scheduled change by aerofloat, deny to give me full refund? What should I do?

sensibly_insane

Hi all,

I am in a strange problem. I bought an air ticket from aeroflot (Russian airline) through ebookers.co.uk. Aeroflot made some changes in the flight booking which are not acceptable to me. When I asked them for refund, I am told by ebookers that airline does not give the full refund, I will only get taxes and fees back (£200 out of total ticket cost of £400). Incidentally, this is what I get in case I cancel the air ticket myself for whatever reason. So the airline is charging me for their fault.

Can anyone please advise me what can I do in this situation, ebookers is not helping me at all.

Best Regards,
SI

Incapuppy

What exactly are the changes?

sensibly_insane

thanks for your reply. Basically, the flight was from heathrow to moscow and moscow to china , total travel time 14 hours. The flight at moscow got delays by 4 hours so total travel time becomes 18 hours now. I would be already travelling for 6 hours already before getting on the flight, so this is unacceptable for me. The airline is not prepared to give me any lounge facilities or any other flight on the same day. All they offering is to change the date of flight if I want. Again, this is quite illogical as I have very tight schedule once I reach my destination.

richardw

What do the terms and conditions say about flight schedule changes? Did you tick the box and agree to these?
Airlines change flight times to suit them and not their passengers, unfortunately I think the terms and conditions allow this without recompense in most circumstances.

Incapuppy

Personally, I would not be too worried about adding 4 hours to my journey unless it was going to throw my schedule badly awry on arrival in China.

You give your reason as travelling for 6 hours to reach Heathrow. Could you not travel the day before and find cheap overnight accomodation in the area?

As richardw says, this will probably have been covered in the Terms and Conditions to which you agreed - check the small print.

BernadetteN

Blimey 18 hours really isn't that bad. I travelled many times last year to Moscow and back. One time I had to take 4 kids to the airport hotel overnight in Zurich for my connecting Moscow filght, including a toddler. If you have bought your flight agreeing to the condtions and the change time is within the conditions you agreed to, I cannot see why Aeroflot should refund you anything.

If you are flying to Domodedova, you could spend the time in Yelki Palki, a great Russian chain restaurant and savour the Borsht soup and shashliks (Russian kebabs) cooked in front of you. I bet they have one at Sheremetova too. Domodedova airport is really quite pleasant now, or should be with all the renovations they did last year.

Why can't you pay for a hotel lounge if the waiting time is bothering you, surely this is more economical than cancelling your flight and losing £200 and re-booking elsewhere?

Voyager2002

EU regulations give you the right to cancel (without penalty) if there is a "major change" to your flight schedule. Maybe you can find out if four hours constitutes a "major change". Be aware that even if you do cancel and get a full refund, air fares may have risen in the mean time so it could end up costing you a packet.

The best advice is that given by BernadetteN, to make the best of it. But you could reasonably expect the airline to offer some perks to help you make the best of it, and their refusal to give you a lounge is not very nice.

Aeroflot has always been like this. About fifteen years ago, my Dad was on one their 'planes that crash-landed in Delhi. No injuries, but the undercarriage was trashed, and it was going to be three days before they could get another 'plane to bring everyone back. And they would not even let passengers use their 'phone to let friends and relatives know about the delay!

There are so many airlines flying to China, I can see no reason to use Aeroflot. Air France is often cheaper on that route.

nomoneytoday

I believe the EU classes 5 hours as the minimum change to trigger a full refund. 4 hours and outside of europe? Not a great chance.
Maybe pay the £20 or so for a lounge pass to make the 4 hour delay nicer?

Voyager2002

nomoneytoday wrote: »

I believe the EU classes 5 hours as the minimum change to trigger a full refund. 4 hours and outside of europe? Not a great chance.
Maybe pay the £20 or so for a lounge pass to make the 4 hour delay nicer?

EU regulations apply to flights departing from Europe, but I have no idea about the time that is considered a major change.

I doubt whether you can buy lounge passes for Moscow, and I suspect that lounges there are not worth even a twenty pence entrance fee. However, a decent Russian meal would be a good way to pass the time.

Reggie_Rebel

You don't say how long you are going to be in Moscow but I reckon 4 hours is probably the least time you'll need to get everything sorted.

chokolat2

Voyager2002 wrote: »

and I suspect that lounges there are not worth even a twenty pence entrance fee.

I would have to strongly disagree. Trust me, when you see either of the two airports, you will be suprised, very suprised.
You get what you pay for. So I would recommend to get a lounge pass, if possible. The 4 hours will fly.
Good Luck.