MSE News: Flyglobespan collapse - how it affects you

David_Young_4

Hi,Booked with lowcost holidays who went on to book flyglobespan using mt visa debit details, Ok so i have went down the route of applying for charge back....What annoys me is, Low cost dont inform you they are doing this nor do they tell you who you are flying with and their wesite has a paragraph on reasons to book with them is "We offer ATOL" that coupled with the fact they use the ATOL and ABTA logos everywhere even on my flight schedule i printed off......Office stationary they tell me grrrr i trully believed i was atol protected and trusted them.I feel i had a contract with them and how THEY choose to divide my money is up to them. When taking a holiday with them they are quick enough to point out its a legal contract....If so are they not responsible? I could have went direct myself to Fly globespan. another thing if i go to them book my accomadation tranfers and flight not to mention insurance does that not constitue a PACKAGE! come on lowcost you cant take it in the good times and when the C--- hits the fan just say its nothing to do with us.....PLAY FAIR!!!!!!!

chris-j

What I find bizarre is that the administrators notice states

"The Companies are unable to offer any refund to customers in respect of cancelled flights, holidays or accommodation."

but the reports so far (which I accept are lacking in detail) suggest that e-clear are actually in possession of virtually all of the money paid by customers for holidays not yet taken, therefore surely if e-clear have all the money and cannot pass it on to Globespan, e-clear should be refunding this money to the customers and customers should not need to make any claims.

A report suggests that e-clear have started paying refunds already (from 21st December) but nobody seems to be able to find out anything about whether this is true or not. Quite frankly the whole thing is shoddy and the administrators should be pushing e-clear to get the refunds processed immediately.

funkyfifer

If you have paid for anything to do with FlyGlobespan flight or holidays using a Credit card or Visa Debit card, you should be able to claim your money back.
If you booked your flight directly with FlyGlobespan and you did NOT use a credit card or Visa debit card, then you will be out of luck in any claims.
If you booked via a Travel Agent, you should be covbered by ATOL and get your money back.
If you booked a PACKAGE holiday with Globespan, you will be covered by ATOL and should get your money back.

I hope this is the case!
I cannot believe this happened only 3 or 4 days after I booked flights for me and my son for next August (first time abroad for years)!
My dilemma is that my mother in law got the tickets (using a credit card) then she went to Spain on the day Globespan went bust and she is there till end of January.
Can anyone tell me if there is a time limit on applying for a refund? The credit card company will not entertain any queries from me.
P.S I was flying from Edinburgh to Malaga, flight only and I have been looking around for alternatives but there doesnt seem to be anybody in my price range flying from Edinburgh! The only good thing I can see is that Easyjet do a flight, same date, same prices except it is from Glasgow, which is better than nothing I suppose!
What a mess!
I feel so bad for all those people having to fork out again for flights cos they're stuck abroad!

luci

I believe you have 6 years to claim back, or put in a dispute, on a credit card. For Visa Chargeback on a Visa debit card it is 120 days so you have plenty of time.

Have you looked at Ryanair EDI-AGP? We lost our FG flights for this route for last Saturday, but managed to get re-booked with Ryanair.

You can also try to claim back for any difference in the cost of thew new flights compared to the original ones. However this isn't a legal right and it is up to the credit card company whether they pay for consequential loss.

annoyed_traveller

I booked a flight with Globespan but luckily used my credit card. Used the template letter on this site (really brilliant help, thanks) to claim back my cash. Received a reply from Virgin credit card saying they will refund my money but ONLY on October 1st 2010 - the date I was due to fly. They do however say that if the firm goes into liquidation before then they will 'attempt to get my money back sooner'. My question is can they legally withhold my cash until then? How can people re-book flights with another company if the credit card people hang on to your money until the date you're due to travel? Can anyone shed any light on this?

cragdoo

Hoping someone could help out with a situation with a travel agent and flights with globespan. We had booked flights with Globespan to Tenerife for this April , for 5 adults and 1 child , costing £1600. We booked the flights through Club La Costa Travel. We had the good sense to take out additional insurance to cover us in the event of the travel company/airline going bust , which they did. We contacted Club La Costa Travel for advice on what to do next. They informed us that ,as we had extra insurance , we were one of the lucky ones and we could sort out a refund. We were told we would need to re-book new flights ( £2100) , then claim the difference between the new flights and the old flights (£2100-£1600 = £500) from the insurance company. The remaining £1600 would then be reclaimed from the credit card company. We contacted the insurance firm , who sent our claim forms. We also contacted the credit card company , who told us to speak to the travel agent. We started to fill in the claim forms , but soon discovered we had been sent the wrong forms. We spoke to the insurance firm , explained the situation and were told to check out insurance policy , as it was doubtful if we would be covered. We were advised to send the claim in anyway , with a covering letter explaining the situation. The travel agent had assured us at the time that the policy would cover us in the event of the airlines/travel agent going bust. Not so sure now. The thing that is confusing me , is that Club La Costa took our money for the flight , it's their name on the credit card statement , but looks like they won't be the ones refunding our money , we have to speak to insurance company/credit card company for our refunds . Something doesn't sound right here.

Not sure if we can claim back the remaining £1600 from the CC company , as Section 75 :-
"You’re usually unlikely to be covered when payments are made to a company that isn’t the one providing you with the good or service because the credit card company must have a direct relationship for them to be equally liable"

as Club La Costa aren't the ones going bust or providing the flights

Club La Costa claim to be ABTA/ATOL protected , so surely they have some responsibilty to sort this mess out , I mean they have £3700 of our bloody money

Oh so confused

jayok

I don't understand why you forked out another £2,100 without ever seeing any of the £1,600?

Have you contacted ABTA? Did CLCT carry out their ABTA code of practice specifically

After the booking is made, ABTA Members must notify you as soon as possible if it is necessary to change or cancel your travel arrangements. An ABTA Member cannot cancel your booking after the date for payment of the full price unless it is necessary to do so for reasons outside its control. If this happens, the ABTA Member must offer you the choice of having all your money back or choosing alternative travel arrangements. Moreover, if there is a significant change to your travel arrangements they must offer you the choice of accepting the changed travel arrangements or having all your money back
Finally, if they cancel your booking or make a significant changes to the travel arrangements after the date for payment of the full price, ABTA members must offer you compensation unless the reason for the cancellation or change was outside of their control.

http://www.travelwatchdog.com/abta.htm

Edit: It would appear you only booked flights with Globespan via CLCT, did the operator book directly with Flyglobespan? If so, according to earlier advice on this thread it may be classed as a direct booking with an airline therefore no ATOL protection. I suppose that is what the insurance would have been for. The insurance is a contract between you and the insurance company therefore I would have imagined that you should have claimed for the £1,600 from the insurance company and you then book another set of flights if you wished to book them. This idea of claiming the difference from the insurance company and then claiming the original flight cost of your cc does not sound right at all.

cragdoo

We didin't know any better at the time , the travel agent told us we needed to buy new flights . I thought we should have got some kind of refund or something ,always bugged me the fact that we had to fork out for new flights on top of the flights already bought. Thanks for the ABTA info , will help add weight to any future phone calls/emails while trying to claim money back

It would appear you only booked flights with Globespan via CLCT, did the operator book directly with Flyglobespan? If so, according to earlier advice on this thread it may be classed as a direct booking with an airline therefore no ATOL protection

is this an underhanded method of the travel agent bypassing their ABTA/ATOL responsibilities ? I mean I would be in exactly the same position if i had booked direct , so who needs travel agents ??

cragdoo

Surely we have some level of cover , as the credit card statement has the payment going to Club La Costa and not Globespan , does that not mean we have a contract with CLC , therefore covered by CLC's ABTA/ATOL membership ???

cragdoo

anyone else ?