This has to be the shortest blog break ever. We should be on our way to South Africa to meet up with family from the US. We are back at home somewhere on the Thameslink Line.
In June 2015, South Africa changed the rules for families travelling with children. As well as a valid passport, proof of a return flight and somewhere to stay, you also need proof you are able to travel aboard with that child. We got two emails forwarded to us from the travel agents used by the family we are meeting up. All of them mentioned "birth certificate". And nothing else. I don't believe we received anything from Expedia, the company we booked with.
Yesterday we turned up at the airport with our papers and the Tubblet's birth certificate. The standard birth certificate. (The free one). The one that shows that that the Tubblet was born in Sarf London in September 2003.
The South African government requires the extended birth certificate. The one with details of both parents. (The one costing £9.95).
No extended birth certificate. No flight.
Since the law changed in June, according to a South African Airlines staff member at the gate, over 200 families have been refused permission to board at Heathrow. Some didn't know the law had changed. Others had, like us, bought their "birth certificate", only to be told it wasn't valid.
South African Airlines flight to South Africa twice a day from Heathrow. On average, two families per flight are being turned away. The holiday season proper hasn't started yet. The average can only get worse.
Before we got home, we managed to contact the Central Registrar to order a copy of the extended birth certificate. A piece of good fortune as they close at 4pm. This should arrive on Saturday. South African Airways has advised us to come to the airport once we have the documentation. They will try and place us on a flight. As the fights are full, in all likelihood, if we get seats it'll be because another family is sent home. That doesn't seem quite right to me.
The first flight we can be booked on is Tuesday. That gives us four actual days holiday. But if we don't turn up, we're a no show. No redress for that.
When we got home, Rev T phoned Expedia. After waiting for over an hour and half, he was told that it's the traveller's responsibility to provide all the relevant documentation. Nothing to do with them. Small print says so. He was only told this after Expedia called South African Airways to confirm that we weren't making the whole thing up.
But what about a travel company's duty of care to provide their customers with all the relevant information? And the travel company's responsibility to ensure they are aware of anything that could impact their customers?
This is a screen grab of the Need to Know section of Expedia's South Africa holidays website taken today, Friday 24 July 2015. There is no mention of the new travel requirements for children. None. It's not mentioned in the support section either.
This law has been in-force for 2 months. If you are travelling with children and do not have the correct birth certificate you will not be allowed to fly. Seems pretty 'need to know' to me.
As South African Airlines have rebooked us for Tuesday, Expedia can't offer us another route, even if they have one. According to Expedia, South African Airways have control of our flight and there's nothing more they can do. Even though we are Expedia's customer. Expedia sent us a booking confirmation. Which was thoughtful. It didn't mention the need to bring the correct documentation for child passengers. So, not so much.
Our taxi driver, bless him, came back to collect us and didn't charge us the full fare.
Hopefully the courier will arrive on Saturday and we'll go to the airport and successfully board our flight.
Hopefully the courier will arrive on Saturday and we'll go to the airport and successfully board our flight.
We have made memories. They're not quite the ones we planned:
Trudging home from the airport instead of going on holiday.
Being on hold for over an hour before being fobbed off by the travel company. On the basis of their treatment of us so far, I will not be recommending Expedia to a friend or using them again. The follow up call we were promised today is yet to materialise.
Bumming about at home waiting for the documentation to arrive.
Bumming about at home waiting for the documentation to arrive.
The worry about whether it will all come together on Saturday. Or whether we'll have to wait until Tuesday and end up have a very short African holiday indeed.
Some actions, if you would be so kind:
- Please share on Facebook, Twitter etc. If this post helps save one family from repeating our experience it will be worth it.
- If you are reading this and travelling to South Africa with children, then check your documentation. If you have a standard birth certificate, then order an extended one from here. (This link is for England and Wales, but includes contact information for Scotland and Northern Ireland). It takes a few days. Blended families need other documents. The first link has details of those.
- Please share on Facebook, Twitter etc. It may help us get a better response from Expedia than the one we're currently getting. Shaming a company on social media to get them to do the decent thing seems wrong, but ...!
Thank you for spreading the word. I'll keep you posted on how we get on! Wish us luck!
Sharing with all these great Linkys This week I am linking and running. I'm sorry. Next time I promise I will read and comment double.