They come in threes, you know

[Pleater]

My son, his wife and two sons just arrived back from a holiday in America - which they mostly enjoyed, it was fine until they tried to leave....

First the booked and confirmed wheelchair for my daughter in law was not available when they arrived at the airport - she is waiting for an operation on her knees and is on crutches, so she had to hobble all the way whilst my son had to carry one not quite walking offspring, who is rather heavy and keep control of one almost four year old who never stops dancing around and wrangle all the luggage into the airport building.

Having got everyone and everything inside my son took back the hire car and handed over his credit card plus the cost of the hire in dollars - expecting to get a full refund, as arranged - yes, says the receptionist - no, not so - my son did not know at the time obviously, but has now found out that the insurance is still on the credit card, plus a transaction charge.

He heads back to collect the family and check in - little Hayden is not on the ticket. He shows the booking form, which has details of all of them - not good enough - pay 150 dollars to take your baby son home.

At least they arrived back safe and sound and hopefully the extra costs will be sorted out in due course, and in the meantime the plastic is taking the strain of the unexpected expenses.

I think he heeds another holiday to get over the last one.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[rlh2]

Hate to hear about the troubles. Hopefully it will get sorted out. Glad they made it home and had a good trip.

[1oldsarge]

Having done some travel last year I found the issues you spoke of on this side of the pond unfortunately isn't unusual. The Dollar has outweighed Customer Service.

[MNlad]

In my more recent travels, I have found commercial airports and their ancillary services to be as close as you can come to organized chaos. You are a number to be inspected, processed, and stamped, and customer service is more a slogan than a reality. If your situation doesn't fit their mold, it's your problem, not theirs. Granted, there are exceptions, but those exceptions seem few and far between.

Glad everyone got home safely, and I hope everything sorts itself out.

[sydnie7]

So sorry to hear of their troubles. Outlining those woes in a calm letter to Customer Service at the various companies/airports involved might bring some recompense (not that a free drink coupon or two is going to make any difference!). But if the complaints don't get back to the company, there is little chance for improvement.

[Liam]

A few letters of complaint would seem in order. They might not do any good, but they often make one feel better!

[seanachie]

Out of curiosity, I wonder about the car insurance. I have a doozie of an experience being stranded in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming and then taking it on the chin for mechanical failure. (does not matter to the rental company, they hold you responsible. I had a state trooper drive 65 miles for a police report that said mechanical failure to no avail.) There are also a lot more state consumer protection laws due to unscrupulous agents sneaking insurance charges on to the bill. It is a contentious topic is the rates are often usurious. If he was billed for something he did not sign or agree to I would be making claims with the credit card company. Fortunately, it was unlikely to be chip and pin transaction in the US.

[StevieR]

Sorry to hear of your son's troubles. Letters of complaint, certainly. The phrase "a rather desperate black comedy" somewhere in the mix has worked well for me on more than one occasion in the past! I have to say though that in the few times my family has travelled to the US we have had no problems at airports and always been dealt with courteously and efficiently.

[O'Searcaigh]

The last time I flew anywhere out of the U.S. "without incident" was in the 1980s. Since then, I do not fly anywhere unless absolutely unavoidable (and I'm willing to do a lot to avoid it). ' Sorry for your frustrating (to say the least) but unfortunately not uncommon experiences.

[Dixiecat]

Over the last several years I have travelled extensively around the US and back and forth between the US and Canada. I rarely encounter issues. Yes, I have had luggage delayed or flights cancelled/delayed and once United actually lost my booking not once but twice on the same day. And there was the time I got stuck in Florida for 3 days after a major storm ripped through Chicago, Washington, NYC, Boston, Philadelphia and the backlog took that long to clear. Oh, and who can forget the cat that got loose on my Air Canada flight.... But, those incidents have occurred over the course of 5 years and I'd consider that pretty good.

For anyone else that travels, I would never present cash at the rental car agency that used a credit card to secure the rental. Securing a rental puts a hold on your cc which doesn't get released for up to 15 days when you pay by cash. It's better to pay an advance on your cc instead of the rental agency.

As for scheduling special needs equipment, loudly insisting at the time usually gets you action, even better if you can get the infant crying at the same time. ;) And, the extra fee, well, if you book through the airline and had retained all documentation from the flights into the US showing the infant's boarding card, etc, that can help. If you booked through a charter service, that complicates matters since sometimes the operating airline doesn't get the info from the charter service and your only recourse is to pay and then get the refund from the charter service.

Hopefully, the fun that your son and his family had previous to the airport encounter more than makes up for the inconveniences.