My complaint:
I needed to change my flight due to my mother’s terminal cancer and end of life situation. The fare difference was 103gbp and the tax was 63. I booked an Aer Lingus flight via TravelUp. I ed with AerLingus ahead of time via customer service that, given the situation, they would not charge a flight change fee if I need to amend the flight. This guarantee of a fare only charge for a flight change was the main reason I booked this flight. When I needed to change the ticket on 1 March, TravelUp customer service handled the request very poorly, in particular Jenna Summers and Ajif Kahn. AerLingus explained to me that TravelUp needed to contact them to get the change fee waived. I had to insist that TravelUp do this, across many phone calls, and repeating myself, as staff argued with me. They always had an excuse as to why they could not do this. It was only my persistence and insistence, taking many hours of my time that I was supposed to be spending with my dying mother, that achieved this. Additionally, the staff and in particular Jenna Summers spoke over me and argued with me repeatedly. Jenna insisted they could not waive the TravelUp administrative fee, telling me it was impossible, which is incorrect given the situation. At the same time, Jenna said they had waived 25gbp of the administrative fee ‘as a goodwill gesture’ but insisted that they could not waive the entire fee, charging me 50gbp. Jenna also kept insisting that TravelUp must have either an official or discretionary policy regarding their ability to waive administrative fees in an end of life situation. They prolonged the simple process of a ticket change for a very distressing situation for over 24 hours. Staff always had an excuse–the time zone, the weekend, that they had already called me (at a time I told them I would be asleep due to the time zone). The staff knew the situation–that my mother was dying–and yet still persisted to argue, be defensive, and make excuses.
Suggested solution:
TravelUp should refund me the 50gbp administrative fee they charged me to change my ticket. I also request a written apology from their senior management and a travel voucher to cover the cost of a direct flight from London to Boston, Logan Airport, to make up the lost time with my family that they took by making this process so time consuming and energy intensive in a terrible time. This is the very least they can do.
