Stranded at 3 AM Despite Travel Guarantee – €1,050 in Extra Costs
My wife and I booked our journey from Bali to Copenhagen through Trip.com (Booking #1688901269564613), including their Smooth Travel Guarantee. On October 11, our Lion Air flight from Bali to Jakarta was repeatedly delayed, causing us to miss our connecting flights to Beijing and Copenhagen. We were left stranded at Jakarta Airport at approximately 3 AM without adequate assistance from Trip.com. Despite having paid extra for travel protection, we had to arrange everything ourselves, resulting in €1,000 for replacement flights and €50 for accommodation. What makes this experience even more unacceptable is Trip.com's continued insistence that they have not received official confirmation of the delay. We have already provided official written confirmation from Lion Air, photographs of the live airport departure boards, and flight information showing the delays on official travel platforms. Yet Trip.com continues to question a delay that has already been documented by the airline itself. We understand that Trip.com cannot prevent flight delays. However, when a company sells protection specifically for missed connections, customers should reasonably expect meaningful assistance when that exact situation occurs. Instead, we were stranded in a foreign country in the middle of the night, forced to spend an additional €1,050, and are now facing an exhausting claims process despite providing the requested evidence. We expect Trip.com to acknowledge the documentation, take responsibility for its handling of our case, and reimburse our €1,050 in additional expenses. This experience has completely destroyed our confidence in Trip.com and its Smooth Travel Guarantee. Booking reference: 1688901269564613