POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE: FAILURE TO MAKE EFFORTS TO INFORM OF EARLY RETURN FLIGHT

My wife and I made a booking for a flight (Qatar Airways) to Abu Dhabi in February. *** Payment was made and E-Ticket was forwarded by mail on 23 February 2023. We were happy with this flight as the layovers were not too long. This was our first international flight. An e-mail was received on 1 March 2023 which indicated there was changes to the flight to Abu Dhabi. I confirmed receipt and accepted the changes. A new E-Ticket in pdf was sent to me. I believed all was in order and did not follow up further on mails.

On 16 April my wife and I left early and was at Abu Dhabi Airport at 14:50 expecting to be check in early for our 17:45 flight QR1045. I was extremely surprised when I arrived at Abu Dhabi. I was informed that there was no flight for 17:45. I made enquiries at the info centre and was advised to go to the Qatar offices on the 1st floor. I went to this office. It was closed. It was a Sunday afternoon.

I had no access to make calls and only used social media application to chat. I contacted my daughter who telephoned Travelstart and informed her that the flight was changed and the flight departed at 11:55. She was incorrectly informed her that I was aware of the changes. A consultant wrongly informed her that we accepted changes to the flight. I did not confirm the changes. Therefore I did not receive another E ticket by e-mail.

With much difficulty, my daughter was able to book another flight. She assisted and paid the required amount from her account. She paid the admin fees and the cost of rebooking. An E-Ticket was sent as confirmation. This is policy I believe that an E Ticket is confirmation of flight bookings.

I am very disappointed with service delivery from Travelstart. Travelstart did not make any effort to contact me to follow up on changes to the flight plan. This is TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. I would not want anyone to undergo this horrible experience my wife and I endured. I sent an email to Travelstart as a complaint and request of refund for extra charges. This was refused.

It's as if Travelstart intentionally didn't make diligent efforts to inform us of the change in times. This is poor customer service. One email to inform the customer is not sufficient. We travelled to a foreign land. Surely more efforts could have been made to inform me that my return flight was leaving five hours earlier. Only Travelstart benefitted. We were severely affected. Travelstart gained more money from our misery.

K V Gounder ***