Flight canceled, stuck in berlin, only offered double bed to share with stranger

axer

Hi, looking for advice on what I should have done, should do here.

Flight canceled from berlin to dublin last night. Fair enough weather is bad. Aerlingus transport us to hotel, get there (mid night) 3 hours after flight was supposed to land. Easy jet and aerlingus stuck in same hotel.

Booked into room then told I would have to share it with a complete stranger from easy jet flight (both males). Was not happy as have some expensive stuff in luggage but hotel said aerlingus only booked shared rooms.

I think a bed is better than no bed so go to room to find one double bed to be shared between two complete strangers. This double bed does not separate.

Go to reception and say not acceptable. They say they cannot do anything. Demand they ring aerlingus so I can talk to them. Spoke to aerlingus germany and girl says nothing she can do. Says that I could try another hotel but says may not get money back. Demand a number for supervisor. She says is none. Demand number for ireland aerlingus she says she will tying back with one which she does. (when I say demand its because person says she doesn't have the info when going down nice you're odd asking first).

I ring number and it is aerlingus cork airport operations manager. Tell story. He says same as german aerlingus rep. I ask him can he authorize that its ok to go to another hotel so I know I can get money back. Her says cannot authorize anything as late at night. Nothing he can do.

Its then 1:30 in morning so best I can do is asked for extra blanket and stay in room of friend and his girlfriend on the ground.

What should I have done? What should I do as this was unacceptable but nobody would help me?

Only went with sleeping on ground as thought it would be very difficult to get to another hotel as we brought to hotel a fair bit outside berlin to an area I don't know (have very little german either) and was 1:30 am and I was wrecked tired.

Sorry if long with bad sentences. Am wrecked and typing on phone.

Thanks for any help/advice.

Ficheall

axer wrote: »

Booked into room then told I would have to share it with a complete stranger from easy jet flight (both males).

If only said stranger had been a female, eh?

Funny how something as small as a penis can make such a huge difference...

dudara

@Ficheall - helpful comments only please.

Trust me - a single female travelling on her own would be freaked by the thought of sharing with a strange male. Airlines could not allow it to happen for fear of potential liability.

Max Power1

Ficheall wrote: »

If only said stranger had been a female, eh?

Funny how something as small as a penis can make such a huge difference...

I must confess that that was my first thought too

However, as this is not AH. Serious reply is below:

I hope that this is not considered appropriate behaviour from the airline under the relavent law.

penexpers

I doubt there was any intention on the part of the airline to put two male strangers in a double room - it was probably just miscommunication between the airline and hotel. And if the hotel was full and there was no twin or single rooms available then I'm not sure what else could have been done.

What should have happened is either
a) hotel checks if there are couples in a twin room and swaps them into the double.
b) Aer Lingus should have authorised a stay in another hotel.

Personally I probably would have found a different hotel and taken my chances on getting the money back.

Now that the event has passed, I'm not sure what can be done. Under regulation EC261/2004, the airline have carried out their duties. There is nothing in the legislation about necessary levels of accommodation.

keithclancy

I would have asked the hotel to book another hotel for me paid money and then claimed back from the airline.

IMO my comfort and safety is far more important than money.

I'd prefer to stay in single room in a hostel than have to share a room with a potential wierdo.

Wolfe Tone

Id say the other bloke was delighted

Cabaal

Ok bed sharing isn't ideal and maybe perhaps strange but worse come worse I'd sleep on the ground,

Would you rather they left you at the airport?, atleast this way you get a shower etc

axer

The flight has ben canceled today. I will just have to refuse the room they provide as I don't have confidence in them to provide me suitable accommodation. Can i do this?

Aerlingus told the hotel how many double rooms to allocate. I spoke to two aerlingus reps who refused to help meer.

axer

Ficheall wrote: »

If only said stranger had been a female, eh?

Funny how something as small as a penis can make such a huge difference...

I guess you missed to point of the information i.e. to show that we are not talking about 2 different genders here.

penexpers wrote: »

I doubt there was any intention on the part of the airline to put two male strangers in a double room - it was probably just miscommunication between the airline and hotel. And if the hotel was full and there was no twin or single rooms available then I'm not sure what else could have been done.

Nope aerlingus refused to help when I spoke to two different reps. They basically said tough sh'it in a nice way.

penexpers wrote: »

What should have happened is either
a) hotel checks if there are couples in a twin room and swaps them into the double.
b) Aer Lingus should have authorised a stay in another hotel.

Yes, I think this is more an issue with aerlingus rather than the hotel. I think what happened was that aerlingus took the entire passenger count and divided it by two and thats how many rooms they booked.

penexpers wrote: »

Personally I probably would have found a different hotel and taken my chances on getting the money back.

at 1:30am in the morning after spending many hours in the airport and about 30-40 mins waiting for a bus in the cold?

Now that the event has passed, I'm not sure what can be done. Under regulation EC261/2004, the airline have carried out their duties. There is nothing in the legislation about necessary levels of accommodation.[/QUOTE]

keithclancy wrote: »

I would have asked the hotel to book another hotel for me paid money and then claimed back from the airline.

IMO my comfort and safety is far more important than money.

I'd prefer to stay in single room in a hostel than have to share a room with a potential wierdo.

Both the hotel and aerlingus were not willing to help. There would have been rooms in berlin city.

Cabaal wrote: »

Ok bed sharing isn't ideal and maybe perhaps strange but worse come worse I'd sleep on the ground,

Would you rather they left you at the airport?, atleast this way you get a shower etc

No but they could have informed me before we left the airport. The hotel was probably 1+ hours outside berlin. If I had known before hand that they would want me to share a bed with another person then I would have said no thanks and would have found accomodation in the city but it was 1:30am and I was way outside the city before I found out.

I ended up sleeping on the ground anyway.

The good news is that I made sure this would not happen tonight so have my own single room in a nice hotel across the road from the airport. I explained what happened to the servisair staff member that was sorting out the rooms in the airport and she was shocked at what had happened.

I would assume I should still complain because if things are not said then they wont know what happened. Probably is a waste of time but I think it is important that a complaint is made to aerlingus and/or the regulator (if they are the right organisation).

keithclancy

Hey Axer

You could stay in the AO Hotel at the Hauptbahnhopf

34 € Tonight for the Night for a Single room Ensuite.

http://www.aohostels.com/en/berlin/hotel-hauptbahnhof/booking/

Taxis are relatively cheap in Berlin and theres a direct s-bahn (S9) from the Hauptbahnhopf to the Airport (Schonefeld)

I use the one in Duesseldorf regularly and their grand. Basic but you have a single room to yourself, your own shower and a bed and its clean Nice staff in them. The Hostel and Hotel are joined so theres usually a nice crowd hanging out in the bar, the rooms are pretty quiet as well.

yawnstretch

Thanks for sharing.

Bloody disgrace that they think they can get away with this. As many others have pointed out, if it was a woman there's no way it would be tolerated.

Men without rights as usual.

Ficheall

axer wrote: »

I guess you missed to point of the information i.e. to show that we are not talking about 2 different genders here.

Nope. That would be why I used "if only... had been".

I have now lost all faith in your relaying of events being an accurate representation of the truth. Sorry!

zuroph

Ficheall wrote: »

Nope. That would be why I used "if only... had been".

I have now lost all faith in your relaying of events being an accurate representation of the truth. Sorry!

here's a thought. swap with your mates GF, have her call saying she's being allocated the room with a strange male, and see what they say then..

Zxc

I can understand a little how the OP felt in the situation.
Weather related conditions affecting flights meant I was stuck in the US for 24 hours. At a push, the airline "arranged" a hotel at subsidised-only rate. I had to share with another passenger, a complete stranger, same sex, two beds though.
I wasn't comfortable in the situation at all. The other person was a strange individual.
The airline and later the travel insurance company didn't give a hoot.

E.T.

yawnstretch wrote: »

Thanks for sharing.

Bloody disgrace that they think they can get away with this. As many others have pointed out, if it was a woman there's no way it would be tolerated
Men without rights as usual.

Have to disagree with this - I had a horrible experience with Aer Lingus a few years ago. Flying to Australia via Heathrow. Flight out of Ireland was delayed by nearly 10 hours. Got into Heathrow at 12:30 a.m., no staff to do anything about rescheduling flights, I was on my own and we were all told to be back at 5 a.m. when there'd be someone there to help us. We were given the name of a hotel in London where we'd be put up - any of the English people around told us not to go there as it was a renowned "pay by the hour" hotel.

Coupled with the fact that the bus in would be over an hour and then over an hour back, there was no point going there. Staff couldn't have cared less and said so to our faces. A group of us ended up sitting overnight in Heathrow with no access to anything (no sterling so couldn't even use vending machines to get water, the airport is virtually closed down overnight so no shops open). I asked repeatedly for a copy of the customer charter but was refused. I won't even go into the abuse (actual shouting and name calling from staff to various peoples' questions!) and lies we got at the airport in Ireland, but the hotel situation is obviously not a huge concern to airlines.

axer

zuroph wrote: »

here's a thought. swap with your mates GF, have her call saying she's being allocated the room with a strange male, and see what they say then..

That actually would not have been a bad idea. I heard afterwards one of the females said that her boyfriend was on one of the subsequent buses coming so they left room for him in her room.

The good news is I managed to get a standby flight from Berlin not long ago so am back on Irish soil again. I wasn't looking forward to potato salad and weiners for christmas dinner.

Thanks for the replies.

meercat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu80vwfXzGs

it might have ended well

Mr.Crinklewood

Some people have all the luck, i have booked myself on two flights with the knowledge that they would be cancelled, i have yet to be given a plaything for my hotel room.

Run_to_da_hills

Ficheall wrote: »

If only said stranger had been a female, eh?

Yes and at ninety years old. :eek:

dudara

Moved to Travel & Holidays

dudara

undo

Adding my own view to the discussion: You can read everywhere how thousands of people are spending days sleeping on makeshift beds in terminals. If this is considered appropriate under EU regulations, sharing a room with a stranger must be acceptable as well (a bed in the terminal will essentially have you sharing with a few thousand other people).

I cannot imagine forcing you to share a bed with a stranger would be considered appropriate by the aviation regulator though. However, fighting the airline to admit they made a mistake will involve a lot of paperwork and pain. If you want justice, maybe a letter of apology and a lollipop as a consolation prize, do contact the aviation regulator - but be prepared for a long process with little to gain.

I am just glad that when my girlfriend was stuck here in Germany for the past four days with one flight after another being canceled, she just stayed with me rather than having to rely on the hotel provided by the airline...