I recently booked a trip of a lifetime to Hong Kong to see the 2006 Hong Kong Sevens. As I work in Fortitude Valley, on my lunchbreak I popped into the STA travel agent next door to make my enquiries. The agent at STA booked me a flight ($1380) to Hong Kong on Cathay pacific for 4 nights then on to Tokyo before returning to Brisbane. She could not however get me match tickets to the Sevens and told me to try elsewhere. As I had a friend who also wanted to come to Hong Kong and the Sevens I referred him to the agent for his flights also (Me being nice.) She confirmed a booking for him to fly to Hong Kong on Cathay for three nights. At this point in time I booked and PAID for two Sevens tickets ($478.10 all up for 2 tickets)for me and my friend through a Cathay pacific holidays representative. The only way to buy tickets was with Cathay flight booking numbers. Two days later my friend got a call from the STA agent telling him that she could not honor his booking as she had just realised Cathay had a minimum 5 night stay requirement on the ticket. My friend George is an account manager with Macquarie bank and could only get the original 3 nights off. When he told the STA agent this she said he could either pay $500 extra to get a shorter 3 night fare from Cathay or change his booking to a Quantas 3 night fare for just $75 extra. George of course changed his fare to Quantas to stay within his original budget. Two days after this I got an email from Cathay Pacific telling me they cannot honor Georges $239 Sevens ticket as he is no longer flying Cathay. Even after explaining the situation they refused to honor the Sevens ticket I had paid for. I then asked for George's Sevens ticket to be refunded ($239) and Cathay told me that they had a $200 cancellation fee in their fine print. This means I have paid them $200 for a ticket they never issued. I am furious. Neither Cathay nor STA travel will take responsibility for the situation and both have said 'tuff luck.' All we wanted to do was fly to Hong Kong and see the Sevens. I have been wanted to go for years and now these greedy, rude and bureaucratic scumbags have left myself and my friend inconvenienced and out of pocket. I want everyone to know this is how Cathay and STA travel treat paying customers.
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