A couple’s dream of an island wedding ceremony and a honeymoon in Tahiti turned into a nightmare when they were prevented by flight authorities in Australia from travelling to the island as they had no visas.
But Paul and Karen Murray, who live on a smallholding near Rustenburg, are adamant that their travel agent, Seekers World Travel, assured them three times after consulting Visas International that, as South Africans travelling to French Polynesia, they did not need visas.
The Murrays tried in vain to sort out the problem by staying a week longer in Sydney. But, they had no joy and swopped their idyllic island wedding for one in the Australian outback.
Their travel agent would not compensate them for their loss and so they headed to court.
Now the Murrays are even more out of pocket after the Pretoria High Court turned down their damages claim on Friday and slapped them with a costs order.
The honeymooners had claimed about R100 000 for the expenses they said they incurred to sort out the “mess” while stranded in Sydney.
This included additional flights, hotel accommodation and car hire, as well as about R500 000 for the trauma they had to endure.
They maintain they could have had their dream wedding ceremony on a beach surrounded by the warm turquoise waters of Thaiti, had the travel agent told them they needed visas.
“Why would we chose not to get visas and yet try to board the airplane to Tahiti, knowing we didn’t have the visas we need? Why would I put my wife through all that?” Paul told the Pretoria News at the weekend.
They instituted the claim against Visas International (Leisure), a company used by Seekers to assist clients with visa requirements.
Paul told the court they went to Seekers as he and his wife, who legally married in South Africa, wanted to hold a special ceremony in Tahiti as well as attend a spiritual workshop before their honeymoon.
The plan was to first visit Sydney to attend to family commitments before going to Thaiti.
He said the Seekers agent was not sure about the visa requirement for Tahiti and she phoned Visas International. According to Paul, the Seekers agent then told him no visa was required.
After obtaining their visas and travel documents for Australia, the couple left for their trip in January 2008. After two weeks in Sydney, they were extremely excited to head for Tahiti, only to be told they needed visas.
Paul’s new bride, upon hearing the devastating news, cried inconsolably.
He said all his efforts to try and sort out the “mess” and obtain emergency visas, were in vain. They were told they had to wait at least two weeks for visas.
But Judge Legodi Phatudi found neither the travel agent nor Visas International was to blame. He said their officials were clear in court that they did in fact tell the Murrays they needed visas for the second leg of their trip.
The judge said there was no need to doubt their word on this.
Now Paul has decided not to leave the matter there, and will take it up on appeal.
“We are very disappointed with the outcome and we respectfully disagree with the judge,” Paul said.
He added that as a project manger, he was a very meticulous person and he would have never omitted to obtain visas if he knew he had to have them.
He said that while touring the Australian outback as a back-up was amazing, it was not what they had planned to do.
Their dream from the start was to have the island ceremony with their friends, whom they would then have joined in the spiritual workshop. - Pretoria News