Who is responsible to pick up this TAB??

[info4u]

Hi:

On the 16th. of Sept.01, a Canadian citizen (24 year old) was returning home from Florida. He went there to build up hours towards his CPL at one of the flying schools. He is a student with U.O.T doing his Masters in Aero-space Eng.and a student for the past 5 years at University of Toronto.

His 2 way ticket with AIR TRANSAT was bought by him in Toronto. Due to the 11th Sept.disaster, he was refunded his money by the flying school as no flying could be done.

As he was checking in at Fort Lauderdale airport to return home around 3Pm, he was asked to step aside and was taken in for questioning by the FBI. His flight was leaving within 2 hours. Apparently an old 'Fragile' sticker on his suitcase of Air Malta had Arabic writing in small print caught the eye of the check-in staff and they asked the FBI to check him out! Must mention here that his father is an Airline Pilot! Blah.

The FBI asked him routine questions for an hour or so and was cleared & allowed to go.

The next flight to Toronto was 3 days away, the youngster had no money to hang on for 3 more days, that would include his stay, food and transportation.
The FBI did not bother to inform Air Transat guys that he was clean & to help him get on another flight on any other airline.
Only the sheriff( that was present at the questioning) a decent guy asked the Check in staff to help. They did not bother and said 'well he can go on the next flight on Friday. This youngster knowing no one and having no resources used his credit card ( payments for the card always made by his parents) and bought a one way ticket with Canada 3000 that was leaving within a short time.
This cost him $ 400.00.

After his return home he called Air Transat and explained his situation. They were most unhelpful and did not take responsibility. However when he could not get on his flight his seat was allocated to another standby passenger as it is the policy of charter airlines, therefore AirTransat made double money.
So far he has sent letters to Air Transat but is being made to run from pillar to post and no one wants to accept responsibility.
He has mentioned that if his problem is not resolved he will be informing the Better Business Bureau.
Who is responsible for the refund? The Check in staff who went crazy seeing an old fragile label , the FBI ?

This student is not of any Middle Eastern decent, never ever been to any such countries in his life and is an A grade student.
What avenues are open to him to address this problem?
Any advise/ help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Eboy]

You say the student appeared at the airport 2 hours ahead of time. Now, airlines operating in the U.S. advise that that, when in the U.S., domestic passengers should appear at the airport 2 hours before departure, and international passengers 3 hours before departure. I don't know if that advice was in place September 16. (You say he arrived "within 2 hours," which may have added to the suspicion of the authorities.) I was trying to fly around then, too, and a lot of procedures were not as clear as they were today. I would guess that, under U.S. law, the FBI cannot be held responsible, even though they contributed to the student's delay. I furhter guess any refund depends on the contract the student and airline agreed to when he signed for and received his ticket. In particular, the fare code would indicate to what extent the ticket was refundable. I am sorry that the student experienced that inconvenience and expense. In the U.S., when all else fails, use public relations. Try to shame the airline. Tie a couple of posters to your front and back announcing in loud letters that you were treated unfairly and march in front of corporate headquarters. You will get your refund the same day.

[sanjosebaz]

AirTransat made double money.
This, and that the check-in staff are culpable by their apparent gross over-reaction, seems to make Transat honor-bound to pay up (at least to the value of the original ticket - maybe not the replacement?). Might be worth finding a friendly reporter to take up the case - nothing like a bit of publicity to stir things up.

[ 29 October 2001: Message edited by: sanjosebaz ]

[PAXboy]

I could not agree more ... except that 'honour' does not come into it where a contract of carriage is concerned and a carrier that does not wish to establish a precedent.

It is most unfortunate that the young man did not realise the implications of being delayed and that no one would take responsibility.

'Shame' is the only option. He should contact his local paper - start with the local and work up towards the nationals. Don't try and jump to the top right away.

AT ALL TIMES show your actions to be reasonable, keep a record of all correspondence and tape record phone calls (or make good notes as you are speaking). It may take six months but he will probably get there.

[info4u]

Thanks to each of you for the time spent in helping with the input. I have emailed these to the kid.
Thanks

[Boss Raptor]

Agree - legally it's a minefield and not one you are on the right side of I think...had the search/delay be carried out by security screening staff on behalf of the airport/operator then there would be a good case that the delay was the fault of the airport/operator and therefore regardless of fare tariff a fact that 'they' delayed the passenger and caused him to miss the flight...

FBI? well one assumes that legally they were acting 'independantly' of the operator and therefore any delay caused is down to them not the operator.

Do feel the operator has behaved very badly...'shaming' is the only way, kick up a real stink up to the level of the national press etc.

Interestingly as it has been explained to me by IATA the 2 and 3 hour check in times are purely a 'guide' and not contractual however airlines seem to use them as the latter when it suits them!

[PAXboy]

'ps' to info4u

Make sure that the young man writes a full description of what happened NOW. It should be point-by-point because, if it comes to lawyers the opposition will try and say that he does remember exactly what happened.

The cheapest way to notarise this, is to post the document to yourself. When it arrives, check that the post mark is clearly visible and then store the letter, unopend, of course! If the postmark is not clear, try again and ask the post office counter clerk to manually stamp it so that it can be clearly seen.