2023-08-21 13:52:53
Seventeen Flemish travelers are currently stranded in South Africa following spending two weeks in Namibia as part of a safari organized by the Sint-Truiden travel agency De Blauwe Vogel. They were supposed to fly home last weekend, but their flight was canceled at the last minute due to a strike. The travelers were then sent to South Africa to catch another flight, but once they got there they were left on their own. Tom Coessens, one of the travelers stuck on the African continent, testifies in the columns of HLN.
After a two-week safari in Namibia, organized by the travel agency De Blauwe Vogel in Sint-Truiden, the 17 Flemish travelers should have taken a return flight from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, to Frankfurt. “But at the airport, we were told that the flight had been cancelled”, says Tom Coessens. Airlines Lufthansa and Qatar Airways have canceled their Saturday flights due to a dispute with ground staff in Windhoek.
Tourists have tried to contact De Blauwe Vogel several times, but the travel agency can only be reached during office hours, and therefore not on weekends. “Our only contact was our local travel guide,” says Tom. On Saturday, the travelers were accommodated in a hotel in Windhoek. On Sunday, on the recommendation of their travel guide, they were sent to South Africa from where they were to catch a flight to Europe. The group traveled – at their own expense – to Johannesburg via an AirLink flight. But as soon as they arrived in the South African capital, things went wrong.
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“Absurd”
“We got to the airport quite late so we had to book a hotel ourselves,” says Tom. “It’s Monday and we’re still stuck here.” Travelers have still not heard from the travel agency. Among the stranded tourists are minors, people in need of urgent medication and others with urgent work obligations.
“The unexpected can always happen, but the least we can do is that the agency offers us a solution. The fact that we have to wait until Monday morning to have a contact is mind-blowing.” The airline Lufthansa, meanwhile, advises Flemings to take their return flight on August 31, i.e. within 10 days. But for travelers, it’s far too long. “It’s absurd, we almost laugh regarding it.”
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The reaction of the travel agency
For his part, De Blauwe Vogel evokes a “regrettable situation beyond his control”. The travel agency claims to have responded adequately to requests from Flemings stuck in South Africa. “We continue to look for solutions, together with the airline and the tour operator (who is ultimately responsible),” she says.
“Our goal is to get our customers, who have been stranded with 170 other passengers, back home as quickly as possible. Of course, if it were up to us, that plane would have left on time. In our industry, we sometimes have to deal with unexpected events. At times like these, it’s all regarding finding a decent solution as quickly as possible,” the company adds.
It is not the first time that the De Blauwe Vogel agency has faced such problems. In May 2020, 78 Belgians filed a joint complaint once morest the company following four Belgian travelers died of coronavirus aboard a Caribbean cruise two months earlier. “The organization insisted everything was under control upon departure, but they gambled with our lives,” the complaint read at the time.
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