– We were going home from Nice just as the strike started, says Hanne Snoen. What was supposed to be a budget-friendly holiday of 8 days ended up lasting 21 days and costing over NOK 120,000 more than planned due to the pilot strike in SAS this summer. Altogether, the family of six from Bodø were “stuck” in France for a total of 10 days and in Oslo for four days. When news came into contact with the family at the beginning of December, they had only received NOK 30,000 from SAS. They were thus left with a claim to SAS of over 90,000. After news contacted SAS, the case has developed. – We have followed all the advice we have received from SAS, claims Hanne Snoen. Photo: Private photo Agreed to stay While the family was on overtime leave, the taxi meter went off. The family spent money on new hotel rooms, transport, food and drink. – We had to have three rooms in the same hotel at very short notice, says Snoen. In addition, teenagers eat like adults. And there will be big expenses for food. – We had to empty the children’s savings accounts to cover the running costs. The family could have chosen to go back to Oslo on the same day as they were supposed to go home, with another company, but the flight home to Bodø was also cancelled. So they were told they could stay in Nice for five more days to get a ticket all the way home. This was clarified with SAS. In retrospect, it turns out that SAS has not followed internal procedures. Something SAS recently wrote to the family in an e-mail: SAS believes they should have let the family stay in Nice, but admits at the same time that it is their own fault. Photo: Screen dump – But why didn’t you just go back to Oslo, so you could go on to Bodø from there? – When we checked train journeys and flights with other companies, there were few or no tickets left for all six of us for the next few days from Oslo. We thought that the strike would be over within five days, which the SAS consultant also expected. It turned out that the next flight home from Nice was also cancelled. There were also no flights to Oslo. – Renting a car for six people plus luggage from Nice was out of the question. And we would spend almost as much time from Nice as waiting for a new flight. They were thus stuck on strike for another five days. After the holiday, the family was left with large sums that were to be covered by SAS. But it would turn out to be far from easy. The family from Bodø had a nice holiday in Nice, and felt lucky to be able to go on holiday. Nevertheless, they will state that it was not a desired situation. Photo: Private photo SAS turns around and apologizes The system SAS has for reimbursement only allows nine receipts at a time for each case number. This means that the family has several ongoing cases with SAS. After news contacted SAS, the family was able to speed up the proceedings. One of the biggest claims was promised to be paid. – The customer has NOK 38,000 outstanding with SAS, which will of course be paid out, as the customer is entitled to this. SAS communications manager Tonje Sund wrote this in an e-mail to news last week. They therefore did not agree with the total amount to the customer. SAS has been provided with documentation and allegations from news by e-mail, which show that the family had around NOK 50,000 to their credit. Now SAS has reversed the matter and admits that they missed the sum. – We have a good dialogue with the customer now to ensure that they get paid everything they are entitled to. It is a complex case with several separate submitted claims, which must be handled individually, so it takes time. But there should be no doubt that they will be reimbursed everything they are entitled to in this case. – We apologize for the inconvenience the waiting time has caused for them in this case, says Sund to news. Hanne Snoen had to empty the children’s savings accounts to pay for a holiday that was longer than planned. Photo: Private photo – Why has it taken so long to get an answer? – Initially, large volumes after the strike meant that we were not able to contact the customer until 21 October, to obtain information on the matter. The customer replied to SAS in December and we were then able to follow up the matter further. Hanne Snoen believes this is not true. – They have not tried to obtain information about the case. They have only given us a refusal in this matter. Now she hopes the last balance of the claim will be in her account before Christmas. – I think it is very good that the matter seems to be resolved. So it’s a shame that it took so long, and that it was necessary to contact the media. At the same time, I understand that it has been a complex matter. The family received several cancellations during their holiday stay. Photo: Privat Clarified everything along the way There are still several case numbers they have not received an answer to, despite the fact that we have reached mid-December. – We clarified everything we did with SAS all along the way, and followed all advice to be sure of getting a refund. – How did the system work along the way? – Everyone we spoke to in SAS customer service when we were in Nice was very understanding and accommodating. The problems started when we were about to start entering all the receipts. All the receipts had to be converted to PDF and sent in on a form where only nine receipts were allowed at a time. Photo: Private SAS was fined for being too slow Snoen believes that SAS’s system itself was not equipped for the situation that arose. – As you can only enter nine receipts at a time. You can imagine how many bottles of water and small things there are with such a large family. In addition, each receipt had to be converted to PDF format. SAS says that they are working hard to resolve all compensation cases that arose this summer. And believes this case shows the complexity of many of the cases that have to be handled. – And although much can be digitalised, a great many of these matters must be handled manually to ensure that it is correct, says Tonje Sund in SAS. Tonje Sund is communications manager at SAS, and apologizes that the matter has taken so long. Photo: SAS In October and November, they were fined NOK 200,000 by the Director of Civil Aviation because SAS was too slow to pay out refunds. In November, the company said that only a few sporadic cases remained where the refund had not been paid. The Norwegian Aviation Authority therefore stated in a letter to SAS that they are not continuing the compulsory fine. – Everyone who is entitled to compensation from SAS should of course receive it, and as we communicated earlier, we aim to finish the customer cases related to the strike this summer by the end of December.
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Family believes SAS still owes them money after they went on strike – news Nordland
