HELP! I've been done by an airline...

[Deleted User]

My sad story is as follows:

I recently travelled with KLM from Manchester to Amsterdam. I booked a return trip, flying out on Thursday 26th June and returning on Monday 30th June. I was unable to attend the original flight out on the Thursday, so the following day I purchased a new single for that day, Friday. This was at great personal expense, but as I had a commitment in Amsterdam that weekend and I needed to fly.

However, I was extremely disappointed to find upon my arrival at Amsterdam Schiphol on the Monday that my return trip had been cancelled, and that I no longer had a seat on the flight on which I had originally been booked. My only option then was to purchase another single ticket, and wait six hours in the airport before completing my return to Manchester.

It was not made clear to me that I needed to travel on the outbound flight in order that my return flight not be cancelled and my seat sold to someone else, even when I booked the new single flight out on the Friday through Opodo.

This does not seem a fair way to treat customers, seeing as I had already paid for a full return journey. A trip that should have cost me £130.80 ended up costing a total of £548.19. I was left in a foreign country with no alternative but to pay 269 euros to get back home.

Is there any recourse available to me to recover any of the extra costs? Has this happened to anyone else, or does anyone have any suggestions?

I'm just off home to read through my travel insurance documents, to see whether there is anything in them which may be of benefit to me...

Any help much appreciated!!

(Removed by Forum Team)

dmg24

When you book a traditional 'return' ticket (as opposed to two single legs), if you fail to make one leg of the trip, the airline usually reserves the right to cancel the other leg.

You need to check the relevant terms and conditions relating to your original ticket.

Unless the reason for missing the original flight was an insurable reason, I doubt you will get anywhere with your insurer.

c_l_a_i_r_e

Did you telephone the airline to let hem know you wouldn't make/or had missed the outbound flight? I'm not sure from your post if you rebooked over the phone in person or online.

Voyager2002

What a sad story. Yes, it is standard airline practice that if you miss the first leg of a multi-flight ticket then all the other legs are cancelled (so if you bought a ticket Amsterdam - London - New York and did not go to Amsterdam for the first flight, you would lose the trans-Atlantic bit as well).

The irony is that KLM are usually fairly good about letting you travel later if you miss your flight. Had you contacted them and explained the problem, rather than buying a new ticket for travel the following day, your problem would have cost far less than you have now paid.

I don't think you have any rights, but if you send a letter to their customer relations people in Amsterdam they might be kind enough to give you some of your money back. But do not waste your time contacting anyone who represents them in the UK: the people in the UK are not employed by them and have absolutely zero discretion to do anything remotely helpful or unusual.

chalky_bertie

As previously stated in other posts you do not say wether you contacted the airline when you couldn't make the first leg on Thursday. If you didn't then I think you made a fundamental error. It should have been one of the first things you did instead of using your own money for a single. Probably like others have said i doubt you will get anywhere with your insurance company but could be worth a try and explain to them what happened.

Not sure of your age and ability but saying that you were "stranded" in a foreign country is abit OTT as there must be loads of flights to the UK from there especially no-frills, it's not as if you had problems stuck in an airport in the depths of Africa or Asia.