Cyprus-Forum.com

[Svetlana]

Name ‘too long’ for air ticket, Lankan student mulls legal


A Sri Lankan student in UK says she is considering legal action against a holiday company after her reservation was cancelled saying her name was too long.

Sri Lankan student Jennifer Abegoonewardene told BBC Sinhala service that she booked a holiday to Cyprus a few weeks ago – together with a friend – through ebookers.com. But she received an email and a call from the company after few days saying there was an issue related to her booking.

“They told me my surname was too long and forced me to cancel the booking. I was astonished; I have travelled to many countries before and this is the first time this happened to me,” Ms. Abegoonewardene told BBC Sandeshaya. The student says the company’s decision is a violation of her human rights.


Catherine Sharrott of Red and White Consultancy, on behalf of ebookers.com, told the BBC that the company apologises “for being unable to assist” her and “for any inconvenience caused.”
“ebookers was unable to process Miss Abeygoonewardana’s booking as her name does not fit within the maximum 25 characters stipulated by Turkish Airlines for the ‘name’ field,” Sharrott said in an email statement.
“We can confirm that each airline has a maximum number of characters it allows to be inputted into the ‘name’ field and this varies from carrier to carrier. These are passed onto the Global Distribution System used by travel agents,” the statement added.

But Ms. Abeygoonewardene says she was told by the Turkish Airline that the decision was taken by the ebookers, not by the airline.

The company has made a full refund but the student says she wanted to visit Cyprus as scheduled, not her money back. - (BBC)

[yialousa1971]

Name ‘too long’ for air ticket, Lankan student mulls legal


A Sri Lankan student in UK says she is considering legal action against a holiday company after her reservation was cancelled saying her name was too long.

Sri Lankan student Jennifer Abegoonewardene told BBC Sinhala service that she booked a holiday to Cyprus a few weeks ago – together with a friend – through ebookers.com. But she received an email and a call from the company after few days saying there was an issue related to her booking.

“They told me my surname was too long and forced me to cancel the booking. I was astonished; I have travelled to many countries before and this is the first time this happened to me,” Ms. Abegoonewardene told BBC Sandeshaya. The student says the company’s decision is a violation of her human rights.


Catherine Sharrott of Red and White Consultancy, on behalf of ebookers.com, told the BBC that the company apologises “for being unable to assist” her and “for any inconvenience caused.”
“ebookers was unable to process Miss Abeygoonewardana’s booking as her name does not fit within the maximum 25 characters stipulated by Turkish Airlines for the ‘name’ field,” Sharrott said in an email statement.
“We can confirm that each airline has a maximum number of characters it allows to be inputted into the ‘name’ field and this varies from carrier to carrier. These are passed onto the Global Distribution System used by travel agents,” the statement added.

But Ms. Abeygoonewardene says she was told by the Turkish Airline that the decision was taken by the ebookers, not by the airline.

The company has made a full refund but the student says she wanted to visit Cyprus as scheduled, not her money back. - (BBC)

Note to Lana: Please provide links!

[paliometoxo]

its not that long and why would they care how long it is???!?!? :S really long would be 100 characters long thats nothing

[oopsy]

wonder if she could stick a hyphen in there? would it make a difference? Abeygoo-newardene. Lady houlston-amersty-smith has more letters in it, bet she can travel

[yialousa1971]

Since when do Turkish Airlines fly to Cyprus? Or do they mean Occuppied Northern Cyprus via Occuppied Minor Asia!

[Svetlana]

Name ‘too long’ for air ticket, Lankan student mulls legal


A Sri Lankan student in UK says she is considering legal action against a holiday company after her reservation was cancelled saying her name was too long.

Sri Lankan student Jennifer Abegoonewardene told BBC Sinhala service that she booked a holiday to Cyprus a few weeks ago – together with a friend – through ebookers.com. But she received an email and a call from the company after few days saying there was an issue related to her booking.

“They told me my surname was too long and forced me to cancel the booking. I was astonished; I have travelled to many countries before and this is the first time this happened to me,” Ms. Abegoonewardene told BBC Sandeshaya. The student says the company’s decision is a violation of her human rights.


Catherine Sharrott of Red and White Consultancy, on behalf of ebookers.com, told the BBC that the company apologises “for being unable to assist” her and “for any inconvenience caused.”
“ebookers was unable to process Miss Abeygoonewardana’s booking as her name does not fit within the maximum 25 characters stipulated by Turkish Airlines for the ‘name’ field,” Sharrott said in an email statement.
“We can confirm that each airline has a maximum number of characters it allows to be inputted into the ‘name’ field and this varies from carrier to carrier. These are passed onto the Global Distribution System used by travel agents,” the statement added.

But Ms. Abeygoonewardene says she was told by the Turkish Airline that the decision was taken by the ebookers, not by the airline.

The company has made a full refund but the student says she wanted to visit Cyprus as scheduled, not her money back. - (BBC)

Note to Lana: Please provide links!

As my integrity is totally beyond question, I rarely post links, but you can search in www,expressnews.lk on12/7/10

[apc2010]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhHis-al2Wk

[yialousa1971]

Name ‘too long’ for air ticket, Lankan student mulls legal


A Sri Lankan student in UK says she is considering legal action against a holiday company after her reservation was cancelled saying her name was too long.

Sri Lankan student Jennifer Abegoonewardene told BBC Sinhala service that she booked a holiday to Cyprus a few weeks ago – together with a friend – through ebookers.com. But she received an email and a call from the company after few days saying there was an issue related to her booking.

“They told me my surname was too long and forced me to cancel the booking. I was astonished; I have travelled to many countries before and this is the first time this happened to me,” Ms. Abegoonewardene told BBC Sandeshaya. The student says the company’s decision is a violation of her human rights.


Catherine Sharrott of Red and White Consultancy, on behalf of ebookers.com, told the BBC that the company apologises “for being unable to assist” her and “for any inconvenience caused.”
“ebookers was unable to process Miss Abeygoonewardana’s booking as her name does not fit within the maximum 25 characters stipulated by Turkish Airlines for the ‘name’ field,” Sharrott said in an email statement.
“We can confirm that each airline has a maximum number of characters it allows to be inputted into the ‘name’ field and this varies from carrier to carrier. These are passed onto the Global Distribution System used by travel agents,” the statement added.

But Ms. Abeygoonewardene says she was told by the Turkish Airline that the decision was taken by the ebookers, not by the airline.

The company has made a full refund but the student says she wanted to visit Cyprus as scheduled, not her money back. - (BBC)

Note to Lana: Please provide links!

As my integrity is totally beyond question, I rarely post links, but you can search in www,expressnews.lk on12/7/10

I don't have time to do your job you lazy sod, next time I tell you to do something do it or else!

[CrookedRiverGuy]

“ebookers was unable to process Miss Abeygoonewardana’s booking as her name does not fit within the maximum 25 characters stipulated by Turkish Airlines for the ‘name’ field,”

Did she try to count the letters herself? A count of letters in "Jennifer Abeygoonewardana", including the space, gives 25. So where's the problem, a middle name they couldn't fit in?