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Delyth and Sunil Dharmabandhu
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'Holiday from hell' for Winnersh family

By Lewis Rudd
October 10, 2011

A Winnersh man has hit out at airline bosses after claiming he and his family suffered a “holiday from hell” while on a recent trip to the United States.

Sunil Dharmabandhu claims his family was left “humiliated and thoroughly exhausted” following two days of torment while travelling with Air Canada from London Heathrow to Newark via Toronto in June.

The 65-year-old, who lives in Reading Road, set off for the Mountain Laurel Resort and Spa in Pennsylvania, with his wife Delyth Dharmabandhu, daughter Kisholi Dharmabandhu, sister-in-law Ann Morris and her son Thomas Hedley on Sunday, June 26.

The travelling party missed their connecting flight to Newark as it is claimed just four US Immigration and Customs officers had been tasked with checking the documentation of around three hundred passengers.

But despite reassurances from Air Canada staff the family would make their second flight, the family did not make the departure gate in time and had to wait at Toronto Airport until 7am on the Monday morning to get seats on another plane.

And to further add to their woes, the group arrived at their resort, where they stayed for two weeks, without their luggage, which was sitting in a holding area at Toronto Airport and had to be later collected from another holiday complex some six miles away.

A frustrated Mr Dharmabandhu said: “We have never experienced anything like this before and never before in our 35 years or more of flying experience worldwide. That includes red tape riddled and non-English speaking Middle Eastern countries for connecting flights, never have we ever experienced anything remotely similar.”

A spokesman for Air Canada said: “Air Canada is committed to ensuring that all of our customers receive the best possible service. We are sorry to hear of the difficulties that Mr Dharmabandhu experienced during his travels.

“We have investigated this matter thoroughly and have offered compensation and, as a goodwill gesture, a discount on purchasing future flights with Air Canada.”

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Having flown Air Canada on numerous occasions, into and out of Toronto, I have found them to be very professional, polite and friendly.

Why do we need to see a picture of this bloke holding his passport????

The Racing Snake
13/10/2011 at 02:03

To make things worse, they had to come back to Winersh ....

Seventh Son
11/10/2011 at 13:19

Lucky they didn't go via JFK, they could still be there.

Nimrod Maximus, www.getcensored.co.uk and making his momma proud!
10/10/2011 at 17:56

I don't go to the US and when I fly to South America always avoid flights requiring a change in the US as it is asking for trouble

Fanny Saltaire, Saltaire
10/10/2011 at 16:56

phil mcrackin - I can't understand why they'd want their faces in the paper to be honest.

Yet another non story again also.

Poor form all round.

Mr Wokingham, Wokkers
10/10/2011 at 16:39

From a quick scan of the headline I thought for a moment they had house-swapped with a family in Newtown...

Caney's Bottom
10/10/2011 at 15:56

Another attention seeking couple desperate to get their faces in the papers,they should team up with the rat couple from southcote and have a good old moan....

phil mcrackin, reading
10/10/2011 at 13:53

They flew out of Heathrow on 26 June! Why wait over three months to complain to the local press?????

emma green
10/10/2011 at 13:08

A holiday from hell would describe matters if the resort was awful - I would have thought a slightly iffy start might describe this holiday.

I'd suggest the family in question didn't do their homework about transferring from international flights with US immigration! It might have seemed cheaper to use Air Canada, but BA, Virgin and Continental all fly direct to Newark from London!

Fred Bloggs
10/10/2011 at 12:58

I guess my previous comments weren't approved of! They were along the lines of Friday's Child where the real issue appears to be that there was not enough time between flights. This is not the fault of Air Canada or US Immigration. It sounds harsh to blame Air Canada as missing flights isn't really anything to do with them unless they recommended that the connection time would be sufficient.

I can see how this would be an irritating start to a holiday, but calling it a holiday from hell seems harsh. The lesson to learn from this is check connection times when flying to North America or better still fly direct where possible and avoid the risk.

Smiffy, Reading
10/10/2011 at 12:51

That US immigration line at Toronto airport is pretty horrible. In the past I've taken a seven hour connection over a two hour one, knowing how little fun it is connecting through there. I feel a bit sorry for Air Canada really, there's not a lot they can do.

ormy
10/10/2011 at 12:45

Friday's the rules apply to all flights originating or terminating in a European country do they not? Or it it only european airlines originating or terminating?

Actually I've just checked and beacuse the flight they missed was a connection within Canada it seems the EU rules do not apply. They would only have been entitled to compensation as defined in the Warsaw convention.

whitespirit
10/10/2011 at 12:06

One of the risks with connecting flights is just how big a gap do you need. US Immigration are well known for being thorough so any 'lay over' needs to take this into account. Story seems to suggest this wasn't the case.

Every sympathy with the 'lost' luggage.

Do EU rules apply in Canada/US?

Friday's child, Reading
10/10/2011 at 11:33

Can I just point out to Mr and Mrs Dharmabandhu that the immigartion staff are not really in the control of Air Canada. Delaying a flight to allow late boarding passengers to get there costs thousands or pounds and is not really feasible.

I asusme they were put up in a hotel overnoght, as required by the EU rules, so although very annoying when this happens AC have done quite a lot already haven't they?