Flight Trouble in Paradise

On my last night in Asia I met up with my rock-star digital nomad friend Rachel in Seminyak for beach lounging and chat. The next day I left for the airport in the late afternoon. There was a lot of traffic on the road- that is Bali, baby- but the trip was comfortable and uneventful. Once I had arrived at the airport I went to the appropriate desk to check in, but the script seemed to have been re-written without my knowledge.

No Can Do, Ma’am

The young man behind the desk told me he couldn’t find my name in the system after I had given him my passport, and he needed my reservation number. I had booked a return flight with Jet Airways that had two stop-overs, one in Singapore and one in New Delhi, India. At the time of my booking back in March, the ticket was several hundred euro cheaper than other tickets for the same route around the same time, so I thought I had landed myself a bargain. It was however, not quite the bargain it appeared to be. Parts of the journey would be operated by Jet Star Asia and it was at their desk I wanted to check in. After check-in desk guy had checked my booking number, he informed me that Jet Airways had gone bankrupt several months ago and that I wouldn’t be able to check in and fly. I went into an intense panic as the guy just wanted to fob me off and due to planned arrangements I had to arrive in the Netherlands the next day. The desk-guy called his manager, as he didn’t quite know how to deal with a solo-travelling Dark Fairy on the verge of a mental break down. This manager explained the situation in a calm manner showing some compassion, and gave me a few suggestions on what to do. Back in late March, I had come across mentioned itinerary on momondo.com which redirected me to Schipholtickets. nl to book my selection. Please be aware that Schipholtickets. nl are a bunch of thieves. They are absolutely shit. While stuck on Depensar airport for a moment, I tried contacting Schipholtickets. nl via phone for which I needed wifi. The airport’s wifi is slow as fuck, so I couldn’t call or book another ticket online with another airline. After the initial panic subsided, I told myself it would be just fine and no one was going to die. Then I went to the AirAsia desk to book a ticket to Singapore and I could board a flight that was leaving in less than 90 minutes.

Next Emergency Steps

In Singapore I needed to go through customs as I didn’t have a connecting flight. Most custom officials across the world are bastards, especially the women as they seem to have something to prove. They either want to display a sense of power they don’t have, and/or are rather frustrated with their job envying all those people who pass their window and seem to have far more exciting lives than they. However, the custom officer I had to deal with was the friendliest I have every come across. He greeted me- never fucking happens!- had a pleasant demeamour, which indicated he was comfortable with his job, asked me if he could call me by my first name and wished me a pleasant onward journey when we were done. He was wearing a name tag and I wish I’d remembered his name as I would given him a massive shout out. On my way to Singapore I was thinking of finding a Jet Airways desk to see if I could start a riot, but after going though customs I decided otherwise. I booked a new ticket with Lot Airways for a flight that would leave just before midnight and take me to Amsterdam via Warsaw. Considering the ticket was booked on the same day of travel, it was a pretty good deal.

Travel Lessons Learnt

I have never experienced a flight cancellation in the whole of my travelling life, let alone a cancellation due to bankruptcy. You might call that lucky. After all the drama, I arrived safe and sound in Amsterdam with no further trouble only a couple of hours later than initially planned. All it cost me was a bit of stress and some money and in return, I have learnt some valuable lessons.

 Jet Airways went bankrupt in less than three weeks after I bought my ticket. This means that the airline was already in a troublesome state at the time of my booking, as companies don’t go bust in a matter of weeks. The bastards at Schipholtickets. nl would have known this, yet they sold me the ticket anyway. The agent’s customer service is appalling. I had booked my ticket more than four months in advance and when Jet Airways went bankrupt and my flight was automatically cancelled, there was no contact from Schipholtickets.nl whatsoever. No common decency to inform me about a flight ‘update’ or going a bit further offering me suggestions and alternatives. When back in the Netherlands, my first attempt to contact was an email I had sent via their website. I received a confirmation of receipt, but never a reply. When I called the number supplied on the website, which is in Dutch, you get a recorded message as expected, however, it is in English and no option is offered to change language. From the message itself you would have no idea who you are calling as they don’t mention a company name. Of course you are put in a queue and in this case you are automatically thrown of the line after a few minutes. This happened several times. When I tried again a few days later, I did get to speak to someone who was pretty useless.  A good agent is supposed to be insured against flight cancellation due to bankruptcy, but then, Schipoholtickets.nl is a pretty shit agent. They claim they don’t have insurance to cover for these events. Or maybe they do and they just keep the money for themselves, which really wouldn’t surprise me. I later checked their status on Trust Pilot and I don’t seem to be the only one who has major issues with this company. So, I paid a few hundred euro for absolutely fuck all, had a bit of travel stress, experienced terrible customer service and that was that.

How to avoid similar Flight Bollocks 

To avoid any of the bollocks I went through, take note of the following:

• If possible book your airfares with a credit card, as all credit card purchases are insured. If you don’t have a credit card, apply for one which you could only use for plane tickets, so these are always insured. If you don’t want to or can’t get a credit card:

• Make sure to do a quick search on the airline you are planning to book with, even if is it is a seemingly respectful one. Are they in financial trouble? On the verge of bankruptcy? Especially if you are considering booking a flight that is a few months in the future, stay clear of this airline if not all seems well.

• Book with an airline directly rather than through an agent. In case of any issues, dealing with an agent can be a bigger hassle. The agent will tell you to contact the airline, while the airline tells you to contact the agent. In the case of bankruptcy, booking directly with the airline might not help much, although they could have a number or email address available for affected passengers. Some agents offer better deals, but they always charge a fee, so do check if it’s worth the difference and the potential hassle.

• If you are planning on booking with an agent, check their reputation on Trust Pilot. Positive reviews can be fake, so a high review score doesn’t automatically mean the company is trusted by its customers, but a bad review score is always a massive red flag.

• If shit does hit the fan, get some perspective. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

 

 

image: aircargonews.com