Boarding pass with wrong name issued after on line check in
 

Hello,

I have a question regarding a problem with a flight. Hope this is the right place to post it. I am sure there have been similar so if someone could point me to an existing thread that would be appreciated.

a friend of mine was flying this morning with Transavia from Paris. She did an online check in last night and printed the boarding pass. When she arrived at the gate it turned out her boarding pass was issued in a different name - a person she does not know and has never heard of. Seems like some kind of software glitch with the check in process?

Of course she was not allowed to board and had to go back to the desk to sort it out. And of course owing to the delay this introduced she missed the original flight. She caught a later flight but was charged extra for it. Does not seem right since the error seems to lie with the airline. My friend tried to sort this out at the check in desk but she was told to put in a complaint and request for a refund online - so hardly a proactive approach to resolving the issue.

What is the best way to go forward with this? Is there a set EU procedure she can follow to lodge the complaint and have the best chance of getting her money back?


Best regards,

Golf-Sierra

In reverse order.

No, EU261 doesn't cover this, although if she can prove negligence/error by Transavia, this should fall under denied boarding

Do the following:
Document the correct name linked to the PNR in the reservation.
Document that the PNR on the boarding pass is identical to the PNR in the reservation
Document her true identity matching the original booking with a passport scan

Send copies of these documents by registered mail to Mattijs ten Brink, CEO and outline your demands. i.e. refund of the difference between the booked fand flown fares and compensation for denied boarding

Depending on the delay and distance, compensation ranges from €150 to €600 asper https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...r/index_en.htm

This is totally evil, but happens all the time. I once arrived earlier than previously planned at an intermediate stop where a change of carrier was involved. I asked if there was a seat available on the earlier flight than the one I was booked on, and about to depart ? Yes, Oh ! good, I have my later flight boarding pass, no luggage, can I go now ? Yes, welcome, pay me $50. Why ? Administrative fee. What ? I agree that if I had contacted you before arrival you might have had some massive amount of admin. to complete, but here I am, there is the gate about to close, I have no luggage, you don't provide catering ( a local puddle-jumper ) and you say that there is a seat available that is "free" seating, no seat numbers have to be issued, I just walk on. No. OK, if I fill one of your empty seats now, you may be able to re-sell my previous one for the afternoon flight. No, only if you pay us $50. Get stuffed, and I sat in front of the desk for the rest of the time reading my book and occasionally laughing at them. But of course they didn't care.

In those circumstances, particularly with no seat assignments, I'd have been tempted just to go to the gate and board with the rest of the pax. If stopped or challenged, just feign innocence and you've lost nothing.

It's a bit more tricky if your boarding pass has a seat assignment and you end up sitting on someone's knee. :O

I didn't say that it was guaranteed to work, just that I would try. :O

About 20 years ago I went from Stockholm to Brussels for the day for a meeting. My outbound flight was delayed and I actually got to the meeting just as it ended. I was booked to return with SAS at 17.00 but had hoped to maybe get on to a 15.00 Sabena flight if the meeting was short. I got to the airport about 15.10 and went to check in for the 17.00 where I was asked if I would be prepared to take an earlier flight of they gave me $100 USD cash. I pointed out that there wasn't an earlier flight and they told me that the 15.00 Sabena flight was delayed until 16.15. So I took my $100 and went to check in at about 15.20 for the delayed 15.00 flight where I was given a voucher to buy some food or drink due to the delay.

Look at it from a process perspective: Ypu've got low-salaried staff - possibly from a sub-contractor - performing a single task: checking in passengers for their booked flight with a number of simple criteria. On time? Luggage within limits? Docs OK? Here's your boarding pass, here are your baggage tags. Go to the gate.
Add complexity by asking them to do something that a) they can't do at check-in (they're unlikely to have access to Inventory) and for which they're not trained and it's no surprise that there's a case for introducing a disincentive. Yes, the carrier could possibly re-sell the seat on the later flight (or an ID passenger gets to fly), but they're marginal revenues at best and pale in comparison with the impact of a clogged ticket desk tasked with managing complexer issues

I was obviously talking to a Jobsworth. Not a major, busy terminal, all I had to do was go out of the nearby exit and walk across the apron to a 22 seat puddle jumper starting to board, not even a "security, shoes off" check. ( still isn't ) Doesn't Discretion and Responsibility and Customer Satisfaction mean anything ?

Unfortunately the exit door does have a bar-code scanner for the boarding pass, so I would have needed a valid one for that flight number, and "someone" would have had to ask the Captain to amend the loadsheet to add one more pax, but does that cost $50. ?

The airline loses less money from the occasional seat that flies empty when it could have been filled than it saves by not having to pay for staff who can exercise initiative.

There are two factors here:

1. If the Agent gives in to the request, others will observe this. How then do you reapply the rules? When do you stop accepting requests and say it's against the rules - if there are witness' to the rules being broken?
2. Standardisation is what brings prices down.

Of course I got home when expected, finished my book in peace, and wasn't nagged to "mow the lawn," "take out the garbage" etc. so I suppose it was a "win, win" for everybody.

Still stupid tho' Does the word "commonsense" not appear in the OED anymore ?

Beancounter-flavoured management and commonsense tend to be immiscible...

Perhaps under 'common' and 'sense' but not necessarily in the portmanteau form!

Whether we like it or not, standarisation and 'sliced' pricing (to keep the headline price low) is how western commerce now operates. This has spread across many areas and one of it's earliest forms was the motor car sales pitch. "Ah, if Sir would like the British Racing Green colour - that is only available on the XLE model" etcetera.

Your only option is buy and 'Agree To Terms and Conditions' - or Not.

The way passengers are treated now is disgraceful - thank god I am retired - If I had to work under such crappy procedures and such money grabbing ethics I would be sent off to an anger management course where I would gladly tell them to get F***D lol

At BMA LHR I was Pax and Ops D/O 1977-85
We always got our pax away if they were late or turned up early - they want to go home or get to their meeting --- no money exchanged - they had bought a ticket and it suited us to get them away and not have them hanging around

In the 21st Century, the customer is not always right ... I am waiting to see if the next big recession/depression turns the tables and service starts to be the key factor once again in order to get the money in the door.