A travel agent has been ordered to pay over $1,100 after a ticket mishap led to a family being stranded in Iran and missing their two-year-old’s birthday party.
Last fall, Arman Aria and Azadeh Lotfifar had planned a trip with Richmond-based Plan-It With Pam Holidays to Iran. But the vacation ended on a sour note when, due their son, Arad’s, middle name being spelled incorrectly on his airline ticket, Lotfifar and Arad were unable to board their flight home.
According to a decision from the Civil Resolution Tribunal in September, the travel agent did nothing to correct the issue when the family pointed out the spelling error, and instead told Lotfifar “that the middle name is not always that important, as airlines look at the first and last names.”
However, according tribunal member Kate Campbell, British Airways refused to allow Lotfifar on her flight specifically because of the spelling error.
“I’ve checked our records and see that the name of your child on the booking and on the ticket did not match. This was the only reason for you not being allowed to board your flight,” said an email from British Airways that was provided to the tribunal.
Following the hearing, the tribunal awarded Aria with more than $1,100 to cover the costs of a new airline ticket, hotel accommodation, meals and transportation during the two days Lotfifar and her son were stranded in Iran.
The family also requested a $350 reimbursement for little Arad’s birthday party, which he missed while stuck in Iran. In her decision, Campbell said the “birthday party was not a reasonably foreseeable cost arising from the respondent’s negligence.”
