I am stuck in Lisbon thanks to BMI. What can I do now.

[Supercoley1]

To let you in on the story I booked a return flight for my wife, 2 children and myself from Birmingham to Lisbon to stay with my wifes family (she is portuguese)

 

We flew out with no problems first time from Birmingham and first time with BMI and I was very impressed. a 2 hour delay at Birmingham but overall the flight was good and Birmingham very easy to find.

 

yesterday the 8th we were due to return and after checking myself and the children through we came up with a problem. My wifes name on the check in computer was wrong! Not a typo, her name is Anabela yet the name on the computer was Susannah!!!! The surname was correct.

 

After a few calls by the check in assistant to see if we could fly she said that we had to ring BMI to sort the problem out. By this time it was 25 minutes until boarding. As you know you only enter each persons name in once on a return flight internet booking therefore I have no idea how they can get the right name on the outgoing journey and not the returning journey.

 

After 20 euros spent on my wifes debit card (the last money in her account) we had not spoken to anyone and been listening to BMIs music/busy statements. I had to make the decision to get back to the check in and get our bags back before they left on the plane.

 

So we are back at my wifes parents house. I have rung BMI this morning on their exorbatant phone line which means her father will now have a ridiculously high priced call on a phone he can ill afford and after 48 minutes of getting nowhere we had to end the call.

 

BMI have said that there is nothing they can do and that we will have to rebook a flight and then once back in the UK send them a claim for compensation and they will investigate.

 

Problem with this is neither of our families are wealthy, my wife and I only decided to come on the trip after some very careful monetary planning meaning we now have empty bank accounts. Therefore we know noone to lend us the money and have non of our own to get back to the UK. How can BMI do this to their passengers.

 

Other problems of course are that our car is in Birmingham Airport and was only paid up until last night therefore we will now get back (if we can) with no money to pay the extra days charges.

 

We are both hourly paid workers and not salaried therefore we are now missing days work due to this which again means we have no money.

 

I have contacted the British Embassy to see if they can help as my children and I are all british citizens. I dont have much confidence though.

 

Is there anything else I can do? Surely an airline has a responsibility of duty to make sure that an error that occurs on their flight is corrected first and then investigated?

 

I am at this time on the internet at one of my wifes friends house with all avenues of options closing in front of me and the spectre of us having to get jobs in Portugal to somehow get some money togethe to get back to the UK

 

Thanks in advance

Andy

Edited September 15, 2008 by Supercoley1
Update to title info

[Supercoley1]

An update. The British embassy have called us back and although very sympathetic they cannot help with our problem. As we are not in danger etc due to having relatives to stay with it is beyonf their power to instruct or pay for an airline to take us back. BMI still say "hard Luck".

 

I have now sent emails to The Sun, Our local paper "the linconshire echo" and to AUC CAA

 

Andy

Edited September 9, 2008 by Supercoley1

[seftonview]

I take it you don't have travel insurance?

[Supercoley1]

I do with my bank. Its one of those added extra things. I have sent an email to the insurer to see if we are covered. As per usual I dont hold out much hope.

 

AC

[seftonview]

Phone them and make a claim! It's not going to get resolved very quickly exchanging emails.

[Supercoley1]

I have just rung the travel insurance and they say we are not covered in this even however they say that with the problem not being of our fault wether it is BMI/ANA or TAP that is at fault our contract is with BMI and they therefore have a legal obligation to take us to the UK. My insurance has now transferred me to BMIs number and therefore we are only paying the charge to the insurance companies landline rather than BMIs preium rate line.

 

Heres hoping but as usual I guess it will be a waste of time.

 

Andy

[Supercoley1]

BMI still sticking to their story. They cannot give me a flight for free. I must pay (with money I dont have) and then claim it back.

 

Are they allowed to ignore a legal obligation they have?

[MrShed]

The reason they have not automatically done this is presumably because they are not currently accepting liability for the issue. Personally I can see why *cynical hat on* I cant comprehend how it would be possible for the name on the ticket to be anything other than the name submitted on the website*cynical hat off* - therefore, they are not at this point accepting responsibility, but suspect(rightly or wrongly) that the name was misentered at the booking stage.

 

Were you not offered to be able to pay a fee to change the name on the ticket?

 

Why does your travel insurance say you are not covered - I would imagine they would have to say why specifically this situation is excluded?

 

I think you really need to consider that the cost of trying to resolve the issue over there is going to end up higher than buying a ticket and claiming it back. If this is a case where you physically cannot afford the ticket, I would have thought the embassy would be able to issue some form of emergency loan?

[Supercoley1]

It is with a low cost airline. The ticket is an e-ticket and the names on the email confirmation and even when I check the account on their site are all correct.

 

You only enter the names once for the return flights and we had no problem at Birmingham flying out.

 

Apparently the low cost airlines arent integrated into the system and send a manifest to the carrier who then puts the details into the system which the airport check against. therefore the mistake mustve been by ANA the portuguese carrier. I therefore assum that because this is the system that this airline uses that my contract is still with BMI and it is their responsibility to claim against the carrier.

 

The problem with paying and then claiming is that we paid a couple of months in advance at a total of £454 for the whole return journey. A single ticket at this late date is almost that each!!!! We dont have £1300 available and we know noone who can lend us this amount.

 

The Embassy were quite clear that they cannot pay!!!

 

Andy

[MrShed]

The embassy does have the ABILITY to lend the money. Whether they feel it is a valid circumstance I suppose is another thing.

 

Irrespective, the reason BMI will not be paying is due to them not yet accepting liability.

 

The travel insurance is IMO your best bet of resolving this currently.

 

They are however a member of IATA - wonder if it is worth contacting them...?

[Gpuk]

Is there any BMI representative or agent at the airport that you could speak to, to save you the costly phone calls?? There must be someone at the airport that can help you??

[Lula]

so on the ticket that you printed out, what was the name on there?

[Gpuk]

Do you still have the original email booking confirmation?? Is her name on it? I would take this to the airport and see if anyone can help. Good luck!

[Supercoley1]

I have now managed to find a much cheaper flight from Faro for £335 total for all 4 of us and my mother in England was able to pay this amount (alternative from Lisbon was £1200+bags etc and with the same carrier we have the problem with)

 

I do however now have to borrow the train fare to Faro and then bus from Faro station to the Airport.

 

The stage I therefore now at is the claim I need to make once I get back. What evidence do I need? Do I need to send it all with the claim?

 

So far I will be claiming for the extra flight costs £353

3½ days loss of earnings for me £175

2½ days loss of earnings for my wife £50

4 days extra parking at Birmingham £35

1 Taxi back from Lisbon airport I shouldnt have needed. £12

2 tickets for the train from Lisbon to Faro £40

2 tickets for the bus from Faro Station to Faro Airport £5

2 phone calls to BMIs useless and exorbatant phone line £60

3 phone calls to the British Embassy £10

 

Total here is £740. I will keep all tickets and receipts that I can but of course we dont have 1 for the taxi fare and we will have to wait for copies of our Father in Laws itemised bill to prove the phone charges.

 

Should I charge for hardship or anything else?

 

AC

[Supercoley1]

Is there any BMI representative or agent at the airport that you could speak to, to save you the costly phone calls?? There must be someone at the airport that can help you??

 

Being a low cost airline in a major airport there is no representative. The carrier person who checked us in tried the number (queue message) and couldnt keep holding because otherwise we would hold the whole plane up. she contacted her superiors and then gave us the BMI number.

[Supercoley1]

so on the ticket that you printed out, what was the name on there?

 

The name was Anabela on the printed confirmation and it is Anabela on their website in my account information.

[Supercoley1]

Do you still have the original email booking confirmation?? Is her name on it? I would take this to the airport and see if anyone can help. Good luck!

 

We had this with us but to no avail. No BMI reps or desk there and the ANA woman tried to do her best but eventually said we would have to contact BMI.

[Gpuk]

Compensation for stress caused, definately!!! And disgust at their 'so-called' customer care! Be prepared to wait a while for the answers and money though, companies will take as long as possible in the hope you will give up and go away! Photocopy EVERYTHING!

[Lula]

Well if it is Anabela on the printout, then Anabela WILL have been on the website and the problem is obviously in the data transfer between the web site and the transit company, definately not your fault, but that doesnt help you at the moment, whatever happens, that peice of paper is your new best friend, do not let it go anywhere, if someone wants to see it, then let them have a photocopy.

[Supercoley1]

I have the piece of paper that I printed out pre journey and I also used ScreenGrab last night in case the website "magically" changes. So I have their website proof on file too.

 

AC

[Supercoley1]

I may need some help when I get back to complete the claim wording etc. How much do I claim for hardship? weve spent 2 days ringing, emailing, searching etc just to make sure that we get home.

[Supercoley1]

First bit of good news is that we are now back at home in Lincoln after leaving Lisbon via coach at 1am on Thursday Morning we arrived at Faro after a change of coach and got to the airport via taxi from whence we waited 4 hours for the cheapest flight we were able to find and got back to the UK at 12-40pm on Thursday. arrived back in Lincoln at4-30pm after waiting for bags, clearing the extra days on the car etc.

 

So now I am ready to start getting my claim together. I want to get it right so I shall take my time on it. I have receipts/tickets for everything except taxis.

 

Another good thing is AUC have replied. I will need to send them any correspondence that I make with BMI.

 

Hope this goes well and will be grateful for any help you can all provide.

 

Andy

[Armsoft]

First bit of good news is that we are now back at home in Lincoln after leaving Lisbon via coach at 1am on Thursday Morning we arrived at Faro after a change of coach and got to the airport via taxi from whence we waited 4 hours for the cheapest flight we were able to find and got back to the UK at 12-40pm on Thursday. arrived back in Lincoln at4-30pm after waiting for bags, clearing the extra days on the car etc.

 

So now I am ready to start getting my claim together. I want to get it right so I shall take my time on it. I have receipts/tickets for everything except taxis.

 

Another good thing is AUC have replied. I will need to send them any correspondence that I make with BMI.

 

Hope this goes well and will be grateful for any help you can all provide.

 

Andy

 

Andy,

I can`t give advice on this one, but whish you luck on getting it sorted, you deserve it after all they put you through.