Traveler Pressured To Purchase New Ticket After Lacking Flight Due To Lengthy Safety Line

An OMAAT reader requested me a couple of state of affairs he confronted the place he missed a flight on account of excessively lengthy safety strains, solely to then be compelled to purchase a brand new ticket. Is there actually no recourse in these conditions?! Let’s have a look.

Lengthy Lisbon safety strains trigger missed TAP flight

An OMAAT reader shared the next expertise with me, a couple of current transit at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS):

I needed to share an fascinating factor that just lately occurred to me on the Lisbon Airport. I’m unsure if I did one thing flawed, TAP did one thing flawed, or it’s simply an unlucky state of affairs, however contemplating how regulated European aviation is, I really feel like I’ve been wronged.

On 26-MAR I used to be flying BRU-LIS-RAK on a enterprise class fare paid in money. My fiancee was touring on the identical flights, in the identical class, on an Aeroplan award. The BRU-LIS flight on Thursday even went off and not using a hitch. We had an in a single day layover in Lisbon.

The next morning, our scheduled departure time to Marrakech was 9:20, and we arrived on the airport at about 7:00 AM, slightly over 2h earlier than departure. We had boarding passes in hand, no checked baggage, and proceeded to quick observe safety, which we shortly cleared with out incident.

Screens had been exhibiting a 28 minute await non-EU passports, so we went straight to passport management. We had been greeted with a large, loud, and considerably disorderly crowd. We assumed we’d be in line for a half hour, as marketed, however a half hour turned to an hour, which turned to 90 minutes, which grew to become two hours…

As we sat in line, on a number of events we tried to get the eye of airport employees to inform them of our approaching departure. We really managed to staff up with 7 different passengers on the flight, however they refused to let anybody transfer to the entrance of the queue (which in a way I respect), till about 10 minutes earlier than departure. At 9:10 we had been stamped out of Portugal and ran to the departure gate solely to see that it had been closed. About 5 minutes earlier than departure time.

As we missed the flight, we had been directed to exit the terminal and go to the ticket counter. The one lodging TAP provided me, a paid enterprise class passenger, was to buy one other ticket and fly out two days later. I wound up reserving an EasyJet flight out later that afternoon and made it to RAK.

Coincidentally, the following TAP flight arrived 5 minutes earlier than my EasyJet flight later that afternoon, and I noticed a number of of the passengers that I met within the immigration line. The one choice they got was additionally to pay money for a brand new ticket, and though they had been all initially ticketed in financial system, TAP solely provided them enterprise class tickets.

Look, I perceive it’s the passenger’s duty to indicate up early sufficient, and the airline has no management over immigration. My query is, what is cheap? I used to be on the airport over 2h earlier than departure and went to the immigration line as shortly as attainable. Clearly there is a matter in LIS as a result of as I acknowledged, 7 different passengers from my flight confronted the identical destiny. Is there actually nothing in TAP phrases or EU regs that doesn’t require rebooking in a state of affairs like this? US carriers have many deficiencies, however I’m sure I might have been rebooked in the same state of affairs.

The ticket agent advised me I ought to have proven up earlier. I perceive that on this remoted incident, however it simply appears very unreasonable and really buyer unfriendly.

Am I the one who’s within the flawed right here? I really feel like I’m owed one thing, however I additionally perceive the one-sided nature of contracts of carriage.

Anyway, I simply thought I’d share. I assume possibly present up 5h early in case you’re flying out of LIS within the morning.

Is there any recourse in a state of affairs like this?

After I hear of individuals lacking flights on account of lengthy safety strains, it’s actually because they didn’t plan sufficiently, and had been unrealistic. For instance, in case you present up on the airport 40 minutes earlier than departure after which miss your flight on account of lengthy safety strains, it’s arduous to really feel too unhealthy.

Nevertheless, that’s by no means what occurred right here. The traveler confirmed up over two hours earlier than departure with simply carry-on baggage, and that’s as early as anybody might presumably count on to reach on the airport for a flight, in need of some extraordinary occasion that the airline warned individuals about.

I don’t know what occurred right here that prompted these lengthy strains, however this undoubtedly appears out of the abnormal, and never like one thing that’s acceptable. If these strains are going to be so unhealthy, it additionally looks like the airline ought to’ve warned individuals upfront of the potential for that.

I feel that additionally results in the irritating lack of accountability right here. Admittedly an airline can’t be chargeable for lengthy safety strains, so the airline wouldn’t be on the hook for paying for issues like EC261 compensation, since that is totally exterior of a provider’s management.

Nevertheless, each the airline and airport are run by the federal government, and as I see it, the true difficulty right here is how European airways usually have a coverage that in case you miss a flight, you must pay for a brand new ticket.

It appears borderline unethical for a provider’s hub airport to have unacceptably lengthy safety strains, and for the airline to then cost passengers to rebook in the event that they miss their flight. It’s one of many ways in which aviation in Europe may be very punitive, because it’s not like the USA, the place you’re sometimes simply placed on standby for the following flight in case you miss the one you’re booked on.

I completely agree with this reader that he didn’t do something flawed, and it’s not unreasonable that he feels he’s owed one thing. As he concludes, although, he’s appropriate that that is a type of conditions that displays simply how one-sided airline contracts of carriage are.

Airways are hardly ever beneficiant past their printed contract of carriage, particularly for customer support after the very fact. So this may be a type of uncommon conditions the place I’m unsure there’s any good recourse, I don’t have any recommendation, and I additionally am unsure what the lesson is. I definitely wouldn’t advocate exhibiting up nicely over two hours early for a typical flight from Europe, until there are distinctive circumstances.

So will we simply put this within the class of “in case you journey sufficient issues generally go flawed, and there’s nothing we will do about it?” Or is there one other lesson?

Backside line

A TAP Air Portugal passenger missed his flight on account of very lengthy safety strains at Lisbon Airport. That’s tremendous irritating, because it’s not like he was reducing it shut, so this might’ve occurred to any affordable particular person. Whereas it’s irritating to overlook your flight on this state of affairs to start with, what makes it even worse is that he was compelled to purchase one other ticket, since European carriers don’t usually simply roll your ticket over to the following flight.

Is there any good recommendation that I’m lacking, or what do you make of this case?