Aussie family out $20k after being turned away from Qantas flight over missed form

Exclusive: A Queensland woman wanted to see her mum one last time before she died.

Instead, her family is out nearly $20,000 over a mix-up at a Qantas desk.

When Ferdous Mohammad learned her mother had days to live, she spent close to $9000 on last-minute Qantas flights to get herself, her husband and their three children to Hyderabad in India to say goodbye.

The family booked through a travel agency they’d had positive experiences with before.

Sadly, Mohammad’s mother died hours before the family left Australia.

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Her funeral was scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, August 2, in keeping with the family’s cultural traditions.

The Mohammad family were booked on a 6am flight out of Mackay, Queensland, and should have landed in India the night before the funeral.

But Mohammad claimed a Qantas worker at the check-in desk said Mohammad hadn’t completed a mandatory Ebola health declaration for her 10-year-old twins, so they could not fly.

“I said, ‘I was not told, I’m sorry, but if you can give us two minutes, I can just pop it on the website and I can do it,’” Mohammad told nine.com.au.

According to Smartraveller, Australians are required to complete an online health self-declaration form up to 24 hours before arrival in India, for Ebola screening. 

Those who don’t complete the form before they arrive “may experience delays and additional screening procedures at Indian immigration”.

Nine.com.au understands Qantas passengers must present the completed form at check-in, or penalties may apply.

Mohammad claimed no one at Qantas or her travel agent had mentioned the form before her trying to check in and her family was unable to check in, even when she explained they were travelling urgently for a funeral.

“I was running from this side of the airport to the other side to get any Qantas operators to get me checked in, but I couldn’t find anyone,” Mohammad said.

“I was crying constantly.”

Mohammad tried contacting her travel agent.

Desperate, she appealed to staff at Mackay Airport for help.

Nine.com.au understands other travel options were explored at the airport but none would get the family to India in time for Mohammad’s mother’s funeral, so she went online and booked new flights herself through a flight comparison site.

The last-minute tickets cost more than $11,000 and left on Saturday afternoon.

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“When we checked in that afternoon at Mackay Airport, no one asked us about the health declaration,” she said.

Check-in went smoothly at the family’s stop-overs in Brisbane, Ho Chi Minh City, and Bangkok as well.

Mohammad claimed the health form wasn’t mentioned again until they arrived in India, less than two hours before the funeral.

“When we landed in Hyderabad, we were given a small piece of paper with two questions: ‘Have you been to Sudan?’ and ‘Do you have Ebola?’ That was it.”

Filling out the form was quick and easy, Mohammad said, and the whole family made it through customs without incident.

Certain the Qantas check-in agent had made a mistake, Mohammad assumed she’d be able to get a refund when she returned to Australia.

Instead, she got home to an email from her travel agent saying the family had been logged as no-shows despite their physical presence at the check-in desk.

Nine.com.au understands no-show status is not a staff decision, rather it is automatically generated if Qantas customers do not travel.

The travel agency said the tickets were non-refundable, but the family may be able to get a few hundred dollars in taxes refunded.

“If I was not at the airport, I’d be happy to take responsibility – but I was there,” Mohammad said.

“All up I paid $20,000 just to travel that day, and for my mum I can do anything, but I just don’t want to know that I’m flushing $9000 for no reason.”

Nine.com.au has repeatedly contacted the travel agency for comment.

Mohammad tried going to Qantas directly for a refund but was initially told refund requests must first be handled by the issuing travel agency.

Qantas later agreed to work with the agency to provide a refund.

“We understand this was a distressing situation for the family, given the circumstances of their travel,” a Qantas spokesperson told nine.com.au.

“Unfortunately, due to regulatory requirements we are unable to check customers in for flights to India without the completed health declaration.

“As check in was closing, our team did the best they could to support the customers in the limited time available but unfortunately, the declaration was not able to be completed in time.  

“We’re arranging a refund for the family through their travel agent.”

But Mohammad doesn’t just want her money back.

She also wants airlines and travel agents to be more compassionate when dealing with bereaved travellers, who are often travelling at the last minute.

“Should I blame my agent, or should I blame Qantas? Should I blame the operator who did not let us in? I’m not sure,” she said.

“Everyone is pointing at each other [and] I don’t want to create this big issue, but I want to resolve this.

“I want a refund, but I also want to know that in the future, if something happens like this, no one should shrug their shoulders, there should be a duty of care.”

She started a Change.org petition calling on both parties to issue a full refund and ensure all staff receive appropriate training to deal with customers travelling in emergency situations.

At the time of writing, it has more than 80 signatures.