Denied Boarding
Has anyone successfully received compensation/goodwill from Emirates or Turkish Airlines after being denied boarding at the gate despite having boarding passes?
Recently travelled from Koh Samui → Bangkok → Manchester. Originally booked with Emirates, but after operational disruption caused by Middle East airspace closures we were rebooked onto a Turkish Airlines flight via our travel agent.
We successfully checked in, received boarding passes for the entire journey, passed through multiple passport/boarding pass checks and waited in Bangkok airport for several hours with no issues raised.
Then at the gate for the Turkish Airlines flight we were suddenly told the flight was full and we could not board. We were basically denied boarding despite holding confirmed tickets and valid boarding passes.
We were given very little assistance and told to contact Emirates ourselves. Eventually we were rebooked onto a much later Emirates flight via Dubai which caused a delay of over 10 hours overall.
To make things worse:
we were told over the phone we’d get lounge access in Dubai, then refused it
customer service throughout was poor and dismissive
we later found out there may have been earlier alternative flights available
a close relative was receiving end-of-life care at the time, so we were desperately trying to get home quickly
Emirates have now replied saying compensation is not offered, but they also didn’t deny that we were denied boarding at the gate.
Has anyone had a similar situation and eventually managed to get compensation or a goodwill payment after pushing/escalating? Interested to know realistic outcomes before taking this further.