Or in other words – delays, cancellations and compensation
After last year’s Tishrei holidays (the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur and Succot), over which we stayed in Israel and jammed in every possible traffic jam on our way to another family feast with Itay in the car, who was then less than two years old, and we did not really hiked around the country because we’re just not the kind that “hikes” (not to mention the crowds during the holidays), and we also did not really rest on the days off because as I said Itay was almost two years old, and after I needed psychiatric rehabilitation (not really, but bear with the exaggeration), I decided – no more! This year we don’t stay in Israel!
In all the madness, I soon realized I wanted to be back in Thailand. I want the calm, peace and pampering it has to offer, and actually pass the holidays in the opposite to last year way.
This is the first post in a series of posts that together will complete the entire experience. Stay with me and wait for more.
So let’s start from the beginning.
ORDERING AIRLINE TICKETS
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS (CANCELLATION AND NEW ORDER)
I bought the tickets already in December. Because we flew with Itay (2.9 during the trip) I preferred direct flights and minimize connections as much as possible. The last thing I need at such distances is a toddler who does not cooperate in a short connection. That’s why I bought the tickets at El Al at a not very attractive price, but I did not want to wait and risk the price will go up. Thailand is a very popular destination among Israelis during the holidays. Especially since all the vacation days this year fell in the middle of the week. This allowed the average person to take a month’s vacation at the price of 8 days off.
At the same time, Smartair and Trip Guaranty launched a joint offer: free cancellation for any reason. This is quite important when buying expensive flights a lot of time in advance and especially when traveling with small children.
A month later, Arkia launched flights to Bangkok for $350. In a quick calculation, I realized that if I cancel El Al tickets and buy tickets with Arkia (on slightly different dates) I save almost $1,000 even after paying the deductible for Trip Guaranty. And so I did.
A comparison between Arkia’s website and Skyscanner has produced cheaper results on Skyscanner for the same flight with Arkia – Go Go Arkia! The tickets were purchased through Tripsta, which as I mentioned were found through the Skyscanner search engine. (The company closed even before the flight took off, but had no effect on the tickets we had).
* About the flight delay, implications and compensation, continue reading the post.
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS
It took me some time to book the domestic flights. In general, I did not take the time to decide if we would like to stay in Bangkok for a few days or not.
When we decided (not to stay even for a day) I searched the Skyscanner engine and signed up for notifications for flights from Bangkok to Koh Samui during the hours that interested me. It is best to leave 3 hours for the connection between flights in both directions, especially if you buy tickets separately and have to pick up your luggage and check in again.
At the beginning of the follow-up the price changes were minor and about a month and a half before the flight I began to see a significant discount. When I saw a few days after the significant deduction that the change once again became minor I went to the site that offered them at the cheapest price (I usually find that it is not on the airline’s website but a certain agent) and bought the tickets with Bangkok Airways via Mytrip.
Tip: I recommend Bangkok Airways over Thai company, which is considered better, for two reasons: they have a lot of flights throughout the day on this line. If something goes wrong with the international flight (as happened to us, on that later), there’re many alternative options. And the other reason, they are cheaper :).
FLIGHTS AND AIRPORTS
BEN-GURION AIRPORT – TEL-AVIV
I will not elaborate here. I will just say that my lesson from this flight is to attempt to fly during Saturday. Given that in the period of our departure, a million and a half! Israelis (out of the 8 million who live in Israel) traveled out of the country, plus tourists who left Israel at the end of summer, the airport was almost empty.
ARKIA FLIGHT
Probably the old saying “what comes cheap, costs more” correct in the case of Arkia flights (or not? keep reading and you’ll understand).
First, one month before our departure date I was notified by email that the time of the original flight was postponed by half an hour, making the connection to Koh Samui border-too-short. So for the last month, instead of enjoying the feeling that we are about to fly and thinking of what fun it would be, I was preoccupied, calculating and reading posts about transfers in the Bangkok airport. I also checked the possibility of replacing the domestic flight, which was not economically viable.
Luckily I decided not to move the domestic flight. On the day of the flight to Thailand, just as we were about to leave for the airport I received another email, updating that the flight was delayed by 9(!) hours. I didn’t see the message, because who thinks about cleaning up emails when you’re at the door with suitcases, a toddler and a husband who hates to leave his life in the country and retire for almost a month?
Fortunately, my aunt, who is terrified of flying and cannot find rest when the rest of the family flies, checks the airport sites obsessively. She called, just as we gave our apartment keys to a Swedish couple who we sublet our flat for the time away, and went down the stairs with our suitcases, and informed us that she saw a delusional delay in our flight. For the first few minutes I refused to believe. I was so ready to start this vacation that I simply denied that such thing could happen to me now. When I checked myself the departures page and my email, I realized that it does happen. The disappointment was great. But there was not much to do, so we decided to go with my parents, who came to accompany us to the airport, to their home in Ashdod to pass the time until the departure.
Positive outcome from the flight delay #1: In Ashdod, we went with Itay in a toy shop and he chose a set of dinosaur dolls that kept him busy during the whole trip and was a great success.
Positive outcome from the flight delay #2: Because my mother was not prepared for our visit and did not cook for days, we decided to have lunch in a restaurant, something we do not do often with my family.
Later, when we got to the airport, we overheard that our situation was good compared to some passengers who were supposed to fly on a similar flight 4 days earlier and Arkia united their flight with ours, so they had to wait four days in addition to the 9 hours.
The plane was indeed full to overflowing.
What was really strange, it is impossible to perform an online Check-in with Arkia. Usually, low-cost flights try to transfer as much logistics as possible to the customer and reduce as much manpower as possible. Some companies even charge extra for check-in in the airport.
The flight itself is operated by the Italian company NEOS. Arkia does not have large planes that are suitable for distant destinations. NEOS aircraft also not suited for long flights. Thin and crowded seats covered cold and unpleasant leather, and no media center. The poor service and attitude of the Israeli stewards did not contribute to the positive experience.
Positive outcome from the flight delay #3: The flight has become a night flight and we have spent most of it sleeping.
BANGKOK AIRPORT SUVARNABHUMI
Suvarnabhumi is a huge airport. To get from the international landings to the immigration area, baggage claim and departures area, you should walk a whole kilometer. There are signs as you walk showing how many meters left to the “finishing line”. In some cases you can feel like you’re in a race. In more traveled periods the queues at the border crossing can take an hour or so.
We landed around five o’clock in the afternoon on September 1. At this time most of the world is starting a new educational year in some kind of establishment. Therefore spending less time in queues at the airport in Bangkok. So respectively all the lines passed quickly but still, we were in hurry not to miss the last flight of the day to Koh Samui.
Luggage claim is immediately behind the immigration counters.
All the departure counters are on the fourth floor.
There are two hours free WiFi in the airport, and there is a very long list of available networks. The recommended ones are @AirportTrueFreeWIFI, @AirportAISFreeWIFI and @AirportDTACFreeWIFI. You must sign up to use them.
BANGKOK AIRWAYS FLIGHT
As mentioned above we arrived 8.5 hours not-fashionably late for the follow-up flight to Koh Samui. We approached the company counters, which were remarkably empty considering that every hour there was a flight. (Every hour to Koh Samui and I don’t know how many more to other destinations). We explained to the polite ground stewardess our situation and she made some checks for us what could be done. After a few short minutes, she answered that we would have to add 1,100 baht to an adult for the change and price differentials and sent us upstairs to the company’s offices to buy the tickets.
Compared to the international flight, the domestic flight was an upgrade. It was a pleasant welcome to the country, from the friendly, in an effortless way waiters, through the plane itself and its comfortable seats to the full meal (on an hour’s flight that is quite rare), which was simply delicious. Even the lighting on the plane was more pleasant and inviting.
KOH SAMUI AIRPORT
The Koh Samui airport is actually an open airport, which means there are no walls, there is only a roof. When you land there you see only a small part of it. This part gives you the feeling that you have reached an underdeveloped country. When you take off, you are exposed to its more beautiful part. The walk to the gate areas passes through a half-boulevard of very beautiful and prestigious shops.
If you pass a day in Koh Samui, you should know that there is no luggage storage in the airport.
COMMUNICATION WITH COMPANIES
Smartair – In all articles I’d read I’d never seen a recommendation or references to Smartair. Not for their engine or buying flight tickets with them. And it seems there is a good reason. In the purchase of the first tickets, of course, there were no issues. The purchase went smoothly, although it was not clear exactly how the insurance with Trip Guaranty should be activated. When contacting the company (you can contact them only by email), it turned out that after completing the tickets purchase process, the insurance company should contact me to establish the insurance. Indeed they did.
After canceling the El Al tickets I wanted to purchase the Arkia tickets again through the Smartair site and get the cancellation insurance free again. It turned out this offer was over, but some pages on the site still featured banners for it. The company refused to honor the publications on their site and I decided that if at the purchase stage there are matters with the company it is worth giving up and moving on to another company (as mentioned, the tickets were bought in Tripsta).
When you cancel the tickets in Smartair the refund from an airline should arrive within 45 business days. The deal was canceled in February and I quickly forgot about it, mainly because I had nothing to do but wait two months before I see the money back in my account. In August I remembered the refund I was supposed to receive, but I could not find it on my credit card or bank account. I approached the company, the company made some checks and it turned out that they had indeed forgotten to make a refund. I mean, the money came from El Al but was “delayed” in the accounting of Smartaire. Within a few days, they made a refund to my credit card.
I think I will not work with the company again.
Trip Guaranty – With this company, I will definitely continue to work. Trip Guaranty act exceptionally. The second I forwarded them the letter from Smartair and the request to cancel the flight I received an email explaining the refund process and within the specified time the money was in my account. End of story.
Mytrip – After Arkia postponed the flight for the first time in half an hour, the time of the connection to Koh Samui remained very short and borderline we were about to miss it. I tried to change the flight tickets and got an answer that the change would cost me almost like buying new tickets, which we would do if we missed the flight. We decided to leave the situation as it is and hope for the best. In fact, when we arrived 8.5 hours after our original flight took off, we paid only the difference in the price of the flights, about one-fifth of the ticket we would have paid if we had exchanged the flight.
The communication with Mytrip was cumbersome and in the first conversation with the representative it was difficult to explain what I was trying to check, but after I managed to submit the request, another representative called back and was very practical and helpful.
Arkia – On the day of the late flight I contacted Arkia to find out what to do with the connection flight we are about to miss and how to deal with the company in order to receive the refunds and compensation. A representative explained that we should do what was necessary to reach our destinations, that is, to purchase new flights, etc. And when we return to Israel to write to them and ask for the refund.
When we returned to Israel, I emailed Arkia to ask for compensation for the unreasonable delay. In the e-mail, I wrote the amount of compensation we should receive according to the Consumer Protection Law (which I found in a simple search on Google), which in our specific case is NIS 3,080 per ticket, plus the addition we paid for the Koh Samui tickets. I received an email asking to give the company 45 days to respond to our complaint and In a matter of a month and a half, we received a check on the amount of compensation, as stipulated in the law.
Here, I would like to say that we were shocked. I expected that we would receive an answer with excuses to the delay and a dismiss for our right to compensation, and I was already ready with an answer to such mail.
Here, I would like to emphasize that we did not receive a refund for the differences we paid for the connection flight, but since this is an amount of NIS 360 I decided to give up and enjoy the idea that half of the vacation expenses were covered in instant. I assume that if it was a larger sum I would not have given up, especially when I was told in a telephone conversation to follow the needs and request a refund.
The letter attached to the check seemed quite generic as if the compensation had been sent to all the passengers. I know someone else who was on this flight and he too wrote to them and received the compensation, so I cannot say with certainty that following my referral to them we received the compensation or they compensated all the passengers. I believe that Arkia did not volunteer to lose all of its income and probably operated in a success-oriented manner (meaning, if one approached them, one should get the compensation, if not, no compensation for you).
Positive outcome from the flight delay #4: We received a free flight to Thailand for three people, plus three nights at our most expensive hotel.
Stay tuned for the next parts of planning your trip to Thailand and the trip itself.
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