Long journey to U.S.

I am writing to complain about an extra promotion advertisement in the economy deluxe class with Eva Air.

My son and his friend returned from the United States by Eva Air on Dec. 14, 1996. On Jan. 3, 1997, they took off for the United States by BR238, and stayed in an airport hotel before flying on to San Francisco the next day. Eva Air had already approved their seats at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

After staying at the Taipei airport on Jan. 4, 1997, my son was not allowed to board flight BR18 due to an automatic cancellation of the ticket, but his friend could.

At the time my son was angry and could not understand why he was allowed to board the initial plane if there was no seat available for him. Eva Air staff later persuaded my son to buy another ticket costing US$900 because he had to attend school. Eva Air guaranteed that my son would arrive at his destination but said the route must be changed, Taipei-Honolulu and Honolulu- Portland, departing on Jan. 5, 1997.

My son arrived in Honolulu on Jan. 5, 1997 but after checking in with Hawaiian Airlines he was astounded to find that his name was not on the flight list.

He then had to spend another night in Honolulu and bought another new ticket costing $575. Finally my son reached Portland on Jan. 7, a new record taking four days and nights to reach the United States.

FIRMAN WIDJAYA

Jakarta