Travel agent fook up.

Hellrazer

Sorry about the long post.

Im wondering if someone can help me out with this one as I feel Ive a fair case for a complaint.

Can you define for me what a "14 night duration" with regards to a booked holiday ie does it start from the moment you land or is there actually any defination of it.
The reason Im asking is because I booked a holiday with **** for the 21st August next (actually my travel agent put it on the booking form as the 20th but the tickets say 21st and Im also arguing the point with the travel agents but thats a whole other thread)
The details are as follows
Departure Dublin 21/08/05 @ 2.55am.ie Saturday night into Sunday morning arriving destination at approx 6.00am ariving at Hotel at 7.00pm.

Departure destination 3-9-05 @ 23.10 arriving Dublin @ 1.55 am.

Whatever way I add this up is only 13 nights in our accomodation and **** have advised me that this is due to the Room being booked from the previous midday although there is a flight that leaves 4 hours later at 6.00am on 21/8/05 yet the return is not until the 4/9/05 which is a whole extra nights stay for the sake of 4 hours.Last time I checked a day consisted of 24 hours and not 4.

Now what I want to know is how **** can justify their excuse of the room being booked for the previous day at 12.00midday when this is also the case for the later flight yet they get the extra night.

I just feel like I am being made out to be an idiot in the above case and would really like to have a 14 night holiday which I paid for and not a 13 night one because of 4 hours.I think that there is a matter of false advertising going on here and a deliberate attempt to mislead anyone who books the holiday in question.

As for the travel agents they say that the reason the booking form has 20/8/08(Booking form says Departure 20/8/05 2.55am) on it was because that is the check in date yet I am technically flying on the 21st(tickets say 21/8/05 2.55am)which is a whole 24 hours later.

I remember the agency in question specifically telling us that we fly on the Friday night(19th)/Saturday(20th) morning rather than the Saturday night(20th)/Sunday(21st) morning as the tickets show but they deny this although I have it in writing.

I know I have a case here since I have everything in writing but I seem to be getting nowhere with either of them.The whole mess has fooked up my time off from work and has also ended up costing me an extra night per boarding kennel for my 2 dogs and cat and also my parking arrangements will now have to be changed as I have a friend in Dublin airport who parks my car for me for free in his work car park but it now looks like Im going to have to park in the long term at a cost of 70 or so a week.So far Im now down 200 euros before the holiday even starts.
/rant over.
Anyone any idea how I sort this out.
Thanks
Richie

Thomond Pk

A college mate had exactly this out with a large travel agency in 1999 and secured a refund. In his case it was even less clear cut in that the check in time was three hours, if this is a european destination IATA rules stipulate 90mins for check in. If it is trans-atlantic they are correct to insist on three hour check in on foot of US Immigration service requirements.

My freind at th time just stuck to the line of 24 hours in a day it was in his case 6 and not 7 days, it took 3 months and finally after giving them every opportunity to be reasonable he was forced to inform them he was about to serve a small claim. They paid him pro-rata his loss at 1/7th of the ticket value.

Hellrazer

You have me really confused now.

My problems are
1.The so called 14 night stay being only 13 nights.

2.The travel agency putting the wrong date on the booking form and the actual holiday not starting until a whole 24 hours later.

Which one of them do I chase?
Is it the travel agents fault because they put the date in wrong ie 24 hours less of a holiday because if I was going on the previous day then I would get my 14 nights or the Tour operator who say that the booking was made correct by the travel agent and its not their problem.
Richie

babaduck

Good lord, it's lucky I used to be a travel agent because your post would confuse anybody!!

Your date of departure is Sunday 21/08/05. The check in time does NOT determine the daate of dep & that lame explanation is a total crock. Because you land at a godawful hour of the morning, your room must be available for you when you arrive. As standard check-in time in resort is 2pm, the room has to be free on the Saturday night to accomodate your arrival. Otherwise, there'd be somebody sleeping in the room when you get there (do you understand why now?). Even though you arrive after midnight, that night is counted as 1 night of accom.

You will then check out of the accom on Saturday 3rd Sept at 12.00, leaving the room free for the next person who will arrive on the Sunday morning, just like you did - so it's a 14 night holiday with the accom booked from Saturday-Saturday inclusive.

Hope this clarifies things for you

p.s. IATA rules specify the MINIMUM time required for check in. Ever tried checking in 156 passengers with at least 1 piece of large checked luggage 90 mins pre-departure if they all show up at the same time. It's impossible, so you are asked to check in 3 hours pre-flight. Also with the increased security checks, which are out of the tour operator's control, you definitely need the extra time.

Hellrazer

Badabuk Ive just got that clarified by the Tour operator and I accept that 100% but how do I go about getting satisfaction from the travel agency--I fullybelieve that a mistake has been made with regards to the booking form showing a different date to the tickets by a full 24 hours.

According to the booking form Im supposed to be departing Dublin at 2.55am on 20/8/05 whereas the tickets state Departing Dublin @ 2.55am on 21/8/05 and this is where Im getting my date discrepancies from.

In other words am I losing a day holidays by this cock up???

Or do you think it was a just clerical error on the travel agents part??Am I entitled to compensation because of this mess up and have had to rearrange everything around the mistake and have now incurred a monetary loss.

Thanks for the reply,
Richie

babaduck

Unless the tour operator has a flight going 24 hours before at the same time to the same destination, I think you could safely chalk it up to a clerical error. There's not a whole lot you can do about it TBH except perhaps speak to the Manager of the travel agency & see if they are prepared to do anything for you. You aren't losing a day's holidays, just travelling to a resort at crappy times (and that's one of the reasons I won't do night flights ever again)