nilv

Hi all,

I suspect there are others in the same boat whereby their married half is stuck abroad and cannot get on a flight back into Australia via an accepting port of arrival (Sydney in my wife's case) then transit to Melbourne. She's been messed around by the airline 5 times consecutively whereby she booked the flight and the airline confirmed availability only to then cancel the flight two days prior to her departure and offer her another flight 6 weeks later (so in total we've been messed around by them for 30 weeks). It's happened with both Emirates & Etihad so it's not unique to an airline it would seem.
Their customer service reps state that they're prioritising parents with kids, elderly & people with health issues - though this begs the question how can they operate like for so many months and keep pushing others back in the queue - if at all that's their legit reason.
Has anyone else had similar issues and found a solution?

Thanks,

rammygirl

If she is booking economy And someone pays business or first they will bump economy to take them. It would seem the only way to guarantee a seat is to pay through the nose for it!

The airlines are limited on passengers so they need to make the most money they can out of the few that can fly in. Not morally acceptable but understandable I guess.

Kooky.

I'm in a few FB groups containing many people with this issue. Some have lost their jobs and so their visas, and just cannot get to a country they're legally entitled to live in. Those without savings are really struggling.

I'm sorry your wife is going through this and I don't know what advice to offer other than, if you can afford it, try booking a Biz Class ticket. Not a guarantee but a better chance as the airlines have admitted they're prioritising the more expensive seats to maximise their money. (I have some booked myself, in case we don't get a visa extension and they're needed.)

quoll

Business class or, even better, first class tickets and you stand a better chance of getting a flight out. You can sort of see their point though - they have to make the flight as viable as possible and, with the best will in the world, sardines are not going to be as profitable as someone who turns left when they enter the plane. So either stump up or spend the same amount on rent in UK while you wait - probably not that much difference.

Kooky.

Apologies - rammygirl and I posted at exactly the same time and said almost exactly the same thing but at least there's a consensus. quoll makes a good point - if it's costing her to stay there, might just be worth the pain of upgrading her seats.

I can't recall the rules and cut offs but did she originally book early enough to avoid paying for quarantine? And is there any benefit in that respect, in getting her back ASAP? (A friend of mine has bookings on 4 separate flights, in an effort to get home from the US for Christmas, at least one of which avoids her paying for Q. But I think they're all EC, which seems risky.)