B.C. family told to pay $600 extra so mother can fly with child
Posted February 8, 2023 4:46 pm.
Last Updated February 9, 2023 2:46 pm.
A Metro Vancouver mother is speaking out about a frustrating experience she had while booking a family vacation with Norwegian Cruise Line.
Joyce Chen of Port Coquitlam thought she’d snagged a nice Black Friday cruise deal, which included flights from Vancouver to Spain.
But then it got complicated.
When she got the booking confirmation, she saw the company had split their party onto two flights. They had put Chen and her husband on one plane, and their child and her mother-in-law on a different plane.
So, she asked the company if she could switch with her mother-in-law, so she could be with her six-year-old for that long transatlantic flight.
However, she says the company wouldn’t budge.
“I was angry, to tell you the truth,” Chen told CityNews in an interview. “I was irate. I was spending hours calling them, and they were just sending me to airfare, and then I would talk to the manager. Then I said, ‘if I go to a travel agency, they would maybe ask me if we were going to travel together.’ She goes ‘no, no, no, no — you’re wrong.'”
It took multiple phone calls but she says eventually the company let the family travel together if they paid an additional $600, which they ultimately did.
But Chen isn’t happy about it.
“I just want to make everybody aware that this could happen to anybody,” Chen said. “I talked to all my friends, they were like ‘what? You’re not going to be travelling with your daughter? I can’t imagine.'”
In a statement, Norwegian Cruise Line claims Chen booked two separate reservations.
“We regret to hear of Joyce’s concerns. However, as stated in our air promotion terms & conditions, ‘all guests booked within a singular reservation will be booked on the same flight.’ In this case Joyce booked two separate cruise reservations, therefore, per our policy were not guaranteed to be on the same flight. Understanding the circumstances of their situation and as a gesture of goodwill, we honored the recently discontinued as of November 1st ‘Travel with Guarantee’ promotion, which allows guests on separate reservations the option to fly together for an additional cost.”
Chen disputes the company’s version of events, saying she booked the entire package for all four travellers in one transaction over the phone.
