China Airlines
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Horrific customer experience after…
Horrific customer experience after being left in the queue by the airline. We arrived at Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan to check into our flight back to London 2 hours before departure. The airport was extremely busy and, in each section, it was nearly impossible to move between the lines of passengers zig-zagging away from the check-in desks and up the corridor. Our own set of check-in counters (Area 11) appeared to be handling 8 flights, most of which were departing at around the same time. We managed to reach the check-in desk around 7:30am (30 mins before departure) and was told that the flight was closed and we could not check in. During that time, nobody went past us with a sign, changed the signs over the check in counters or called our flight loud enough to hear, and there were no staff members available to speak to. We were aware of the time, so we were looking for staff holding signs; neither of us left the line or wore headphones as we were trying to be vigilant. There was nothing to suggest we should do anything other than just stay in line with everyone else. At the customer support desk, the supervisor tried to help by suggesting he could put us on the Monday flight (2 days later). However, there was no offer to cover our costs (two nights accommodation in a hotel (plus expenses)) and it would mean missing a day of work and my wife’s pregnancy scan. He then suggested that he would speak to the duty manager to see if there were any other solutions. When the duty manager (Liao ChiaRu) arrived at 9:30 am (1.5 hours after we arrived at the support desk), he refused to offer any solution. He claimed he had made the announcement himself, but we never saw him (in connection with our flight or others). He acknowledged that his voice might not have been loud enough (to which we pointed out the need to use a microphone or the screens at the counter to display messages on such a busy day. Where the supervisor had tried to find a solution, the duty manager made clear that it was our fault that we were stuck in the line at the counter. When we told him that my wife was pregnant and needed to get home, he laughed at us and then walked away, and we never saw him again. To be clear, my wife is Taiwanese and spoke Mandarin to him, so there was no miscommunication. The supervisor then discussed alternatives with him in the back room and told us that the duty manager had refused to move us onto another flight and left us with the choice of (a) flying out two days later, or (b) cancelling the flight and finding an alternative (with a fee of £181 per person applied as a late cancellation fee). This was clearly not helpful as either option would cost us a fortune and we had not done anything wrong. In the end, we were refunded a small amount of the initial cost and spent £1200 to get a Thai Airways flight home. This is an appalling way to treat customers who have complied with their obligations and no way to act as an airline.