Problems with travel company

phill106

Im just back from a weeks holiday with the family, and am due to meet the manager of a well known travel agent on monday to lodge a complaint. We made a booking for myself, the wife and son. He is just gone 2 now, holiday had been booked for about 4 months.
Did all the bookings for the holiday in branch, so they could answer any questions we had, and vice verca. all good, picked up the tickets the day before the holiday and all seemed fine.
On checking in (early for a change!), the checkin agent was closely scrutinising sons passport, so long so that i asked was there a problem. He said that he over 2 years old, which of course i knew. What i didnt know was that over 2, you are classed as a child, rather then an infant, and thus need a seat.
Eventually we managed to get on the plane.
We wouldnt have got on the plane at all, except for another passenger was a no-show.

Halfway through the holiday, got a call from reception that there was a rep from the travel company there to see me. Went to see her, she gave me an envelope which says i need to pay another 160 euro extra for a seat for the lil fella!
I was not impressed to say the least!

I put it to her that there was 3 ways this "mistake" could have happened.
1. I actively refused to give my childs date of birth. This would have been noted at the time, so no.
2. I gave a false date of birth for him. No date of birth is mentioned, so no.
3. The travel agent didnt ask... Which is what happened.

Sorry for the long post, but just want to see did something similar ever happen to anyone else here? I am not looking for legal advice, just shared stories!
Thanks

bucks73

First thing I would do is check your copy of the booking form that you signed at time of booking. The agent has the original.

Then check your confirmation invoice that would have come from the tour operator to see if an infant or child was booked. It will state this clearly. The agent will also have a copy of this.

To make a booking for an infant it is required that a date of birth is entered so the agent would have had to put something in. For a child only the age is required to be entered in the booking system.

If your confirmation invoice states a child was booked then it looks like it was the tour operator who made the mistake with their passenger manifest to the airline by informing them an infant was travelling.

If the confirmation invoice has an infant on it then it looks either the agent made a mistake or you gave the wrong date of birth. Only talking to them will figure that out.