Problems with Best and Less Travel Agents!!! :(

[MsAli]

Hi all,

In a bit of an odd situation right now. Me and my family booked four air tickets via Kula Lumpur to South Asia with Malaysia Airlines. This was done last year in July. All paid in full. The travel is to commence on 23rd January with a week in Malaysia and then to South Asia for 3 weeks. Back in Sydney on 23rd February. The tickets were originally issued with an endorsment of 30kgs check in luggage allowance (yes we need that much!)

Malaysia Airlines cancelled a lot of routes late December. The agent had to re-issue the tickets with the connecting flight being Emirates from Kuala Lumpur. The travel agent issued the tickets, literally forcing us to cut our holiday short in Malaysia to get to Karachi and in Karachi to return to Sydney. We told them the onus was with Malaysia Airlines and we shouldn't have to spend any less time in both stop overs than intended. So they re-issued the tickets after much argument.

Now that they issued the tickets, we (me and my sis MonaLisa here) checked the tickets and turned out the agent had issued it with 20kg allowance. While the agent kept reassuring us that we would be able to take 30kgs. While when we spoke with Malaysia Airlines, we were told the agent is trying to get away from the $150 AUD re-issue charge (i.e. $600 AUD for four tickets). While Emirates have said that since the ticket says 20 kg, they will not be letting us take any more baggage.

The agent has emailed us today saying "sorry" and that the "airline" can't change this for you and the options are a) travel with 20kg b) cancel the tickets.

Who in their right mind would want to cancel the tickets? We have booked hotels and flights within Malaysia.

I've just reponded to the agent saying cancelling our tickets is not a valid option and a) either they pay the $150 on each ticket and re-issue or b) be willing to go to tribunal

Tomorrow we are going to walk into their shop and talk to her boss who is quite inaccessible anyway. Plus, can I say, I am a Pakistani born, the agents are ethnically Pakistanis. Not to be racist, but I'm never doing business with my own kind ever again!!!

Any suggestions guys?

So frustrating!

Cheers,

MsAli

 

[Ace in the Hole]

What else could the travel agent have done to help you in this situation?
It was out of their control that the original airline cancelled flights.

 

[MsAli]

The airline still gives 30kgs. Its the agents who have issued it incorrectly and passed it to us without checking. The airlines (both MAS and Emirates) have said the agent has the authority to update it to the correct baggage allowance.

If anything the agents have wasted our time on the phone to them, MAS and Emirates.

We are still travelling Malaysia Airlines part of the journey.

 

[JWR]

Isn't the aim to buy cheap clothes in Asia to bring back and not take with?

 

[MsAli]

Isn't the aim to buy cheap clothes in Asia to bring back and not take with?

No, I have presents to buy for family both ways. We always end up with more than 20kg luggage and 20kg is nothing for international flights.

And since we paid for 30kg 6 months prior to the flights then there is no reason this should be altered.

 

[JWR]

Agreed but sometimes there's not much you can do with beaurocracy...

 

[MsAli]

Agreed but sometimes there's not much you can do with beaurocracy...

It's not bureaucracy IMHO. It's just blackmail to cover their own butts for not getting it right.

 

[mattnz]

Have you got emails from the agent advising you can definitely take 30 kg?

If so, you have every right to hold your ground.

 

[kathryn d]

Rob and I travel for 8 months on carry on luggage.
If we want anything, we go to a second hand store.

Can you carry any parcels with you ..as carry on?

 

[wylie]

If you don't get anywhere tomorrow at the travel agent, can you pay the extra yourself so that at least you are sorted to go, and take them to tribunal when you get back. It will be probably cheaper to pay the extra per ticket yourself ($150 if I am reading correctly?) than go over on your luggage allowance.

 

[MsAli]

Mattnz, we have all email records which talk about 30kg allowances, as well as the original tickets which spell out 30kg endorsements that were issued.

Kathryn, I will see, but doubt it

Wylie, I am not sure if MAS will let me change it without having to involve the agent. Rightly so they don't want much to do with it other than having the agent sort it as they pay the agent. It will be annoying to pay $600 now (if it is possible), but I believe I will have a strong case when I do take it to tribunal.

Is a hearing by tribunal legally binding for the other party to attend and then to carry out whatever decision the tribunal takes?

 

[kathryn d]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to mail gifts back and forth than pay $600?

 

[wylie]

Is a hearing by tribunal legally binding for the other party to attend and then to carry out whatever decision the tribunal takes?

My son is going to tribunal next week to fight for $600 it cost him for a repair bill that should have been covered by the "Rolls Royce" extra warranty he paid for his first car. They paid a certain amount, but less than the "maximum" that he was covered for under their warranty for that particular repair.

The warranty company offered him $250 to settle which he refused. He wants justice just as much as he wants (needs) the money.

I asked if it is like getting a judgement against a tenant, who still will not pay up. His friend, who is studying law, was there and said that unlike a tenant, a company with a judgement made against them risks a lot more by not paying. In his opinion, if the judgement is made against the company, they will pay up rather than risk my son taking it further and jeopardising their business.

 

[MsAli]

Thanks Wylie, that is very very reassuring. We took a mechanic to tribunal recently for doing smash repairs (a poor job) without a licence (we didn't know about that!) and didn't give a receipt. He promptly redunded in full before the tribunal date - no questions asked! Didn't even ask for his parts back. We were yet to report him to ATO though....

I've put the tribunal suggestion in my email and will go talk tomorrow AND dial Malaysia Airlines support in front of them - but don't trust MAS to say the same thing everytime. Hopefully they resolve it on the spot. Why should I have to pay more if I bought tickets 6 months in advance with a legal contract

 

[cjandlj]

I take it your travelling business class?

Look to be honest it wont really matter what your ticket says. The airlines have a standard baggage policy. Piece system to the states and weight system everywhere else.

A business class ticket entitles you to 30Kilos of luggage and economy 20kilos. thats it... no need to argue.

And yes.... like anything... you get what you pay for..

 

[wylie]

I take it your travelling business class?

Look to be honest it wont really matter what your ticket says. The airlines have a standard baggage policy. Piece system to the states and weight system everywhere else.

A business class ticket entitles you to 30Kilos of luggage and economy 20kilos. thats it... no need to argue.

And yes.... like anything... you get what you pay for..

We have flown Air New Zealand to the US and had 30kg allowance in cattle class. Friends flew Qantas and limit was 20kg.

We just flew Singapore Airlines Brisbane/Singapore/London and Milan/Singapore/Brisbane and had 30kg luggage allowance in cattle class, except for the last leg from Singapore to Brisbane which was 20kg .

Varies between airlines I suppose.

MsAli... how did you get on?

 

[BMan]

I take it your travelling business class?

Look to be honest it wont really matter what your ticket says. The airlines have a standard baggage policy. Piece system to the states and weight system everywhere else.

A business class ticket entitles you to 30Kilos of luggage and economy 20kilos. thats it... no need to argue.

And yes.... like anything... you get what you pay for..

and she paid for a 30kg limit...? so is she getting what she paid for?

 

[MsAli]

It's Economy. Four tickets in total. We have travelled Malaysia Airlines for 10 years or so and we've had 30kg before. Our ticket said 30kg but since they cancelled certain routes the new ticket with Emirates as the connecting flight incorrectly says 20kg. Emirates only really care for what the ticket says. While MAS argue where there are two carriers involved it is put down as 20kg. This is a joke really as Emirates normally allow 30kg (publically available info on their website). So MAS are BS'ing.

Wylie, I emailed my travel agent telling them I've spent around $6k for hotels and flights within Malaysia and cancelling isn't an option. I gave her two options, a) get it sorted as MAS suggested i.e. pay an "apparent" fee of $150 per ticket to re-issue (I say apparent as every MAS person I've spoken to tells me a different story - while some say it will cost the agent nothing to re-issue the correct ticket) or b) be willing to go to tribunal to resolve it at a later date. So she responded saying she forwarded my email to her manager who is going to "fight" with the airlines to get it resolved. I've been pleading with them to re-issue the MAS ticket (It IS an MAS all the way through - including the Emirates leg of the flight).

Following that I tried contacting their ticketing services at Sydney airport on Saturday. I ended up talking to some guy called Michael at the MAS Operations in Sydney. He SEEMED to know about the case and was rather rude. But mellowed down when I explained to him the old ticket said 30kg and the new says 20kg. He asked me to say out my ticket number. The moment I started, he said, it's an agent issued ticket and only they have the authority to change it and wished me good luck with it. I relayed this in an email to the travel agent. Hope that to save themsevles from further hammering from us they will get the tickets re-issued. Also, every email I've sent to my travel agent since Friday, I have copied Enrich (MAS membership team), Customer Service and Social Media teams...but knowing MAS I won't be surprised if they over look it.

Further, I posted on the Malaysian Airline Facebook page. Social Media is a powerful tool. They have said they will try get in touch with their Aussie team and get back to me Monday morning. I hope that I haven't aggravated it further. But why shouldn't we jump up and down. To some people luggage allowances do not matter but to us they do as we tend to need that much. Plus it's our first holiday to a country other than our home land....But never travelling MAS again.

 

[MsAli]

and she paid for a 30kg limit...? so is she getting what she paid for?

Agreed....Not getting what I paid for. Still paid higher than I did last year. Four tickets were $900 more expensive this year for the same time of the year.

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

Keep hassling them.

And next time just book it online.