StephD99

Hi,

Here's the situation. I'm leaving August 22nd from Montreal --> Managua (Nicaragua).

I booked the tickets in early June. I checked, printed and screen shot, the baggage policy. It was $65 USD to transport a bike if purchased in advance, or $75 USD if purchased at airport.

This week, as I had the cash flow to purchase the baggage charges for two bikes, I went online to pay. SURPRISE! As of July 1st they raised the price to $150 usd!

I've called customer support, they are totally unhelpful. I've emailed, I got back what could only be described as a bad google translate of gibberish, their response literally made no sense. I've messaged on FB, no reply yet.

Should I just show up at airport and be like "here's my screen shot, I'm only paying $65"? What kind of options do I have?? $150 usd is more than double and not exactly in budget.

Any tips, thoughts, advice welcome. I'm really desperate and feeling really down. I've been so pumped for this trip.

linus

Shame on you. How dare you complain about others not speaking your language. I don't hear you trying to speak their language. If you are Canadian, act like one.

You can try to be a d*** and say whatever you want, but you are at their mercy. I would suggestyou to be nice and explain your situation. Otherwise, just cough up the dough and not ruin your trip.

saddlesores

sorry, you're out of luck. simply booking the ticket doesn't amount to much contractually.
you're lucky they didn't raise the fares, some airlines only hold the booking for 24 hours.
if you had purchased the ticket at that time, then the rules at the time of booking should apply.

but booking ("holding") your seats 2-1/2 months out? not really reasonable; stuff changes.

you can either pay the new rate or change your plans.....

if $75 blows the budget, is it wise to head off on a tour to south america?

jefnvk

I'd keep trying customer service until you find someone amenable to you.

StephD99

you misunderstand...
I purchased the tickets in June. Those are bought and paid for. It's the baggage policy that changed post-ticket purchase.

And ya... when a price goes from $65 to $150 USD, and means it will cost $300 USD to fly with my bike instead of $130USD (it's $150 each way)it's kind of a big price jump.

Maybe you have an extra $170 USD (which is about $225 CAD) lying around to be casual about... but I don't. and I rather find a solution then lay out that kind of money just to fly with the bike.

gauvins

1. You may want to call the OPC in order to know your rights. You may argue that there was a contract at the time of your booking, such that the $75 fee applies to your situation. I would also call Velo Quebec and calmly explain the situation. They might feel that this is worth looking into - bike fees are becoming increasingly close to gouging.

2. Even if you don't have solid grounds, the circumstances could make a threat to file a small claims court credible. That will possibly trigger a sequence of events ending in grudgingly allowing you to fly your bike for $75.

3. If this airline uses a terminal to print boarding passes, you might be lucky and get your bike on board for free, if it is your only piece of checked luggage. The terminal will dispense the luggage tag along with your boarding pass. Proceed to the oversize drop and you are all set.

---

Airlines are legally required to provide adequate service in both official languages. Imagine if foreign carriers were only able to deal in their own language (Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, etc.) Nonsense. This behaviour in and of itself may provide leverage for your case. Pretend that this is a clear case of misunderstanding and pray.

jefnvk

Just out of curiosity, have you actually logged into your reservation and seen if the old pricing is still an option for you? When I went to Iceland from Toronto, the three of us bought tickets spread out over a couple months, and all of us had different baggage options based on when we purchased our tickets. The policies in place at the time of booking stayed with each of us (and two of us even got additional cabin baggage!).

As gauvins mentioned, may be worth checking with whatever Canada has locally for "flyers rights". As far as I have always experienced, whenever baggage changes between booking and the flight, the rules in time at the time of booking is what the person is given, but I honestly don't know if that is legally mandated or company policy.

indyfabz

You wrote this:

"It was $65 USD to transport a bike if purchased in advance, or $75 USD if purchased at airport." (Emphasis added.)


Just got to ask: Why didn't you simply purchase the bike transportation in advance? If I am missing something and you did, I would bet they will honor that purchase.

Tourist in MSN

Did they send you an e-mail with confirmation that had more of the fine print included in the e-mail? Does that help?

derath

You missed it. He clearly state in his OP:

"This week, as I had the cash flow to purchase the baggage charges for two bikes,"

indyfabz

I did indeed.


Tending to agree @saddlesores implication that OP's margins may be too thin.

derath

Not to go off on a tangent as well but I would agree. Too late now but I would have locked all that in at time of purchase, even if it meant taking a small hit on some credit card interest.

Machka 

Yup. That happens. And you pay whatever they indicate in the new policy. That's life when you travel.

Squeezebox

Sorry for the stupid question, but I don't fly, extremely rarely.
So does that mean if I buy the baggage ticket when I but the flight ticket that the price of baggage stays?

nfmisso

Yes. Once you have paid for it, they can't legally change it - BUT; if you have been following the news this year, airlines in general don't seem to care much about legalities.

jefnvk

Yep. The cannot change the price of anything once you have bought it.

Squeezebox

I looked up a flight for my son recently. $140 I went back the next day to buy it and $230.
I was unhappy!
The voices told me they were after me. I've started sleeping in the basement. But the damn Alum foils caps just don't last very long. Any suggestions?

indyfabz

+1. As the old expression goes: You snooze, you lose.


OP: It would seem as if it's up to the good graces of the airline. Good luck. Maybe it will cut you a break. I'd be quite nice when dealing with the people there.

Machka 

Yes, it should.

But if you don't buy the baggage ticket when you buy the flight ... if you wait several weeks ... anything could happen. And airlines are known for changing policies about as often as some change their underwear.

Sangetsu

These things happen. I was looking at hotels last month through different sites, and all had the same price. I booked the hotel through one of the sites. Every week as the day I was interested in gets nearer, I get mails from the other sites, and every week the prices goes up. Prices are now 40% higher than they were last month.

To get the lowest price you have to book and pay quite far in advance.

And $150 is the standard price most airlines charge for shipping bikes.

Shame on you. How dare you complain about others not speaking your language. I don't hear you trying to speak their language. If you are Canadian, act like one.

In the southwest part of America where I grew up, most people (including myself) can understand Spanish, though fewer Spanish-speakers seem to understand English. Now I live in Japan, whenever I call a Japanese airline, the representatives speak good English. When I sometimes try to make arrangements with American carriers, I end up getting reps in India or the Philippines, whom I sometimes cannot understand.

FBinNY 

I sympathize, but he did understand, and so do I.

You have a contract for your flight and they'll honor that, but unless you ordered the 2 bicycle baggage checks, you have no contract for that and the airline has no legal or moral obligation.

So, your only options are to beg, sell them on the idea that it would be the right thing to honor the old price or find a workaround.

FWIW - I never check my bikes as bikes. I have two "body bag" duffel bags, each big enough for either a frame with the fork out, or two wheels. I line the bags with 1/2" sheets of EPS foam to protect whatever might migrate to the edges.

I break my bike down and pack it into the bags, using the rest of my stuff as packing material. I usually end up with too much space, so I add stuff like rolls of paper towels or any light bulky material. The bags a re technically a bit oversize, but I stay within the weight limits, and bank on the crew not wanting to measure a soft bag, and they never do. Likewise they don't measure things like golf, hockey, or dive bags which are all similar in size, so it's not blind luck.

So, depending on the airline and ticket, one is free, and the other might be charged as the 1st extra bag which is usually pretty nominal.

BTW - nobody asks about the contents, and I have no reason to bring it up.

FBinNY 

Yes, like any other contract, it's effective the moment money is given and accepted. Prior to that it's just talk, ir a quote, but not a contract.

jefnvk

The one thing I would mention about this, is that at the time the ticket was purchased, the option was to to pay the $75 at the airport at check-in for the bike. There was no obligation to buy at time of booking.

My experience has always been that when baggage rules are changed, the policy in effect at the time of ticket purchase is the one that applies to the customer. However, I don't know if that is legally mandated, or just the policy of the various airlines I've dealt with this on before.

Tourist in MSN

I agree. That is why I asked above (in post number 9 above) if they sent an e-mail with more of the fine print in it. I remember many years ago that after I bought a ticket an airline (I do not recall which one) changed their fee schedule for baggage but the policy in effect when I bought the ticket was still valid for me, I was grandfathered in.

Machka 

That has not been my experience. Mine has been that whatever the policy is at the moment ... that's the one they're going with.


However, I will add this ... it is often up to the check-in person. The check-in people seem to have a lot of power. So we've discovered that if you get there really early, and if you're among the first 10 people in line, and if you go with a great attitude of friendliness and kindness and cheerfulness ... they may cut you a break of some sort.

But if you get there late and the check-in people have already dealt with 101 grumpy and irritated passengers, and are grumpy and irritated themselves, and then especially if you're rushed and hassled and grumpy and irritated too ... they can throw all the charges at you, or at least not be at all helpful or sympathetic.