8-13-19 - Long way to Hungary...where did our seats go?

Day 58.

In all my pre-planning, it became clear that at times, we’d have to trade-off distance travel and weather optimization.  I generally chose the weather even if we had to travel greater distances so we are headed back to Europe to enjoy the tail end of summer and into their fall.  This results in what will be one of, if not the, longest leg of the entire trip – Auckland to Budapest.  We have a 17 hour flight from Auckland to Dubai, 4 hour layover and 6 hour flight from Dubai to Hungary.  Total travel time 27 hours.  By the time we reach Budapest, we will have traveled ~32,000 miles in the first 2 months. To put this in context, the circumference of the Earth is 24,500 miles, so we have traveled the equivalent of 1 1/3 times around the Earth.

We are checking-in for the Auckland to Dubai 17 hour flight.  I had paid $400 for “extra leg-room” seats for Leanne and me when I booked the tickets.  We are trying to travel as cost-effectively as we can but for a 17 hour flight, it seemed worth it.  When she prints my boarding pass, I notice my seat has changed from the one I bought.  “Can you please check the seat, Leanne and I are supposed to have 80 C and D, but these say 73H and 74H?” I ask.  The agent spends 5 mins on the phone and informs me that there was a plane switch and as a result, we lost our seats and converted to regular seats.  It’s not entirely clear to me at first, but after analyzing the seating chart on the app on my phone I figure it out.  In row 80, there were 9 seats across in the previous plane but now there are only 7 seats. So 2 of the 9 people lost their seats and we were the lucky ones.  Except that the new plane has seats 80 C and D so it’s not clear to me why we were to the two that lost them when the same seats exist in the new plane. 

 “Does this have anything to do with the fact that the airline doesn’t like Americans and Trump?” I ask. She doesn’t seem to understand the question.  “We’re actually Canadian so can we get our seats back and you can kick out two other Americans who have extra leg room seats?”  I’m getting desperate at this point given it’s a 17 hour flight.  “Canadian?  But your passport says United States” she says confused.  I seem to have forgotten that she is starting at my passport when I try my “I’m from Canada” ploy.  Alas, it is becoming apparent that there will be no leg room seats in our future.  “We’ll is the airline going to automatically refund my $400 since I didn’t get the extra leg room seats?”  I ask. “You’ll have to check the website,” she responds.  

When we get to the gate, I approach as ask about how I get my refund.  The agent tells me that I’ll have to submit a refund claim on the website. I’m not thrilled about this as it seems they should automatically refund the money instead of making me jump through hoops.  I sit down to wait for boarding when she approaches me a few minutes later and says to follow her to someone I can talk to.  “Yes, maybe they’ll upgrade us to business class for our trouble,” I’m thinking. 

She introduces me a to man in a suit.  “Did you read the terms and conditions?” he asks.  Not what I was expecting.  “I read them really fast,” I respond.  “Ah, good, then you are familiar with the policy?” he asks.  Hmm…is this a trick question? No mention of business class uprgrade so far…not a good sign.  “Which policy are you specifically referring to?” I ask.  “The one that says that if you lose a paid seat due to a plane change, you do not get a refund,” he states confidently.  “Say what?” There is no way I just heard what I thought I just heard. He repeats that I will not be getting my $400 back.  

I try approaching this in another way.  “Let’s forget the terms & conditions, and say you were a customer and you paid $400 for something you didn’t get, wouldn’t you as a good customer of the airline, expect to get your money back?” I ask.  He has to think for a moment but reverts back to “I wouldn’t expect it if the terms and conditions said I wouldn’t.” “Ok, so you’ve read the terms and conditions word for word for every item or service you’ve ever purchased?” I ask.  He’s not sure how to answer my question so again he reverts back to his robotic “the terms and conditions say you don’t get a refund.” “Ok, see that restaurant.  Let’s say you go in that restaurant and order $400 of food and pay for it in advance and then they come out a say, they ran out of food.  There are no terms and conditions but wouldn’t you still expect to get your $400 back if they didn’t give you any food?” He ponders for a minute and says, “but there are terms and conditions that you agreed to.” 

I’m clearly not going to get anywhere with this guy.  But the Emirates Airlines CEO is going to get one heck of a letter from me.  “Look on the bright side,” Leanne says, “you’ll have 17 hours to stew and write your letter.”