My complaint:
Dear Customer Relations,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to express my deep disappointment and frustration regarding an incident that took place at Melbourne Airport involving China Southern Airlines on 24 June 2023. Despite having valid tickets and travel documents, my wife, was denied boarding by your service desk staff, citing an issue with her passport’s expiry date.
The purpose of our trip was to visit our seriously ill mothers in Bangladesh. Given the urgency of our situation, we pleaded with your staff to make an exception and allow us to proceed with our travel plans. However, we were informed that we required an exemption from the Bangladesh High Commission.
To facilitate this process, we requested an email address where the Bangladesh High Commission could send the exemption. Unfortunately, the Chaina Southern staff at Melbourne Airport did not provide us with the necessary information. Despite our continued requests to speak with a representative of Bangladesh High Commission in Canberra, while she was on the phone to talk to the Chaina Southern Airlines rep, we were not given the opportunity to address the matter directly.
We want to highlight that my wife holds a valid visa to enter Bangladesh. Furthermore, she is a Bangladeshi citizen by birth, and we offered to provide her birth certificate as proof. However, our requests were met with silence and disregard by your staff.
To resolve the situation ly, the Australian Passport Office issued my wife an urgent passport within two hours only. However, due to China Southern Airlines’ refusal to grant us access to our tickets for any further changes, we were unable to proceed with our travel plans the next day. Our travel agent Go to Gate couldn’t access our tickets to make any changes.
This was not only inconvenient but also resulted in additional costs and emotional distress.
What further perplexed us was the inconsistency in China Southern Airlines’ application of its policies. On January 2, 2019, my wife’s nephew, Mr. Haque, was allowed to travel despite having a passport that expired in just 20 days. This was the reason for my wife to be confident enough to travel with her passport which was on that day, valid for at least five more months.
This contrasting treatment gives the impression of misleading and inconsistent practices on the part of your airline.
Our attempts to contact China Southern Airlines over the weekend were met with frustration as your offices were closed. Throughout Monday, we tirelessly called your company, only to hear the same voicemail message stating that you are open on weekdays, so to call you back! This lack of accessibility and unresponsive customer service has further compounded our dissatisfaction with your airline.
We have travelled through China Southern Airlines as a family earlier as well. As loyal customers, we expected better treatment, understanding, and assistance during this difficult situation. But it was extremely disappointing and full of financial loss and mental health suffering both for us and our seriously ill mothers in Bangladesh.
We kindly request a thorough investigation into this matter and a response outlining the steps China Southern Airlines will take to rectify the situation. We hope that you will ly address our concerns and provide a resolution that compensates us for the inconvenience, stress, and additional expenses caused by this unfortunate incident.
We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to a timely response. Please contact me at the provided phone number or email address if you require any further information. We hope that our next interaction with China Southern Airlines will be a positive one, fostering trust and reliability.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Muhammad
Suggested solution:
Refund our full price for the tickets as we've not used any segments of the tickets booked.
They should also compensate for the social, mental and financial difficulties we're facing due to their irresponsible act.
