In May after a wonderful 6 weeks of traveling in Africa it was time for my girlfriend, my friend, and I all to return to the U.S.A. We had arranged all of our plane tickets at different times and different methods. I used Delta skymiles in order to get my ticket, My girlfriend used skymiles from my North West Airlines (Delta partner). My friend purchased his ticket direct from Orbitz. All three of us needed to purchase a ticket for a connection flight from Rwanda to Johanesburg, South Africa. We all purhcased the ticket from Delta about 3 months before traveling.
When we arrived to the airport in Rwanda we were told our flight did not exist and that it has not run for some months. After 8 hours we were told we were to be rerouted to Uganda where we would be meet by a representative from SouthAfrican airlines who would pay for our entrance Visas and our hotel since we would not be able to leave until the next day.
We arrived in Uganda and were not met by anyone. Had to pay for entrance Visas and then also find a hotel in the middle of the night. The next morning we did leave from Uganda to South Africa via SA Airlines.in the midst of all of this my girlfriend had lost her wallet (this I know is just dumb luck).
Here's where I get frustrated. We were trying to figure out who was at fault for selling all three of us a ticket that never existed in the first place. RwandaAir blamed Delta along with South African Airs. Delta blames RwandaAir. We sat and argued with the Delta representative to try to get someone to give us some type of compensation. But never were given an inch. We were instead told that we need to contact SA to get our money back from the Visa and Hotel. And to contact RwandaAir for the mix up in the ticket that never existed. (Please try to figure out a way to contact RwandaAir from the U.S.)
My friend and I were able to change tickets however my girlfriend was to be stuck in Johannesburg for another 8 hours after we left. She was afraid of being stuck in Johannesburg which was currently having Random street protests and violence. And there was the fact that she had no credit cards. I figured after all the trouble we had gone through that we would be able to switch her ticket from Northwest to Delta since they worked in as the Delta Alliance.
Delta once again told us we needed to talk to Northwest who told us we needed to contact the U.S. A via phone, but could not use theirs. Northwest phone support in the U.S.A. Showed no available reward tickets available, but plenty of open seats to pay for. After over 6 hours of going back and forth between Delta and Northwest, calling, and getting nowhere I purchased a ticket for my girlfriend one way for $2100.
I wanted to do what was right and was hoping for someone to tell me who was at fault here. I am wondering why we had to pay so much in order to begin our 24 hour flight to get home. Please anyone let me know why we are at fault.
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