Quote:
Originally Posted by smaqbool
When I booked my tickets I was told that if I needed to change the outgoing or incoming dates for my flights I could do this with no problems.
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What does this mean? What constitutes a problem? No problems for who? I assure you, Emirates has no problem with you paying additional charges and fees. Who made the statement that there would be no problems in changing your flight? It appears, from your post, that this was the travel agency. If this is the case, your complaint would be with them. Were any change fees/fare differences an explicit element of the conversation, i.e., in saying that there would be "no problems" was it clearly understood by the travel agency that such additional expense would be a problem? If yes, then you may have a valid complaint with the travel agency.
I think, assuming you must, that you should change the reservation through the travel agency. You have more leverage with the travel agency than you do with Emirates. If you are unable to negotiate the change for an acceptable (or zero) additional cost, then you can attempt to recover the additional charges from them. I don't know, but I suppose that there are organizations similar to the BBB in the travel agency's location with whom you can file a complaint against the travel agency. Such a complaint may be taken seriously by the travel agency, particularly if it is a small business. You can also dispute any additional charges with your credit card. Your position in the dispute will be stronger if you can document that "no problems" meant no additional charges, but you can file a dispute regardless. Just state the you are disputing the charge on the basis of your understanding of the change policy as presented by the travel agency. You may find that filing a dispute results in the travel agency becoming somewhat more amenable to your demands. Be aware that the dispute will be with the business that actually submitted the charge, if this is Emirates you will utimately lose the dispute as Emirates will be able to cite their contract of carriage to justify the additional charges.
Don't expect any help from Emirates. Granting that they don't have to be unpleasant in speaking with you, you are asking them to honor a vague statement made by a third party who is not an Emirates employee. While they can waive the additional charge if they wish, you can't reasonably expect them to do so.
Be carerul about disputing this before you complete your travel ... an open dispute might result in Emirates refusing to honor the ticket.