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Help! My baggage didn’t make the connection

February 20, 2010

Question: I am a Marine based in Nicosia, Cyprus. I have a situation, and I am looking for some guidance.

I recently bought tickets from Travelocity for my fiancee, Cara. Her return itinerary had her flying from Cyprus to Athens and then on to Munich on a Lufthansa flight operated by Aegean Airlines.

Her stopover in Athens was 50 minutes, which was not a problem. But when we checked in at Cyprus, she was only given a boarding pass to Athens and was told to pick up another boarding pass in Athens after retrieving her luggage. It didn’t make sense.

To make a long story short, I contacted Travelocity but Cara missed her connection in Athens and had to pay $250 to change her flight, and had to stay in a hotel for the night until the next day, which also wasn’t cheap.

I don’t know if this is just a mix up and we just got the short end of the stick, or if there is something we can do. Any help would be greatly appreciated. – Joshua Smith, Nicosia, Cyprus

Answer: Cara should have been able to check her baggage all the way through to Munich, no questions asked. When you phoned Travelocity, they should have given you a straight answer about why that wasn’t possible and helped you and your fiancee figure out a solution.


Turns out Cara’s ticket was issued by Lufthansa but operated by Aegean — what’s called a “code share” flight. Aegean didn’t have a baggage agreement with Cara’s next carrier, United Airlines. That meant she would have to re-check her bags, according to Travelocity.

That should have been explained to Cara at the time she booked her ticket, or at the very least when you phoned the online travel agency. The issue also should have raised a red flag with the customer service agent to whom you spoke, since a 50-minute connect time is hardly enough to collect your checked baggage and re-check it.

None of that happened.

Several questions come to mind. First, how can airlines sell a ticket on one of its own flights and then outsource it to another carrier? Isn’t that like ordering a pizza but getting a plate of spaghetti?

Second, how can your online agency allow you to book a flight with less than an hour to connect and fail to tell you that you’ll have to pick up your luggage? And finally, why didn’t your agent do something when alerted to the close connection?

If this ever happens to you again, don’t take an agent’s answer as final. Appeal to a supervisor, either by phone or e-mail. Call the airline and find out if you have any options. Lufthansa or United could have helped Cara by rescheduling her flight or offering her a room for the night, in case she missed her connection.

You might have prevented this by booking your airfare through a conventional travel agency. A competent travel adviser would have seen the connection time, noticed the lack of baggage agreement, and found a better flight for Cara. When you’re dealing with an automated system like an online travel agency, that’s not always possible.

Travelocity did the right thing by rescheduling Cara on the next available flight. She shouldn’t have been charged for the change, and it could have prevented her from wasting a day at the Athens airport by fixing this problem when you phoned the first time.

I contacted Travelocity on your behalf. It apologized for the difficulties and sent you a $250 certificate that can be used for a future trip.

(Photo: puritani35/Flickr Creative Commons)

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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18 comments

  • http://oussamastake.blogspot.com/ Oussama

    It might sound inefficient but I do not book international flights with connecting times of less than 3 hours. With delays (ATC and weather), security and the need to recheck baggage sometimes, it is worth the time.

  • Josh

    Outside of all the other issues (code sharing, who should have known baggage couldn’t be checked through, etc), a voucher simply isn’t acceptable here, at least not for the $250 flight change cost. A voucher as “compensation” may be okay sometimes (perhaps for the hotel that she shouldn’t have had to use), but not to reimburse for the flight cost that she simply didn’t morally owe, having paid in full for the transportation already.

    This may work differently depending on where the OP lives/has their credit cards, but if Travelocity charged it, I’d dispute the $250 charge immediately on arrival. Even if it was charged by the airline I’d probably dispute it and then demand the airline to work with Travelocity to resolve it.

    Travelocity dropped the ball here, and while an apology can make up for the inconvenience, a “voucher” doesn’t make up for an illegal charge.

  • Joe Farrell

    “Thank you for calling the quickie mart, how may I help you.” Say that in your best subcontinent accent and you have Travelocity’s customer service.

    They are script readers. End of story. They know nothing about travel and they cannot help you. For help, you must find the right word to use which the script tells them they need to call back to the States to get answered. THEN you will get help. Obviously, Josh and Cara did not find the right word.

    But, then, you get what you pay for – and flying on Aegean Airlines seems like a risk no matter what . ..

  • Carrie Charney

    I think the cost of her hotel room should have also been included in the voucher plus a modest food allowance.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Chris: “why didn’t your agent do something when alerted to the close connection?”

    Because they are not travel agents…they are script readers. It is my guess that the majority of the ‘travel agents’ that work for Travelocity has never left the city where they are employed or have traveled internationally (i.e. US to Europe, US to Asia, etc.).

    Travelcity should have refuneded the $ 250 not a certificate (it doesn’t cost them $ 250 for that $ 250). Also, they should have paid for the hotel room.

    The moral of the story is to deal with a professional brick & mortar travel professional not an Internet website where it is nearly impossible for them to point out the short connection time, the lack of a baggage agreement and etc.

  • Carver Farrow

    Normally it grates on my ears to here the oft repeated mantra, “always book with a real travel agent” Usually the advice is just ridiculous. However, in this case, it might be good advice. If the OP is not a sophisticated traveler, then the help of a TA for an international trip might be warranted.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Carver Farrow: “Normally it grates on my ears to here the oft repeated mantra, “always book with a real travel agent” Usually the advice is just ridiculous”

    The majoirty of the problems that Chris Elliott write about are from inexperienced travelers and it seems like most of their problems are related to dealing with online travel websites. In this situation, a professional brick & mortar travel agent would have pointed out the problems.

    I travel for business and I have been booking my flights (over 100 flights per year) and hotels (over 100 nights a year) since the mid\late 90s. Since most of my flights are direct flights and I have been traveling to the same cities for years, I don’t need the services of a travel agent. However, I use the services of a traditional travel agent when taking my family on vacation outside of North America. One benefit of using a traditional travel agent is that if you have a travel problem, they are there to solve the problem which is very helpful when you are in a foregin country.

    I am not saying that all traditional travel agents are professional, competent and good. There are bad traditional travel agents. The key is to find a good one that matches the services that you need and etc.

  • JERRY

    EXPERIENCE HAS SHOWN THAT DEALING WITH A GOOD TRAVEL AGENT WHO USES A GOOD CONSOLIDATER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL – PRODUCES A BETTER FLIGHT EXPERIENCE AND IN MANY CASES A CHEAPER COST – THEY ALSO GIVE GREAT ADVICE – I CANNOT TALK TO MY COMPUTER – WHEN I HAD A PROBLEN WITH AN AIRLINE THEY TOOK CARD OF IT IMMEDIATELY – I DONT UNDERSTAND THE FACINATION WITH BOOKING BLINDLY ON LINE

  • Chicky

    I usually book travel online. It’s faster and easier. However, except in rare cases, I do not book with an online travel company. I’ll check several travel sites to get an idea of who has the best fares, but I book directly with the airline. Most airline web sites will alert travelers to close connections or long layovers, and you can see the itinerary before you ever hit the “book” button.
    I would probably also book directly with the airline for a simple international itinerary, for example, roundtrip from Atlanta to London. No stops, no layovers. However, for anything beyond that, especially on a complex international trip, I’d go with a brick and mortar travel agent every time, for just the reasons listed.
    Nevertheless, Travelocity should have offered a cash refund of the $250, not a voucher.

  • Thalassa

    I am a very experienced traveler, and I even do bookings for my company, but all of our travel is within the US. If I were doing an overseas trip, I would certainly try to go to a travel agent and get some backup.

  • Zally

    An excellent example of why people should work with a travel professional…

  • http://waynedayton.tripod.com Wayne Dayton

    More than anything, this is the fault of Lufthansa, code-sharing with Aegean, and passing itself off as “seamless travel” through the fallacy of Star Alliance. This is clearly consumer deception of the highest degree. One buys a LH ticket..to connect to UA…and both of these sanctimonius bully-carriers harp on endlessly about their “seamless travel” tripe…which it is not. And to think that these morons want to bring Aegean into this alliance of mediocrity…and they don’t even an interline agreement now, but they are somehow good enough to ask to be “partners” with??? I would take LH to Small Claims Court…any judge will clearly see their deceptive marketing practises instantly, plus you will win by default as they won’t be bothered to send anyone to court.

  • Mike

    Along the lines of “always book with a travel agent because of stuff like this”… I read a news story linked to in my local city’s paper. Delta airlines now will charge people an extra $50 (on top of the $150 change fee) for those people who originally booked through a travel agent. Is it just me or are the airlines really looking at having Congress come up with all sorts of rules and restrictions like they did with credit card companies?

    Oh, and I agree with the others who said that the hotel and meals shuld have been paid for as well with a refund, not just a voucher.

  • Rae

    The occasional traveler rarely reads travel blogs and websites. They probably don’t subscribe to travel magazines and read ombudsman or troubleshooting columns.

    What they do is watch tv and see countless ads from Travelocity and Expedia telling them how they can book their next complicated, exotic vacation for less. Travelocity is even the major sponsor of The Amazing Race, which leads one to believe that they can get you from San Francisco to Quito to Manila, all in the same trip.

    Joe & Judy Regular may not even know that traditional travel agencies exist any more.

  • Kevin M

    That travel voucher, to me, sends this message: “We’re SO sorry we screwed you. Come back again, and let us screw you again, we just won’t charge you the second time around.”

    It’s for reasons like this that I just can’t see the wisdom of dealing with a company like Travelocity, Expedia, or whomever. It adds another layer of buck-passing when something goes wrong, and it adds another layer of cost that has to be paid for, somehow.

  • BucksterSF

    I also don’t get travel vouchers given as solutions. You have a bad experience with something you paid cash for, you should get some or all of that cash back. You didn’t get what you paid for, why would you want more?

  • BucksterSF

    @ all the folks who say they should have worked witha travel agent…..

    Everyone I have ever spoken to when they have had a problem with a trip the travel agent has said “I only book these things – I have no control over .”
    That’s why I don’t use them anymore, not cost.

  • Julia

    I’ve learned SO much from Chris’ ‘Troubleshooter’ reports that makes me better aware of pitfalls when planning trips. I agree–in Joshua’s case a voucher was totally unacceptable; like Kevin and BucksterSF, I feel if the first time was a flop, why would Cara want to use them again?!

    Only trip I booked online was in Feb. when California brother-in-law wanted to be in Vancouver during Winter Olympics. Difficult finding room for five but discovered one “two-bedroom suite,” though really apprehensive about $950 damage deposit; called and Expedia agent–checking with supervisor–said yes, if no damage the deposit would be refunded.

    So that part was all positive: simple, quick, friendly, with immediate e-mail confirmation/follow-up; clerks in Vancouver also quick, competent. However, it was a residence building not a hotel (we’d heard hotel companies paid Vancouverites to vacation so their homes could be rented to Olympics visitors); nothing in the lobby but a bank of mailboxes, no clerk, restaurant, pool, gym … any kind of hotel amenities.

    “Second bedroom” was box spring on frame set in obvious dining space, in a corner between galley kitchen/living room, bedskirt for bottom sheet, comforter as top covering; sofa-bed had 1″ (literally … I measured) foam pad, BIL felt every piece of support wire; shower curtain let out a flood which crept down hall to kitchen, and a chair collapsed under my cousin, NOT a heavyweight. (No problem with damage deposit, fortunately; probably afraid we’d sue for resultant neck pain.)

    While not a horrible experience, just reinforces commitment of using a travel agent. My husband’s vacation desire is cruising (upcoming Panama Canal trip will be his 6th, my 7th) and all of those went very smoothly because of Edith; he also sent my mother, aunt, cousin, and I to U.K. (24-day train and canal-boat adventure) and Ireland (week’s driving/B&B trip).

    She’s very competent, skilled, and experienced, and has been to all the places I’ve so far been lucky enough to visit. I do hours and hours of internet research beforehand (50+ for U.K. trip: plane/train schedules, attractions and hours of operation, canal boat itineraries, rental car options), then she makes the arrangements. And I always get trip insurance.

    I attribute my hassle-free vacations to Edith’s knowledge, and her care in arranging our trips. And when our 9-person family trip (Garden Villa suite on Norwegian Dawn to Western Caribbean) became a 7-person voyage (BIL recovering from stem-cell transplant, wife contracting a mystery ailment) she worked very hard to get us our money back, though it was only a month before cruise date.

    I don’t know how many hours she’s spent since 1979 on trips for me/my family, but I really keep her busy, and … they only charge $35 a person! Definitely worth it. And when I read some of the trials of Chris’ desperate correspondents, I feel really glad my town has such a great agent. My only fear is that she’ll be retiring before I’m done traveling … though she said I always plan such exciting trips she CAN’T retire. :)

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