Mysterious cancellation – had to pay 30,000 extra

The long-awaited family reunion in Washington became an expensive nightmare for Ulla Vaena, 82. 

Suddenly, the flight tickets were canceled without explanation. 

Now she demands answers from SAS.

“You feel completely defenseless,” she says. Ask the flight attendant: What is the most common rule passengers break?

On August 30, Ulla Vaena, her partner and her 15-year-old grandson will travel to Washington for a big family gathering. Then two other grandchildren who live in the US will be confirmed.

– We have been looking forward to this trip. It is important for us to be part of it. We have a very strong sense of family unity, says Ulla Vaena, who lives in Stockholm.

The trip with SAS was booked back in March with a slight change in the dates in April.

Suddenly, at the end of June, the couple received an email from SAS stating that the trip had been canceled – without them having done anything themselves.

– We had no chance to cancel because we were in the countryside and were busy all day, says Ulla Vaena.

There is no risk that you accidentally cancelled these tickets?

– No, we didn’t use the computer that day.

Payed 51,000 kronor

The first tickets cost over 21,000 kronor for three people.

– We got back just over 2,000 in total. There were additional costs for seats and service. SAS said we might get the rest back when we got back.

Ulla and her partner contacted SAS but received no help.

According to Ulla, the company urged her to book new tickets and make a complaint about the other tickets after the end of the trip.

However, since the booking is cancelled, Ulla can no longer access a specific booking number that is needed to be able to claim the trip and file a complaint.

– First we had to talk to a person who was like a robot, who just said they couldn’t do anything.

When they asked how the cancellation could be done, they received no answer.

– We said we hadn’t cancelled the tickets and asked if they could see how it had happened. No, we were told. It was possible to check somehow, but then you had to go higher up at SAS and we didn’t get any help with that, says Ulla Vaena.

The new tickets the family booked cost around 30,000 kronor. In total, they have now spent over 51,000 kronor on the flight tickets.

Rebooked with Lufthansa: “Disappointed”

Due to the chaos, the couple did not dare to rebook with SAS and chose Lufthansa.

Ulla’s partner has also received strangers’ bookings with SAS on his computer, she says.

– It’s a bit suspicious. We wonder if someone has accessed his email and canceled our trip as well.

Both Ulla and her partner have traveled with SAS for many years, but now they don’t know what to do in the future.

– Of course we are disappointed. Especially because we could not find out how the ticket was cancelled. Has someone hacked the system? Who did this? You feel completely defenseless. We do not recognize ourselves in SAS at all, but would have hoped that they had a little better contact with their customers.

Expressen has been in contact with SAS, which has not responded to the criticism.