Nobody cares about your smooth, glitch-and-accident-free holiday stories. They're boring. Bring on the disasters and schadenfreude kicks to produce a fascinated audience. So this is an unhappy travel story about how you can lose thousands of dollars by trying to save tens.
It is a story of a double shafting, first by a dodgy online travel agency, then by an expensive, "reputable" travel insurance company. Yes, yet another case of the full insurance premium not resulting in full coverage, but first it's a warning not to trust third-rate foreign online travel agencies masquerading as Australian operations.
![You don't want to be under-insured when travelling as you can get caught with new expenses when things go wrong.](/web/20170328041419im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/7/4/0/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gv73y0.png/1490655930345.jpg)
The "com.au" at the end of an URL doesn't mean a thing when you're really giving your money to and placing your trust in an entity registered in The Netherlands (ie. a tax haven) and operating out of a call centre in India, an entity such as BudgetAir.com.au or any of its many online variations. The following traveller's tale is fully documented and comes from a reliable source I'll call Gulliver to spare embarrassment.
To save a few dollars, Gulliver Googled and Kayaked and Skyscannered to find the cheapest route for an August holiday that finished with flying to Sydney from Havana. A wiser traveller might have wondered when the computer said BudgetAir.com.au for Air China CA880 from Havana to Montreal on Monday, August 22, connecting with Air Canada to LA for the Qantas flight home that night, but Gully booked and paid for it on May 17.
A small problem subsequently arose. Turning up at Havana airport (not the world's most facility-rich) on August 22, there was no Air China flight. The airline had cut back its three-days-a-week service to one. Monday wasn't the one. BudgetAir.com.au hadn't told Gulliver. And he had carefully budgeted his savings and time to be left with very little of either for the last leg, his mobile phone battery was low, there was no airport Wi-Fi, there was no Air China representation at the airport, his emergency back-up credit card was American (Cuba can still be a funny place for American banking) and he had to get to LA quickly for the Qantas flight.
If he had researched the BudgetAir reviews through sites such as SiteJabber or TripAdvisor he would not have been surprised to find BudgetAir unreachable in his hour of need. His only way out of Havana to LA was via Panama for $986.12. His Australian credit card worked. But he would still miss his Qantas flight. With his phone dying, parental assistance was called for and managed to transfer the Qantas flight to the following day for an extra $418.12. And then there was the cost of a bed and meals in LA.
Back in Oz, after plenty of hanging on a phone to India and emailing, BudgetAir said too bad. The BudgetAir website says it's "affiliated with" IATA. That means nothing.
Luckily, Gulliver had purchased top-of-the-line travel insurance from 1Cover – but 1Cover also said too bad "as it directly relates to an incorrect booking made by BudgetAir". That the booking was not incorrect at the time it was made doesn't worry 1Cover.
There is an appeals process that is ongoing these many months later and heading towards the Financial Services Industry Ombudsman. Good luck with that, Gully.
If you enjoy such tales of travel misadventure, talk to a seasoned travel agent (who isn't trying to sell you travel insurance at the time) and ask about clients' war stories of discovering things, after the event, that aren't covered by their policy. Pre-existing conditions are a particular trap – beware. Â
Meanwhile, be very wary of el cheapo online booking agencies. Check the consumer reviews. The words "budget" and "air" don't go well together.
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