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A couple had to pay more than $3,000 at the airport because one ticket was booked under 'Kate' instead of 'Katherine'
09.01.2024 - 19:24 / insider.com
An Australian couple had to pay more than $3,000 to board their flight to the UK because of a name discrepancy on one of their tickets.
Australia's Nine Network reported that Phil and Kate from Brisbane, whose surnames were not disclosed, bought two return tickets to London for 4,800 Australian dollars, or about $3,200.
They bought the flights on a travel website named StudentUniverse.
The couple had booked to fly from Brisbane to Melbourne with Virgin Australia and then to London via Doha on Qatar Airways, "A Current Affair" reported.
But at the Brisbane check-in counter, the couple was informed of an issue with one of their tickets.
Phil had booked his wife's ticket under "Kate," but the name on her passport is "Katherine," Nine reported.
"It was an administrative error — I think I married Kate in church and not Katherine," Phil told the program.
The report said Virgin advised the couple that they could make the small change on the booking website for a small administrative fee.
But StudentUniverse told them they would need to cancel Kate's ticket, with only a partial refund, and buy a new ticket under "Katherine," Nine reported.
The network said the ticket cost them AU$4,700, or $3,141.
"They didn't have time — that was their reasoning — to issue a name change on the ticket. But they had time to sell us a new ticket," Phil told the Nine Network.
Kate added: "I begged them on the phone: 'Please, you can't do that. That's all our holiday money gone in a flash.'"
Phil told "A Current Affair" he felt exploited by the response: "They've just taken advantage of the entire situation, particularly peak travel season, and time was of the essence."
A StudentUniverse representative told Business Insider in a statement it was required to adhere to change and cancellation policies set by airlines.
"In this instance, name changes were not permitted, meaning the only option was to cancel and rebook the ticket. As we were only made aware by the customer of their error within 3 hours of the flight departure, this led to further airline imposed charges which could have been avoided by acting earlier," the representative said.
Virgin Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, sent outside normal business hours.
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
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