Post by pigeonpie on Oct 13, 2009 21:45:54 GMT
Spanair refuses to allow a woman to board her flight to Bolivia due to excess baggage
A 55-year old Bolivian woman who had booked a 1,128 euro two-day journey back to her homeland was refused permission to board a Spanair flight at Menorca airport on the first leg of her voyage.
Having checked in her luggage around midday, the woman was preparing to board the flight just after 1500 hrs. when she was stopped by a ground stewardess who considered her hand luggage to be excessive. According to the passenger she was carrying three items; a handbag, a small document case and a paper bag holding a blanket and overcoat for use during the long hours between flights on the different stages of her journey. However, Spanair maintains that she had five items of hand luggage weighing a total of 20 kilos, equivalent to the total baggage allowance.
With only 25 euros in her purse, the passenger was unable to pay the 150 euros demanded by the stewardess. A fellow passenger offered to pay the excess baggage charge but this was refused by the airline’s representative, the company later explaining that such payments had to be made at the check-in desks and, as the flight was already boarding, there was not enough time for this to be done. The woman was not allowed to board the flight which took off ten minutes later than scheduled.
The passenger contacted her travel agency to book another flight to Madrid but lacked the 425 euros needed for the ticket to the Spanish capital which would have allowed her to make the second connection.
The following day the travel agent, Viajes Crisol, was trying to recover the money paid out for some of the legs of the journey but Air Comet, the airline for the Madrid-Lima stage, was asking for a penalty of around 640 euros and the Lima-La Paz flight would not be refunded. The agent explained that the problem was that there were no places on some of the connecting flights and that the woman may have to spend two nights in Lima.
A 55-year old Bolivian woman who had booked a 1,128 euro two-day journey back to her homeland was refused permission to board a Spanair flight at Menorca airport on the first leg of her voyage.
Having checked in her luggage around midday, the woman was preparing to board the flight just after 1500 hrs. when she was stopped by a ground stewardess who considered her hand luggage to be excessive. According to the passenger she was carrying three items; a handbag, a small document case and a paper bag holding a blanket and overcoat for use during the long hours between flights on the different stages of her journey. However, Spanair maintains that she had five items of hand luggage weighing a total of 20 kilos, equivalent to the total baggage allowance.
With only 25 euros in her purse, the passenger was unable to pay the 150 euros demanded by the stewardess. A fellow passenger offered to pay the excess baggage charge but this was refused by the airline’s representative, the company later explaining that such payments had to be made at the check-in desks and, as the flight was already boarding, there was not enough time for this to be done. The woman was not allowed to board the flight which took off ten minutes later than scheduled.
The passenger contacted her travel agency to book another flight to Madrid but lacked the 425 euros needed for the ticket to the Spanish capital which would have allowed her to make the second connection.
The following day the travel agent, Viajes Crisol, was trying to recover the money paid out for some of the legs of the journey but Air Comet, the airline for the Madrid-Lima stage, was asking for a penalty of around 640 euros and the Lima-La Paz flight would not be refunded. The agent explained that the problem was that there were no places on some of the connecting flights and that the woman may have to spend two nights in Lima.
