British expat says error on Thai Airways website resulted in 80,000THB of extra charges, then airline refused to refund

[PhilippBKK]

975.90 British Pounds sounds about right for 20kg extra luggage on this international route.

Guess he is a quite inexperienced traveler

[lamyai3]

6 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

I agree as I used to consider TG a good airline, and their prices were very good too.

 

Things changed, so I started using Emirates when the TG service declined - whilst their prices increased.

Same here, used them a lot around 15-20 years ago. Prices were often excellent (£500 London to Australia, one year open ticket, unlimited free changes back then, Bkk stopovers allowed both ways). Good code share service with Air India too to Bombay etc. They had a 24 hour number in Bangkok where you could change your travel dates without charge at the last minute, and they even changed me from a Brisbane to a Sydney departure when I asked to save me backtracking on a long bus trip, again no charge as same fare class. Food was good and it had the feel of a luxurious airline back then. I also switched to Emirates and the other middle east carriers after around 2003 due to the quality of service and prices. 

[kkerry]

2 hours ago, Cadbury said:

Why would you think I meant Bangkok Airways when I specifically referred to Thai Airways?

The prime story in the news is about Thai Airways shares. 

It so happens the filthy rich primary culprit involved in the share price manipulation with Thai Airways shares also owns 92% of Bangkok Airways. Greed for money is the root of all evil.

All three scoundrels involved have all been banned from being executives or directors of listed companies.

Do you have any links to this current "prime story in the news about Thai Airways shares" you seem to be reading?

 

The Nation article has the headline "Bangkok Airways executives resign over SEC sanctions" making mention only of share manipulation at Bangkok Airways, not one word about Thai Airways shares which continue to trade steadily, closing ten satang up for the day.

 

The Bangkok Post article today also only mentions Bangkok Airways (share price down 7% Monday) and three linked hospitals, not a single word about any share price manipulation at Thai Airways...

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[Cadbury]

2 hours ago, kkerry said:

Do you have any links to this current "prime story in the news about Thai Airways shares" you seem to be reading?

 

The Nation article has the headline "Bangkok Airways executives resign over SEC sanctions" making mention only of share manipulation at Bangkok Airways, not one word about Thai Airways shares which continue to trade steadily, closing ten satang up for the day.

 

The Bangkok Post article today also only mentions Bangkok Airways (share price down 7% Monday) and three linked hospitals, not a single word about any share price manipulation at Thai Airways...

I do but unfortunately I am not allow to give you that on TVN. I suspect you have been reading the Phuket Rag which has a different slant on things.

The conviction was was for manipulation of Thai Airways shares. Nothing to do with Bangkok Airways. The same person one Dr. Prasert happens to own almost 100% of the shares in Bangkok Airways. He would hardly manipulating the shares in Bangkok Airways by selling the shares to himself and then buying them back from himself. Try BP for the link.

[kkerry]

13 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

He would hardly manipulating the shares in Bangkok Airways by selling the shares to himself and then buying them back from himself

Perhaps you can contribute your insight to this Thaivisa topic I have linked for you... ????  there are also other more detailed online articles available with more information about what it is he is accused of doing.

 

 

[dabhand]

40 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

I do but unfortunately I am not allow to give you that on TVN. I suspect you have been reading the Phuket Rag which has a different slant on things.

The conviction was was for manipulation of Thai Airways shares. Nothing to do with Bangkok Airways. The same person one Dr. Prasert happens to own almost 100% of the shares in Bangkok Airways. He would hardly manipulating the shares in Bangkok Airways by selling the shares to himself and then buying them back from himself. Try BP for the link.

Have looked at the BP website and they have an article making reference to a Bt500m fine related to share manipulation at Bangkok Airways.

 

Still looking for the Thai Airways article noted in your post...........

[55Jay]

... never mind. ????

[HalfLight]

7 hours ago, Cadbury said:

Why would you think I meant Bangkok Airways when I specifically referred to Thai Airways?

The prime story in the news is about Thai Airways shares. 

It so happens the filthy rich primary culprit involved in the share price manipulation with Thai Airways shares also owns 92% of Bangkok Airways. Greed for money is the root of all evil.

All three scoundrels involved have all been banned from being executives or directors of listed companies.

 

 

 

And all 3 should have been banged up as well and banned from holding directorships or senior management posts.

 

No tolerance for this kind of dishonesty, even if it is a trademark of Thais..

 

 

[pedro01]

Well - while we are here, their air miles program is also a joke.

 

I'm sitting on about 400,000 air miles on Thai right now. In August, we'll go back to the UK for a month.  We did the same thing 2 years ago.... This is how it went....

 

4 flights on Thai Air - paid with air miles.

'Tax' on those 4 flights - 20,000 each

 

So I paid 80,000 Baht & about 200,000 air miles. 

 

This year - flights back were 21,000THB each on Emirates, 45,000THB on Thai. Needless to say I chose Emirates

 

The 'tax' on air miles flights on Thai is the same as the cost of a flight on a better airline. 

[sjaak327]

10 hours ago, kaino said:

So first things first, prices are always shown in the currency of origin therefore the price would not have been shown in baht, presuming the article is correct and he was flying from london.

 

Secondly looking in the thai airways website the cost for extra luggage is 70USD per KG ( which yes its a rip off but it is what it is) do the maths 20kg x 70 = 1400 usd which is actually more than he paid so really he got a better deal somehow.

 

Will be interesting to see what his credit card company say as thai airways were actually correct and had every right not to refund the guy. 

 

Now the guys cheating his way to free luggage from the simple fact he cant read.

 

Interesting

Actually your preference of region determines the currency, If OP selected Thailand, he would have been quoted in THB. I just tried to add lugguage, and 20 KG on one leg was indeed a whopping 40.150 baht for 20KG of baggage on one leg. That is absolutely crazy, boils down to 2000 baht per KG. That's above and beyond most airlines I know, who generally charge you around 30 euro's for one kg of excess baggage. 

 

Maybe just maybe, the OP did not look right, as indeed it seems TG is charging those ridiculous prices in plain sight on their website. Personally I believe that to be a total rip off.

 

Edit: indeed they quote a total of 979 GBP for 20 additional KG on one leg on their website when you are quoted in GBP, oh my ! I do believe the OP didn't read properly.

[jabis]

17 minutes ago, sjaak327 said:

Actually your preference of region determines the currency, If OP selected Thailand, he would have been quoted in THB. I just tried to add lugguage, and 20 KG on one leg was indeed a whopping 40.150 baht for 20KG of baggage on one leg. That is absolutely crazy, boils down to 2000 baht per KG. That's above and beyond most airlines I know, who generally charge you around 30 euro's for one kg of excess baggage. 

 

Maybe just maybe, the OP did not look right, as indeed it seems TG is charging those ridiculous prices in plain sight on their website. Personally I believe that to be a total rip off.

 

Edit: indeed they quote a total of 979 GBP for 20 additional KG on one leg on their website when you are quoted in GBP, oh my ! I do believe the OP didn't read properly.

The excess baggage-tab is imo quite confusing, as first there are thb rates up to 70 thb / kg and then some "zones" later. For domestic flights the charges are ~1.5$/kg but for different international zones they hop to 70$/kg. 

"1. The above "Domestic Excess Baggage Charge Table" is effective for a checked portion of travel On/After 23JUL12 until further notice.

2. Excess Baggage Charge rate is per kilogram in THB (Thai Baht).

3. The Excess Baggage Charge per kilogram for any additional THAI Domestic services is 1.5 percent of the highest normal direct one way economy class fare.

4. Child and infant discounted rates are not applicable.

5. For International Excess Baggage Charge rates are separately shown in USD (US Dollars).

6. If baggage is through check from TG Domestic connecting to TG International sectors, the Excess Baggage through check portion of travel is applied by zoning basis.

7. TG Domestic Sectors in Thailand is located by Zone 1 (Please refer Zoning Definitions for International Excess Baggage Charge Table.)

8. The condition on the 5th note, Currency Conversion: Excess baggage Charges published in USD only will be converted to the Local Currency by using the Banker's Selling Rate on the date of baggage charged."

[sjaak327]

Just now, jabis said:

The excess baggage-tab is imo quite confusing, as first there are thb rates up to 70 thb / kg and then some "zones" later. For domestic flights the charges are ~1.5$/kg but for different international zones they hop to 70$/kg. 

"1. The above "Domestic Excess Baggage Charge Table" is effective for a checked portion of travel On/After 23JUL12 until further notice.

2. Excess Baggage Charge rate is per kilogram in THB (Thai Baht).

3. The Excess Baggage Charge per kilogram for any additional THAI Domestic services is 1.5 percent of the highest normal direct one way economy class fare.

4. Child and infant discounted rates are not applicable.

5. For International Excess Baggage Charge rates are separately shown in USD (US Dollars).

6. If baggage is through check from TG Domestic connecting to TG International sectors, the Excess Baggage through check portion of travel is applied by zoning basis.

7. TG Domestic Sectors in Thailand is located by Zone 1 (Please refer Zoning Definitions for International Excess Baggage Charge Table.)

8. The condition on the 5th note, Currency Conversion: Excess baggage Charges published in USD only will be converted to the Local Currency by using the Banker's Selling Rate on the date of baggage charged."

I actually booked the flight LHR-BKK and simply added the additional baggage, selected 20 KG and was quoted 40.150 baht or 979 GBP for that weight on one leg. Then the OP's story checks out, as 979*2 is 1958 GBP for both legs. Still TG could have handled this much better, customer is unsatisfied, they could simply have refunded and allowed OP to fly using the normal baggage allowance. But no, refusal instead of customer service. They simply never learn at TG.

[balo]

Could easily just have been a language problem , the Thai staff answering phone calls are the worst to deal with .  Yes it was a technical error on their website , I would have contacted some people higher up in the system. 

 

[HalfLight]

3 hours ago, balo said:

Could easily just have been a language problem , the Thai staff answering phone calls are the worst to deal with .  Yes it was a technical error on their website , I would have contacted some people higher up in the system. 

 

Hrmmm. I tend to be less forgiving than you it seems. In my view, the Thai approach to providing sevice is execrable, it's just awful, and uniformly so.

 

If your staff cannot speak the language that their revenue-generating units (customers) require, then get more or different staff, simple. it's amazing how often I hear 'we no have enough staff' or 'no spikka Engrish'. It's not my problem, if the staff you have are not sufficient or sufficiently skilled then get more or different. Business management 101.

 

But in any event, bearing in mind that the staff they have were chosen by the management, its must be clear that there's a fairly serious management problem at TG, which fits with most of the comments I hear about them. The reality though, is than many or most Thai businesses have this or similar problems. It's an attitude problem, probably born of the Thai love for pretending they're superior to their customers. It's truly outstanding in this day and age, how many Thai businesses require customers to fit in with their way of doing things, and not the other way around. A hard rain's gonna fall sooner or later. Inevitable.

 

 

 

[Kaopad999]

On 1/21/2019 at 12:39 PM, geriatrickid said:

TG still offers a  much more generous baggage allowance than Air Asia or Nok.

And so they bloody should! 

[lamyai3]

6 hours ago, sjaak327 said:

I actually booked the flight LHR-BKK and simply added the additional baggage, selected 20 KG and was quoted 40.150 baht or 979 GBP for that weight on one leg. Then the OP's story checks out, as 979*2 is 1958 GBP for both legs. Still TG could have handled this much better, customer is unsatisfied, they could simply have refunded and allowed OP to fly using the normal baggage allowance. But no, refusal instead of customer service. They simply never learn at TG.

Your explanation gives a plausible account as to what happened here. The excess baggage fee was so ridiculously excessive that neither the passenger nor his bank were able to believe it... if the fee was 400,000 baht it'd hardly be less absurd. A clear fail on the part of Thai Airways, with regard to customer service and public relations, pricing policy, and website clarity. 

[HAKAPALITA]

A review of all Air Fares here needs a Review. Im sick of being told by friends who visited often, were going to the US, the whole Hoildays cheaper than a ticket to Thailand even with the same 8 or 11 hr flight. TAT clearly haven't noticed 

[Senseo]

On 1/21/2019 at 10:43 AM, Fex Bluse said:

If anyone is surprised by a Thai company (full of Thai people) reacting this way - assuming it is accurate, I suggest he spend more time observing how Thais handle conflict. 

Could anyone please bother to explain how Thais handle conflict? 

The only thing i heard is that they come in packs and stab you in the neck, then piss on your dead body and cut you into pieces like cattle to finally dump you at the nearest river. 

[Senseo]

On 1/21/2019 at 10:48 AM, brucefarang said:

I just had a £300 run-in with Travel Genio  on the Jetcost website. I noticed my wifes name was spelt incorrectly-one letter- on the email confirming booking. I rang -crazy system -cut me off before I could get through after 6 mins. Tried the complaints letters -got my letter back -Travel Genio at the top  but no communication (Twice) eventually I got through and was told to phone the Airway (Jetair) Did so -told me I was booked through Etihad and I would have to talk to them -and in any case they (Jetair would not allow anyone on board without the totally correct spelling.Tried to get back to Travel Genio -eventually received an email saying airway would not let my wife fly. So I then tried to get in touch (another three days of on/off trying) finally got a webchat -who confirmed my wife couldn't fly .I asked how much to cancel-170euros -I then  asked why they did not tell me this in the first place -no reply-So I cancelled both tickets and booked with KLM.

They were totally disinterested and didn't even feel the need to inform me of any options I might have! Advise all to give Travel Genio a miss!

Sorry to go on but...….

On the other hand, a friend of mine typed my name incorrectly while booking a flight with Thai Smile. Contacted the airline, they said it was no issue.

[kaino]

Just seems like people thai airways because the OP messed up, in theory it would be nice for thai airways to cancel it and leave him with standard luggage but you could say this about pretty much anything in the airline business, if you book the cheapest economy flight you cant just cancel it for free can you so why should luggage be any different? (Yes it should but putting things into perspective)

[OZJAY]

I’ve never heard a Thai say “solly cannot”... Must be a new thing .. Usually they say “I take care you na” 

[Date Masamune]

Airline Website glitches.

Recently I tried to book a one way ticket on <unnamed local airline> website.

I could log on but every time I tried to book a one way ticket, I could not proceed without selecting a return date.

 

Called their customer service, the agent was obviously in the Philippines, an idiot who asked me the same questions many times.

started with about 5 minutes him not understanding the difference between Chennai and Chiang Mai.

He tried the same thing from his end and confirmed the glitch. He promised to offer the same price as was on the website, and this took forever on hold.

The entire Skype call was over 35 minutes, including me having to repeat every detail of my profile although I am already registered on their site, they were never able to link the flight to my frequent flyer number, so no points either. Finally at the end of the call he asked be "if you can log on why not just book online?

(Because I don't want to pay double for a round trip ticket I do not need). I thought to write a sharply worded letter to their management but I realized they DO NOT care and would be a waste of time as airlines are making money hand over just these days and don't give a toss about their customers. 

 

Reminds me of a story where a guy dumped his bags at SEATAC when Delta wanted more than they were worth to load them then a bomb disposal unit was summoned

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/delta-passenger-abandons-baggage-avoid-1-400-fees-215016354.html

 

 

[wreckingcountry]

Price of air fuel at lowest for over a decade and still airlines aren’t reducing prices


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Tofer]

On 1/21/2019 at 12:59 PM, Denim said:

I'm surprised there are still people daft enough to fly with Thai Airways in the first place. 

 

 

I haven't flown Thai Airways internationally for decades.

 

However, my Sister recently visited and booked for us all to fly on a domestic TA flight to Bangkok, and I have to say it was a far better flight, more comfortable, included a full 20kg baggage allowance, a reasonable snack meal, and cheaper than other domestic airlines.

[CGW]

On 1/21/2019 at 12:59 PM, Denim said:

I'm surprised there are still people daft enough to fly with Thai Airways in the first place. 

Use them often, no complaints after many years, there schedule to some places is perfect, as an example both Shanghai & Beijing.

[happy chappie]

Customer services,refunds,warranties,guarantees  are not one of thais great attributes of Thailand but it sounds good and gives a few people a job.i stopped using Thai air many moons ago.i was a very frequent flyer and put a lot of business their way but for the last few years their prices have gone sky high.i now use British airways which although not quite up to Thai air quality are under half price most times.april was £700 compared to Thai at £1,200+

[Date Masamune]

"... acquaintances that used to fly Thai and one friend who used to work for them..."
Nothing but hearsay, then!
 
"SG airlines has been chosen as top airline year after year..."
Only if you ignore the years when it didn't win!   It won last year after 10 years of not winning the top airline award.

India LCC Spice Jet (SG) is top airline? I thought they were bankrupt perhaps they mean SQ?

Thai Airways obviously does not want any extra baggage business for $70 USD per kilo you can ring up FEDEX they will collect your baggage the morning you depart from your home and they will be waiting at your destination when you get there you never lifting finger!

[Sonhia]

The expat is a foreigner, that alone is a black mark, a walkng ATM,  a target.

 

Foreigners have been, are being and will be vitimised.

 

Paradise...

 

 

[daveAustin]

They wouldn't budge because they could not admit error. It's one of those unfortunate Thai traits that can make one's blood boil at times. Someone will get seriously reprimanded for it and Thai Airways will lose a lot in the meantime to what was a simple fix. Ah well, tough titties.