Zoom Airlines in Big Trouble [MERGED]

parahandy

We booked two adults, one child back at the beginning of the year for £887 (had a dis!!!! voucher). We paid by Visa Debit, and have phoned our bank.

Flights were from Glasgow to Ottawa, so we have now rebooked with Canadian Affair (using Credit Card!), to Toronto. We'll just hire a car which we were considering doing anyway,

Thanks to those that posted info about the Visa Chargeback scheme - will look into that.

DestroyingAngel_2

Never had any dealings with Zoom, never even followed their rise to fame, but it's always a shame when a good thing fails. With the fuel crisis and the credit crunch and the general poor economic climate worldwide, something had to give; I feel sorry for Zoom's customers who are now left stranded having to pick up the pieces themselves.

BA and Virgin Atlantic are offering special rates for those affected by the Zoom fiasco. Check out www.ba.com and www.virgin-atlantic.com

Also, if you'd bought or reserved tickets from Zoom, you need to refer to your credit or debit card company for advice on your rights and info how to get a refund.

If you made travel arrangements as part of a holiday package originating in the UK and booked through a hooliday company, you may be able to claim under the CAA's ATOL scheme. Check out www.atol.org.uk

Former_MSE_Archna

Hi all,

We're working on some proper information on this but in the mean time the first things to do are:

• Check your travel insurance
• Read the Section 75 section of the Consumer Rights article to see if your card provider might be jointly liable.

eddidaz

I just booked flights to Toronto with Zoom just last week! Paid by Visa direct debit so I rang Halifax first thing this morning when I heard and they said there was nothing they could do because I didn't pay by credit card. I also upped my credit card limit so I can book my replacement flights with protection.

Heard later that some debit card providers would refund due to Zoom's circumstances, so I rang again and they filled out an application for refund for me. There was no guarantee of payment though, they just said they were 'hopeful' that I could be refunded. I believe end customers are pretty low down on administrators' creditors lists so I'm not sure how successful this will be.

I knew I had read about some kind of Visa DD protection and the chargeback mentioned in this thread must have been it. Should I start badgering Halifax about this now, since no one mentioned it when I rang them before? Or wait and see what happens with the refund? When I fly out in October I'll be in North America for up to a year. What can I do whilst over there, if it takes that long?

PCollins_2

Dear all,

I have been watching this thread very closely over the last two days from Canada. Unfortunately my wife and two young children have been stranded in Ottawa and are still here. Much of the discussion so far has been based around getting the money back for flights booked in the future but our issue is currently getting back to the UK. At the moment Air Canada are the cheapest at around $2800, however after contacting our travel insurance company they have said they do not cover bankruptcy of an airline (apparently this is common across all insurance companies unless to take out specific protection for this eventuality). We also contacted the British High Commission in Canada and their response was we have to contact friends and relatives to organise the funds to get us home. Can anyone provide some advice how we could potentially claim back the Air Canada flights (we have pretty much kissed goodbye to getting a Zoom refund - however are we still entitled to compensation?

To add insult to injury we booked our tickets last year on a Visa Debit card (Cooperative Bank Smile) so also do not know whether we can get anything back. Also took advantage of the Children travelling free offer from zoom 6 days ago and paid in full for next year. However, we did this time pay on credit card since debit and credit cards both were charged. Therefore should not be a problem getting this money back.

If anyone is still stranded and is still trying to book flights we found the best prices were based on return flights (approximately $500 cheaper each) but obviously we would not use the return flight.

If anyone out there is able to offer advice to a stranded British family.

Alan_Bowen

The most important thing is keep your return costs as low as possible, BA are offering fares at half the return fare, which will be a lot less than buying single tickets, I belive that Air Canada are not offering any discount, probably dancing on the grave of Zoom wondering how much they can charge in the future.

If you don't pay using a credit card, then the Consumer Credit Act does not apply but many have been successful in claiming on what appears to be a voluntary scheme run by Visa itself for Visa debit cards, there are no suggestions of Mastercard offering help. Clearly you should contact the card issuer as soon as you can, it will take time for any refund to be processed and they will want to see you took reasonable steps to keep costs down. It is one thing to refund money paid, especially when some were travelling for 'free' or at low cost, it is quite another to get banks to cough up large sums of money, often in excess of the original fare to get people home.

Foe everyone else out there, ask an agent about scheduled airline failure insurance, it is not part of a general travel policy but has to be bought separately. For £5 or so, you get £1500 of cover against airline failure, and Zoom wasn't the first and won't be the last airline to go down this year.

MrMonkey

PCollins wrote: »

Dear all,

I have been watching this thread very closely over the last two days from Canada. Unfortunately my wife and two young children have been stranded in Ottawa and are still here. Much of the discussion so far has been based around getting the money back for flights booked in the future but our issue is currently getting back to the UK. At the moment Air Canada are the cheapest at around $2800, however after contacting our travel insurance company they have said they do not cover bankruptcy of an airline (apparently this is common across all insurance companies unless to take out specific protection for this eventuality). We also contacted the British High Commission in Canada and their response was we have to contact friends and relatives to organise the funds to get us home. Can anyone provide some advice how we could potentially claim back the Air Canada flights (we have pretty much kissed goodbye to getting a Zoom refund - however are we still entitled to compensation?

To add insult to injury we booked our tickets last year on a Visa Debit card (Cooperative Bank Smile) so also do not know whether we can get anything back. Also took advantage of the Children travelling free offer from zoom 6 days ago and paid in full for next year. However, we did this time pay on credit card since debit and credit cards both were charged. Therefore should not be a problem getting this money back.

If anyone is still stranded and is still trying to book flights we found the best prices were based on return flights (approximately $500 cheaper each) but obviously we would not use the return flight.

If anyone out there is able to offer advice to a stranded British family.

I'd be scouring price comparison sites. The best I can find from Ottawa to London for an adult and 2 kids is £799 on (link: http://travel.pricerunner.co.uk/flight/results/200487?progress=true)

Maybe someone on here can find a better deal. But to be honest, I'd imagine £800 to get my family back in this situation is money well spent.

eon

We've paid for 4 tickets at the beginning of June usings Lloyds Debit Card (debit card gave a discount.... doh!)

Lloyds have had so many calls that the department dealing with it are not taking any more calls. People are instructed to write with the details for a refund.

I personnally can't see how a refund is possible because news reports say Zoom didn't have money to pay for fuel and airport fees. Which means we would just be added to the list of creditors which could take a long time.

So, I've specifically instructed the bank to do a VISA Chargeback whilst Zoom are still filing for bankrupcy. It seems this worked very well for Lloyds debit card customers with Farepak. I've told them they should contact me if they wish to persue an alternative solution instead of following my instruction.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=414595&in_page_id=2

Anyone else got any suggestions for us Debit Card users? Am very worried that the money will be lost.

Former_MSE_Archna

We have drafted a full guide with step by step details on what you can do.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1124711

I've closed this thread so all discussion is in one place. Thanks.