Missed flight on Avianca, airline didn’t let me change the booking

[Reno]

Hi,

as we arrived in MEX 24 hours late due to BA (see previous post), we were unable to connect on a separate booking to SJO (Costa Rica) with Avianca. We were due in MEX on Aug 4, spend the night and take a flight at 1pm on Aug 5 to SJO.
On Aug 4 around 7.30pm (London time), after we got our rebooking confirmed by BA for the next day, I called Avianca to try to change our booking to Aug 6. Note that the website didn’t allow me to make changes online. The UK call centre was supposed to be opened until 8pm but the call didn’t go through, so I called the global number.
I was quoted a fee of about $1,000 for the change (4 pax), which I had no real choice but to accept. The agent transferred me to their payment system, I input my card details which were confirmed as correct, but when I got back to the agent he informed the payment had been declined. It was on a Curve card linked to a Barclays Avios Plus credit card on which I have a sufficient line of credit, so I was quite surprised. I then tried an AMEX BAPP, same result, then my partner’s Monzo card, same result. At this point, the agent said they had to put the operation on hold, escalate to a manager and I’d have to get in touch if no confirmation within 8 hours. Neither me nor my partner were notified of payment declined by any of our card issuers.
The next morning, having received no update, I called back and started a long battle of calls with an army of agents to be told, according to which agent I was dealing with, that:
– since 3 payments had been declined, they could not try again
– the payment system was down
– they could only book us in a higher class, for $1,700 this time
– they would transfer me to a manager or an ‘expert’, none of which answered after 20 minutes of waiting
– the payment system was still down, could I try again in a few hours?

I tried again the evening we arrived in MEX, then during the night and in the morning, with no more success.
Finally, within a few hours of the flight departure on Aug 6, as we were going nowhere with the customer service, we decided to purchase new return flights for a cost of £1,600 (original tickets purchased in Jan for about £1,000). Needless to say, the payment went through like a breeze on one of the previously ‘declined’ cards.

What can we do now to extract some compensation from Avianca for being unable to rebook our flight despite dozens of calls?

Thanks.

[JDB]

I don’t think you have any prospect of getting any compensation from Avianca; you needed to make a last minute change which they made difficult for you. You should get a refund for the original tickets if they were refundable and if Avianca is difficult you should be able to do a chargeback or s75 if you can show your card provider that they were refundable. You should also look at your travel insurance to see if the missed connection and consequent additional costs might be covered. Unfortunately, with these complex routings, you may save money but you also add layers of risk, aggro and as here a shortened trip.

[SamG]

Some insurance policies would cover this scenario under travel disruption, likely as long as they’re satisfied you allowed reasonable time. Some may exclude flights from being considered public transport and some may net off any Uk261 compo from the pay out unless you have it in writing you aren’t eligible. But it is definitely worth checking

Some may also offer a payout per 12hrs of the delay

It’s one of the few times I might consider using a half decent OTA with 24hr call service – Expedia or Amex. You’ve got more chance of getting things done if they’re debiting the payment – I do find foreign airlines struggle with my cards sometimes especially once you are dealing with call centre where you have to key in your keypad

[Reno]

Hi,

the flights were non refundable, but I think we could still recover some of the taxes? I’ll check if there’s anything in the HSBC Premier Travel Insurance but I’m not too optimistic.

The complex routing was not exactly to save money, we wanted to go to Costa Rica on 2-4-1 vouchers but there was no Avios availability to SJO, so we chose to route via MEX which had plenty. Thought a MEX-SJO flight the next day allowed for enough connection time, didn’t imagine missing the LHR-MEX flight altogether 🙁

[SamG]

HSBC will pay £50pp per 12hrs you’re delayed departing. So that’s £100pp. They may also pay under “Missed transport” for the new flight

We’ll pay for alternative travel and accommodation costs to enable the insured person to
reach their destination if their pre-booked transport is missed because of an unexpected
transport delay, such as the vehicle they’re travelling in breaking down, or public
transport being delayed or cancelled.

The only relevant exclusion I can see being

• Any claim where the insured person hasn’t allowed enough time, or done everything
they reasonably can, to get to their departure point for the time shown on their
itinerary

I’d put in a claim and see what they say. Do let us know what they say as I’m curious about this too!

[JDB]

Reno wrote:

Hi,

the flights were non refundable, but I think we could still recover some of the taxes? I’ll check if there’s anything in the HSBC Premier Travel Insurance but I’m not too optimistic.

The complex routing was not exactly to save money, we wanted to go to Costa Rica on 2-4-1 vouchers but there was no Avios availability to SJO, so we chose to route via MEX which had plenty. Thought a MEX-SJO flight the next day allowed for enough connection time, didn’t imagine missing the LHR-MEX flight altogether 🙁

HSBC Premier has much better disruption coverage than some – both in scope and £ but, as suggested above, I think they will probably expect you to contribute your delay compensation in to the pot; the large fixed sum statutory compensation is intended to help cover these situations as well as the general inconvenience.