Six days of vacation lost… Claire, 56, her daughter, her uncle and her aunt went last week to Toulouse-Blagnac airport to catch their plane which was to take them to Quito in Ecuador for four weeks of vacation family. But the trip did not go as planned. “I booked my tickets in March on the internet via the airline Avianca, I paid 5,000 euros for four people. We had to do Toulouse-Madrid then we took another flight to Bogota before a last one for Quito. Quickly, I had an email telling me about a change of schedules then nothing more so I did not worry, ”says this mother who lives in Plaisance-du-Touch. But, a few days before departure, it was impossible for her to obtain her boarding pass. The family decides to go to the airport to resolve the situation. “The ground staff told us that our reservation number did not match and that they had no control over this type of problem”, says this passenger.

For long minutes, the family hopes that this is a mistake and that everything will quickly return to normal. “They called officials, dragged the plane for several minutes to try to get us on board but impossible,” adds the fifty-year-old. It is therefore with suitcases under their arms that the family returns home.

Dozens of emails sent

For several days, this mother spends hours on the phone trying somehow to get an answer. The two airlines with which she was to travel “relate the ball”. “I can only reach call centers and I never had an answer”. So very uplifted, six days later, Claire will send dozens and dozens of emails to finally get an answer. “I spent six hours writing it to make everything clear, I wrote it in several languages,” she says. And when she loses hope, she receives a phone call. “I was called on Monday July 25 to ask me if I was available the next day to board for Quito”. A proposal accepted by the family. “I had already booked the accommodation, the rental car, I am told at least we can leave”, admits, Claire still disgusted for the six days of lost vacation but she puts it into perspective. “I travel a lot so I know there are hazards,” she notes.

She wants to testify in order to point out the difficulty in making herself heard with the airlines. “I had to send a message almost to the whole world to get a response, it seems crazy to me and it is not normal. I tell myself that in all the emails sent, I was lucky but without that, I would have lost my 5,000 euros in plane tickets, ”laughs the Toulousaine. Solicited by us, the two airlines had not yet formulated a response yesterday.