johny-boy group travel agent airline ticket scam

[robbie123]

Thank you for your letter to the Chief Executive, Mr. James Hogan.

 

As the Head of CRM and Loyalty, the CEO has forwarded your letter to me in order that I may review the concerns you=2 0have noted and respond accordingly.

 

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the delay in responding. I really appreciate your patience regarding this unfortunate situation and I thank you for having been so patient with us whilst dealing with the investigation.

 

I read your letter with interest and noted your disappointment when you were informed that your colleague, Ms Panurak’s ticket, which was purchased via a travel agency in Bangkok, was cancelled. On arrival at check in you were advised by our staff that the reservation was cancelled due to there being no ticket number in the reservation.

 

I have investigated your case and it appears that the travel agent created the booking and this was ticketed. Due to erroneous entries by the travel agent Ms ????? ticket status was changed to “void”. The “void” entry in our system has the same validity as a cancelled ticket and the travel agent did not mention the reasons of this entry. The history of the booking shows that the agent tried to rebook the ticket, however, the booking did not show an issued ticket number, which resulted in our system automatically cancelling the reservation.

 

Our ground staff advised that you would have to purchase another ticket to enable Ms ????? to travel. Unfortunately, as the booking was created by a travel agent our staff were unable to resolve the reservation issues in the system, to prevent you from purchasing a new ticket.

 

I also read of your Desire to delay your departure once you appreciated that there was no ticket available for Ms ????? This could have not been processed due to the original ticket fares used for your ticket. Your ticket was purchased with reservation restrictions which did not allow date changes.

 

Mr ????, I am sorry for the additional expenses you may have encountered and all the stress this entire situation caused you both. May I kindly suggest you refer to the travel agent concerned to ask for a possible refund. We would also be more than happy to supply you with a letter so that you could claim through your travel insurance company.

 

I should also add that you mentioned that we s hould not allow this sort of travel agent to sell E tihad Airways tickets. Unfortunately we have very little control over who can sell our inventory – just as with all other major airlines. This particular travel agent is a non-IATA travel agency, and here we have even less control.

 

I was also concerned to learn that you were not satisfied with the level of service you received from our staff in Bangkok. We expect our people to deal with our customers efficiently and professionally and I can imagine this was upsetting for you and your companion.

 

Please accept our most sincere apologies in this instance and I very much hope that you will put behind you the unpleasant experience you had to bear during your booking and travel with us. This is not the way we wish our guests to be cared for and we look forward to having the pleasure of welcoming you on future journeys with us where everything will be as we all=2 0would wish.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

Dr. Barry Green

Head of CRM & Loyalty

 

Etihad Airways

P.O. Box 35566

New Airport Road

Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates

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Etihad Airways

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear sir, I departed Manchester on the 24 September 2008 to Bangkok with a return 23 October 2008 (ticket number ). The whole purpose of my trip to Thailand was to apply for a visa for my Thai girlfriend (Mrs Nirun Panurak ) to visit the UK so we could travel back to UK together as Nirun was very nervous about flying alone as it was her first flight.

 

On the 4 October 2008 I booked a return ticket at Johny-Boy Group Co Ltd Central Pattaya Road Pattaya for Nirun to travel on the same flight as myself on the 23 October 2008 with a return on the 21 January 2009 (ticket number ) . I gave the female shop assistant my credit card and she tried to use it a couple of t imes and then informed me the machine was not working and ;would have to with pay cash as the ticket was booked the ticket. I went back to my hotel and to get the the cash and paid her 34,115 baht and was given a receipt with a travelport veiwtrip print out. On the 6 October 2008 I went back to the travel agents as I did not have a electronic ticket number and was told I had to return to the travel agents in 1 hour. On my return I was given a ticket number 6074999192420 and was told everything was sorted now . I phoned Etihad at at approximately 1pm the same day who confirmed that Nirun was booked on the flight on the 23 October 2008.

 

On the 23 October 2008 we arrived at Bangkok airport at 430 pm early as I wanted to try and get a exit seat at 5pm. When we went to the check in desk I was informed that I would have to go to the ticket information desk where I was told by Mr chawalit after viewing my receipt and that ???? did not have a ticket to travel. I phoned the travel agents where i booked Nirun,s ticket and was told that the boss was out of the office so I asked Mr chawalit to speak with the travel agent he got the same reply. Mr chawalit ithen nformed me the ticket had been cancelled by the travel agent and then i informed him ethat etihad had confirmed to me on the 6 Oct 2008 that nirun had a ticket.20He said it was a common trick for travel agents to do this in thailand and that if I had booked direct with etihad in bangkok this would not have happened. Then he told that nirun would not be traveling on this flight as etihad had not been payed for the flight and she could not travel free. I asked where the police were located in the airport and he informed me i went to tourist police in the airport who informed us to go back to pattaya and report it to the local police.So went back to the etihad desk and spoke to mr chawalit and informed the police had said we should go back to pattaya and make a police report there and could he change my ticket so i could try and get the money i paid for ?????? ticket. He checked and informed me he could not do this i asked why as i had payed and changed my ticket on 2 previous flights with etihad before he replied it must have been a different ticket and this one was none changeable. I asked under the circumstances surely etihad could help and change my ticket and i would pay to do this, his respose to that was No. I asked to speak to a manager and he replied was the the duty manager. i said surely you can change my ticketthen he said i do not have the authority to do this and if i did not get on flight tonight i would have pay for another flight and told me to send HER (?????) back to pattaya to get a refund on the ticket and travel at a later date, i informed him that ????? had never travelled on a plane before and we needed to travel together, he said the only way she could travel was to buy another ticket. i asked how much i was quoted 37 thousand 37,??? and that she would have to go on standby with the other 9 people, at which point i said you can help the other people on standby if i do not travel and i stand down he replied your ticket does not allow this so i walk away i still had the etihad telephone no on my phone and phoned it i got a recorded message with another no on i phoned and spoke to a mr saris and explained what had happened he asked me to phone back in 10 minutes as he was going to try and contact the ticketing office my telephone battery was almost flat so went back to etihad desk and asked mr chawalit to telephone he asked who he was phoning i told him he got angry and asked why i had phoned and it was not his job to make long distance telephone calls i informed i needed help and told him i thought it was his job to help ethad customers or as etihad guests he spoke to mr saris i heard him say in his experience they would not change the ticket and then told me i could not change my ticket he then asked me what i wanted to do i was left with no alternative than to pay for ????? another ticket mr chawalit made me and ?????wait until approx 8 pm before we could check in we were the very last people to check in nirun was the last person on th e standby list i went to pay for the ticket and i was told it was 41,865 baht i told them it was 37,???baht mr chawalit informed me the return seat class was now not available and this was now the new ticket price it also included a 2,000 baht fee for etihad to fill in a paper ticket. the only think etihad did to help me was sell me another ticket i am still waiting for refund for the ticket from the travel agent which is over 6000 miles away from my home my girlfriend would still be in Thailand if i had have done what mr chawalit told be do to do and send HER back to sort it out this is how etihad treat its guest when their is a problem i shall be flying with qatar and emirates in the future who treat their passangers with respect iv used etihad 3 times before the only previous problem iv had was a 5 hour delay in abu dhabi .What action have you taken against the travel agent that booked this ticket ?. you should stop selling tickets to agents that do this and it would soon stop this problem or would this cost etihad too much money?I spoke to the cabin manager when we landed at abu dhabi who apologised for what had happened and emailed my complaint to etihad customer services on the 24 oct 08 and also spoke to a mr green on the 27 oct and sent him a copy of the email from the cabin manager iv had no reply to the 2 emails surely i sho uld have recived a reply within 2 weeks.

Edited December 7, 2008 by robbie123

[chuckrivera]

Sounds like the travel agent screwed up pretty bad, but I don't think it was a scam. They don't get to keep the money paid for the second ticket as it wasn't actually ticketed. No benefit at all for them.

[robbie123]

Sounds like the travel agent screwed up pretty bad, but I don't think it was a scam. They don't get to keep the money paid for the second ticket as it wasn't actually ticketed. No benefit at all for them.

The travel agent cancelled the ticket and got a refund . I paid etihad at the airport for the second ticket.