Problems with AEROFLOT and how to sue them
 

I would like to know how to sue AEROFLOT. The case is that i bought a one way ticket for my friend to fly from Sofia to Hong Kong, in order to visit me in China. At the Sofia airport, they didn't let him get on board, with the reason that he had no return flight ticket.
He needs no visa for Hong Kong, also Aeroflot doesn't require Macedonian citizens to buy a return flight ticket, they simply issue a oneway ticket and then tell you, NO you can't get on board. Furthermore, i have another 5 friends that came the same way to Hong Kong in the past 5 weeks.

Please if anyone can help, i would appreciate and if there are any lawyers who can get this case on please reply.

Regards
Dushan

http://www.suetheairlines.org/

Oh, I would love to know how this turns out :))

I am sure there are many attorneys - in Sofia - who would be happy to take your case for a fee.

This is a travel forum - and although I believe we have several attorneys here - I'm not at all sure any is licensed to practice in Bulgaria.

Oh - and you seem to have a surprising number of friends making this trip in a short time. Are you sure that you're not running this as a business?

Contact an attorney.

What is it with everyone wanting to sue.

Most countries have a return- or onward-ticket requirement for foreigners entering their territory. Any airline will sell a one-way ticket to a foreign destination. For all they know, the passenger already has a ticket out. Aeroflot did nothing wrong.

Assuming you can prove the airline was at fault you'll need an attorney to sue and I doubt you'll find one willing to take the case on a contingency basis since the chance of prevailing is slim and any monetary recovery (base on the facts you gave) is likely to be small. So you'll have to pay him/her a retainer up front and progress payments as the case goes on. Now I don't know the going hourly rate for attorneys in Bulgaria but what ever it is you can bet you'll rack up fees quite quickly. Figure it will take a minimum of anywhere from 100 to 200 hours of your lawyers time to file and negotiate the lawsuit, add more time if you end up in court. Multiply that estimate by the attorney's hourly rate and you'll have some idea of the cost to litigate the lawsuit. You will have to foot the entire bill. Now, figure how much the lawsuit might generate if you win - you do that by determining the actual loss you (or your fiancé) incurred as a result of being denied boarding the aircraft. Compare the two numbers and you'll see you will probably end up losing money even if you win the lawsuit.

The passenger is responsible for knowing the immigration/entry rules and in this case a return or onward ticket is required. It is not the airlines responsibility to ensure the passenger has such a ticket when booking because chances are good that the passenger is not planning to return or continue travel on the same airline. IOW, none of the airline's business at this point.

At the gate, the airline IS now responsible to check the passenger has either a return or onward ticket (whether by air, land or sea) and not to allow boarding if the condition is not met. This is a government requirement, not the airline.