bootlegga bootlegga:
hurley_108 hurley_108:
That's just awful. They were being proactive in assuring that their documentation would be good, they weren't part of the rush of people getting passports to go to the US, and they applied in good time. They should be compensated for their losses.
I don't think they applied in good time at all. According to his won statement, he bought the ticket 3 months before the flight and was told that it would take 10 weeks to process the passport application. That leaft him only a two week margin of error. The last time I went abroad, I applied for my passport 6 months before my flight. And it's not like the line-ups at passport offices weren't in the news every few weeks back then either. Stories popped up all the time about the long delays.
I think he rushed in his vacation planning and paid the price for it. He should have bought cancellation insurance from his travel agent to prevent the $5000 bill, which in most cases would cover such problems.
I feel sorry for him but I don't think he deserves a dime in compensation.
Read the article. He bought tickets in February, the flights were on June 19. Even if he bought on Feb 28, that's 15 weeks. 11 weeks after applying, he sought help from his MP. His MP Was assured, twice, that the passport would arrive in time. The passport office even agrees he should be compensated.
The stumbling block is finance. They don't want to be on the hook for a larger than normal volume of claims. But they probably would have rebuffed calls for additional staffing to make sure the passports got out on time, too. This is just a government being government and failing in their duty to look after their citizens.
CKA Super Elite 
