And yes - if there had been I definetly would have booked an earlier flight to give at least 6 hours connecting time at Heathrow.

But The Travel Department said (in texts to me and the other passengers) that they were montitoring the flights, and to check in as normal for the 12.10 flight.
 
The Travel Department block booked the tickets on your behalf. They also block booked the ground tour part of the trip. They are just arrangers. They are the only ones who can make changes to the flights.
What I don't understand is that there seems to have been lots of communication between you and the Travel Department yet it seems it was not possible to get you another flight. We have seen pictures on the TV of people sitting and queing for the internet terminals at Dublin Airport to re-book their flights. Why could the Travel Department not do this for you? When you would have arrived in Bejing you could have taken a taxi to the "second" leg of your tour.
Have you made contact with "Gina" and what does she have to say or have they all gone home for Christmas?
 

Yes I tried e-mailing her but didn't get any reply, and also have e-mails going back and forwards between me and the manager there at the Travel Department.

There is somthing really odd about why they were so eager for us to give up and come back to Ireland straight away, when I thought they would have moved heaven and earth to try and get us onto any available flight out to Beijing even if we missed a few days of the tour, we could have caught up with it.

And yes I would have been happy to take a taxi or bus or anything to get to it. All we needed was that chance to get onto another flight.
 
I can understand booking with a coach tour company when heading far afield such as China but it makes you think why anyone would want to book with someone like this who it seems is prepared to abandon you because they were closing down for their Christmas break. It could just as easily have been the South of France.
At least if it was a DIY job you could access an internet terminal and re-schedule your flights yourself.
I am really sorry to hear that your holiday was ruined by The Travel Department.
 
Thanks for all the advice and feedback.

I'm starting to cheer up a bit now, and am planning that when I get my refund, I will go and find another company and be able to still get to China even for a short visit while I still have my visa (valid for next 3 months).

Thanks.
 
If it's of any use to you, I travelled to China a few years ago with Travelsphere (a uk company who've been touring China for many years). It was well organised and I enjoyed it immensely.

Their website is www.travelsphere.co.uk

(no connection other than as a customer).
 
gipimann said:
If it's of any use to you, I travelled to China a few years ago with Travelsphere (a uk company who've been touring China for many years). It was well organised and I enjoyed it immensely.

(no connection other than as a customer).
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Excellent. Thanks very much.
 
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