45 Euro per checked bag

What do you think would be the right thing for my travel agent to do? One leg of our air travel to reach our port is with Aegean air from London to Athens. Our TA sold us this flight, unaware that she had selected a class of service designed for travellers with no checked baggage. Because the TA had to use an outside supplier to bundle our flights, no changes are allowed. It turns out that we cannot pre-pay baggage fees and must pay at the airport....to the tune of 45 Euro per checked bag. I'm steamed. :mad:

 

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Even if these flights were booked directly on Aegean's web page, you'd have to pay the same checked bag fee for the cheapest fares with your routing. And, just doing a quick search of flight prices for your routing with random dates, I see the increase in price to the next fare that allows you to have a free checked bag, costs more than the "GoLight" fare, even if you have to pay the baggage fee.

 

It's €30 if paid in advance and €45 if paid at the airport. It's not clear to me why you can't prepay this. You should be able to do this through your TA or directly on Aegean's webpage. Have you tried?

 

I don't think your TA should do anything, but facilitate you in getting this fee prepaid. I don't think €60 -€90 in the overall scheme of your lovely vacation is worth getting steamed.

Edited April 16, 2014 by 6rugrats

It has to do with something called a "plate". No one in Canada has a plate to book with Aegean so they have to use a supplier named Hahn who books the travel. I am locked out of Aegean's site other than to update my contact details and to see my itinerary. Its been quite an education for me and for my TA. I think she shouldn't have sold me a product that she wasn't familiar with.

 

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Even if these flights were booked directly on Aegean's web page, you'd have to pay the same checked bag fee for the cheapest fares with your routing.

 

It's €30 if paid in advance and €45 if paid at the airport. It's not clear to me why you can't prepay this. You should be able to do this through your TA or directly on Aegean's webpage. Have you tried?

 

If I had booked on the website I wouldn't have this problem and I wouldn't have chosen a fare for travelers with no checked bags. LOL

 

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I understand your frustration. Nothing like thinking you got a good deal only to find out it's a lot more money.

 

I will play devil's advocate however:

1) What was the next least expensive flight you could have bought? Would it have worked out to less than the baggage charges? If so I'd ask your TA to cover the difference.

2) Would the cost of checking your bags have caused you to forgo the trip or put off booking it until you found something less expensive? If so I'd ask your TA to cover the difference.

 

I cannot put myself in your shoes but understand mistakes do happen and your TA is in business to help you. It would only seem fair that they make some effort to offset your extra costs (unless of course they have some very good weasel clauses in their paperwork).

 

To amuse myself I did go on their website and it's clear they definitely offer a cheaper fare for "Go Light" travel which states a fee per bag.

 

I'd definitely call or e-mail them (contact@aegeanair.com) to see if you can prepay for the bags to reduce your costs. They are part of the Star Alliance network so I'm sure something can be done.

 

Hope this works out for you and you don't let it bother you to the point where it impacts your vacation.

I understand your frustration. Nothing like thinking you got a good deal only to find out it's a lot more money.

 

I will play devil's advocate however:

1) What was the next least expensive flight you could have bought? Would it have worked out to less than the baggage charges? If so I'd ask your TA to cover the difference.

2) Would the cost of checking your bags have caused you to forgo the trip or put off booking it until you found something less expensive? If so I'd ask your TA to cover the difference.

 

I cannot put myself in your shoes but understand mistakes do happen and your TA is in business to help you. It would only seem fair that they make some effort to offset your extra costs (unless of course they have some very good weasel clauses in their paperwork).

 

To amuse myself I did go on their website and it's clear they definitely offer a cheaper fare for "Go Light" travel which states a fee per bag.

 

I'd definitely call or e-mail them (contact@aegeanair.com) to see if you can prepay for the bags to reduce your costs. They are part of the Star Alliance network so I'm sure something can be done.

 

Hope this works out for you and you don't let it bother you to the point where it impacts your vacation.

 

All good points. We unfortunately were not given a choice of fares, we were simply presented with an itinerary and the cost. I have no idea if the Economy fare which offers 1 free piece of checked luggage would have been a better or worse deal.

 

We leave in 3 days and had I not been overly diligent, we would not have known until we arrived at the airport to check in.

 

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Time to get a new TA.

 

This is a rookie move. We book fairly frequently on discount lines and regular air lines in Europe. We always book on their sites as it is often much cheaper than booking through NA travel sites. Most especially in Turkey. It is not a secret that on those lines that charge for bags, it is much, much cheaper to pay at time of booking than at the airport.

 

Your TA should know this. It I general industry knowledge.

Time to get a new TA.

 

This is a rookie move. We book fairly frequently on discount lines and regular air lines in Europe. We always book on their sites as it is often much cheaper than booking through NA travel sites. Most especially in Turkey. It is not a secret that on those lines that charge for bags, it is much, much cheaper to pay at time of booking than at the airport.

 

Your TA should know this. It I general industry knowledge.

 

Agreed. The reason I use a TA is to get professional travel advice for goodness sake. She is trying...I'm waiting to see what happens. I am looking for a little travel agency love here. :cool:

 

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The reason I use a TA is to get professional travel advice for goodness sake.

Then tell her that if she doesn't reimburse you the baggage fees, you're going to go and find a different travel agent who actually knows something about 21st century air travel - or, at least, a different travel agent who doesn't pretend they know what they're doing when in fact they don't.

Then tell her that if she doesn't reimburse you the baggage fees, you're going to go and find a different travel agent who actually knows something about 21st century air travel - or, at least, a different travel agent who doesn't pretend they know what they're doing when in fact they don't.

 

I see that you feel my pain!

 

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I see that you feel my pain!

Not the pain of the baggage fee, but your irritation with someone who made a mistake and isn't doing the obvious thing to put it right for the customer.

Not the pain of the baggage fee, but your irritation with someone who made a mistake and isn't doing the obvious thing to put it right for the customer.

 

Yes, exactly....and the pain of paying a baggage fee.... ;-)

 

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I have good news. My TA pulled her hair out trying to resolve this for me and from the steps she took I can tell it was as confusing for her as it was for me. She has discovered that the two airlines that we'll be using do in fact have a baggage agreement. If the stars align and everything goes according to plan, our bags should be tagged for Athens, with no need to collect them when we change airlines.

 

If that doesn't happen and we end up having to collect our bags in London and pay baggage fees, the travel agency will compensate us for 1 bag/person.

 

I am happy that the TA pulled out the stops trying to figure this out and that the agency is willing to offer a goodwill gesture if we end up being charged.

 

Now, to get those darn bags packed! Thanks for reading along and for your comments. :)

That's good news - a fair resolution.

 

Although I would still be wary about using the TA again for air travel. The TA should already have known about baggage interlining, through baggage allowances, IATA MSC rules, etc and already have found all of this out. While I'm sure she's been doing her best to help, she is obviously not that good at arranging air travel.

That's good news - a fair resolution.

 

Although I would still be wary about using the TA again for air travel. The TA should already have known about baggage interlining, through baggage allowances, IATA MSC rules, etc and already have found all of this out. While I'm sure she's been doing her best to help, she is obviously not that good at arranging air travel.

 

Agreed. It was definitely a sign of inexperience and perhaps even a tinge of arrogance (which I think this experience may have muted a bit!).

 

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