Answers sought after ‘Nightmare Trip’ to Thailand

By MARGARET DEKKER

They’re the well-travelled Ballina importers who’d waited 4-years for their ‘dream trip’ to Thailand to finally arrive; The opportunity for a little work sourcing jewellery and bronzes for their Smith Drive store ‘Summerland Antiques’ .. and a chance at last for lots of rest and relaxation in the ‘city of Gods.’

But from the word go, Bert and Marcia Elliott say their August 31 journey became the ‘trip from hell.’

“It all started when I went to organise Marcia’s and my trip to Thailand. I had over 800,000 frequent flyer points with my airline.  I’d been told that I had enough points for the 2 of us to go around the world business class but when I went to my travel agent, I could only book one ticket with the points and the other I had to pay for,” Bert Elliott explained.

The cap resulted in Bert paying more than $4000 he said, for his Business Class fare which he believes was available much cheaper, online.

“It’s a bl** dy con,” Bert Elliott told The Northern Rivers Times.

When it came to boarding, Bert said his requests for a wheelchair at both Sydney and Bangkok airports “because of my crook knees” were unheeded.

“If you know Bangkok Airport, it’s a fair walk to get to immigration and I could hardly walk,” he said.

To add insult to injury, once on board the plane, 80-year-old Bert was seated away from his wife, 77-year-old Marcia.

“I’ve flown 72-times to Europe and 71-times to Thailand and we’ve always been seated together.  And this was meant to be the first time we actually had a holiday there in Thailand and not just a work trip!”

Bert Elliott also claims he was short-changed on his hotel bookings.

“I had the name of an airline-backed hotel in Bangkok called the Berkeley which I could have got 14-days for $1,300.  The airline was charging well over $2000 for the same thing. You save all these points thinking you’ll get looked after, but you don’t,” Bert Elliott claimed.

Bert chose to use some of his 800,000 frequent flyer points to secure reservations with the Berkeley and Rydges Sydney Airport Hotels only to find his balance had dropped to 40,000 points once the bookings were made.

But the real, harrowing toll was still to come.

“After resting for 2 days, on the third day we had a meal .. and in a few hours, Marcia began vomiting.  She said she’d like to see a doctor.  Mam (friend) took us to the hospital where she went for an operation a few years before.  Big mistake! When we got there, they put Marcia in the Intensive Care ward and that’s when the sh*t happened,” Bert Elliott recalled.

High potassium foods affect Marcia Elliott’s heartrate.  Bert claims the hospital food served to Marcia was potassium-rich, including rockmelon, honeydew melon and tomatoes.

Bill told The Northern Rivers Times it felt like the system was “killing Marcia.”

“I tried to tell them that those foods were not good for her, but they gave her 3 blood transfusions. On the fifth day I demanded they get her out of ICU and into a room on her own,” he said.

“I finally had her in a room on her own and within 12 hours of feeding her low potassium food, her heartbeat was up around 60 pm.  While Marcia was in Intensive Care, they wouldn’t let her out of bed to go to the toilet and there were no bed pans or pads – very degrading for her and the stress on both of us was the worst we’ve ever had in our lives. She was on oxygen but was well enough to travel after 3 days so we contacted the airline to get on our flight back to Australia,” Bert Elliott said.

Bert claims a series of bungles and delays then followed in getting formal approval by a doctor for Marcia to fly, meaning the pair missed their initial flights home.  He said he was also unable to withdraw much-needed cash from a Thai bank and believes it was only after he got travel insurer NRMA involved, that the couple secured a flight from Bangkok to Singapore to connect to Sydney.  By now, the ordeal was entering its third week.

“But at the Bangkok Airport, guess what?  No ticket for me! Lucky for me there was a spare seat which I had to pay for at a cost of 4-thousand dollars,” Bert Elliott said.

Bert reported a ‘good flight’ back to Sydney and thought the couple’s travel-luck had at last improved.

“But when we got to Ballina, we had no bags. All Marcia’s and my medications were in the carry-on bags!” Bert said.

Three weeks on and the seasoned travellers are still coming to terms with their shock “nightmare trip.”

“This is the worst and most terrible trip you could dream of.  The stress was unbelievable,” Bert Elliott said.

Not to mention the total cost.  All up, Bert says he’s out of pocket $25,000 for the trouble.

“The stress .. we haven’t got over it yet.  Marcia is still recovering too.  I’m thinking about suing them, I’m serious,” Bert Elliott said.

The airline involved, which requested not to be named while a review is underway, is now “looking into Bert and Marcia Elliott’s booking experience.”

The Ballina travel agency, which handled Bert and Marcia’s ticketing, Frequent Flyer, seat, and wheelchair allocation requirements could be asked questions as well.