MR MARK KLON

Dec 2, 2023

Intimidating experience

I flew with Asiana to Seoul, checking one bag on hold. The flight was long but without problems. However, when I arrived at Seoul airport and received my luggage, I realised that the casing of my bag was destroyed completely; It was as if someone was jumping up and down on to it. I went at their service desk immediately, before passing customs and I explained the situation to their representative there. The first shock was that their representative was completely indifferent. They didn't offer an apology and at first she tried to convince me that there was no damage. I showed them that the handle was completely destroyed and you could actually bend(!!!) the case, but they remained evasive and rude, until I asked (always calmly) that their supervisor interfered. At that point they agreed to replace it in an angry and (even more) rude manner. They then waved to me to the direction of some low quality cabin bags and TOLD me (not asked - told) in a shouting manner to choose. I remained polite and in a low voice, I explained in short sentences that the bags that they were showing were small, could not fit my things and that they were of inferior quality to the bag that was destroyed. At that point they really erupted. They started shouting that they couldn't give me a bigger bag and that I had to choose from what they were giving. I repeated calmly myself and I asked them not to shout. Nevertheless, they kept shouting at me and told me that if I didn't like the bags to claim from my travel insurance. I told them that this wasn't appropriate as the destruction took place under Asiana's care and also that I needed a bag there and then, as the bag wouldn't go anywhere, being destroyed. They kept shouting at me, asking me to choose. I have been traveling for 30 years all over the world but I have never felt intimidated like this in my life. I was a foreign country and I was treated in an unfriendly manner. I felt scared. So, I took one of the bags and left. I almost immediately filed a complaint with Asiana. In order to do that I had to employ some detective skills, as there is no web form and you can't submit a complaint through their call centre. So I had to navigate through their t&cs to find an email account where complaints could be send. Not that the response was quick of course. It took them 12 days and three reminders to get a response, which was a simple apology. I am still waiting for a follow up, more than a month later. My point is that, if you are to spend $1300 on a flight you would expect some respect. Clearly this is not the case with Asiana! They have no respect to their customers and the concept of "customer service" is unknown to them.