Flight booking cancelled!?

oranabana

I just received the below reply from Omega Travel. They are emailing me this, after having booked a flight with Eqypt Air through their website. I have received a booking reference, which showed the booking even on Egypt Air's website, bu it is now no longer valid and the booking cancelled. No eTicket or Peper ticket was ever issued.Can they do this?

Needless to sa the price of the flights have since gone up by around 100 GBP...!

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Dear Customer,


Thank you for booking flight ticket online at Omega Travel website, and your booking reference is 3EB6XX.


However, please be advised your flight booking seats have been cancelled by the airline due to ticketing deadline expired, therefore we can not issue this ticket for you. Accordingly, your card will not be charged. If it is possible, please find other alternative flights on our website or you may call us on 01908 259988 to find suitable flights for you.

As travel agency, we are very sorry for any inconvenience caused by this problem. And we very appreciate for your understanding and continued support.

　
Best regards,


Online Booking Service
Omega Travel Ltd.

isplumm

post this on holidaytruths.co.uk - they be able to help

Mark

Alan_Bowen

The email suggests it is entirely the travel agent's mistake, the airline often enforces a ticketing deadline, to make sure that bookings are going to be taken up, and agents only pay the airline after the ticket has been issued. If you booked a long time ago, Omega have simply been sitting on your cash if your card was debited. How long was it between booking and getting the email?If it was more than a few days the take it further, if the response was instant, then maybe there never was a booking.

It appears they contracted to book and issue a ticket for you and they have broken the contract by forgetting to issue it. Any additional costs are their responsibility, not yours, insist they issue a ticket at what ever price the fare is now, that is the reason you used an agent in the first place, rather than booking direct with the airline. If they are members of ABTA threaten to report them and make it clear you are not paying any more

oranabana

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

....If it was more than a few days the take it further, if the response was instant, then maybe there never was a booking.

...If they are members of ABTA threaten to report them and make it clear you are not paying any more

Well, the email about the lack of ticket came around 48hrs after I had completed the booking. At that time the booking was no longer available through https://www.mytripandmore.com - where it was showing earlier.

I had a look at both ABTA and IATA websites, but cannot find anything specific to e-tickets not being issued or overbookings by agencies.

Meanwhile the Egypt Air flights are still being offered again, albeit at a slightly higher price on their website. What can I do? I have contacted them and they tell me that they have contacted their headquarters (in China) to get the issue resolved. They are aware that I am not prepared to pay more for the same or similar ticket.

Any further thoughts most welcome.

Cumbrian_Male

Was your card ever debited for the ticket? If not then no contract was ever formed. If they took the money then you have a contract and can sue for breach of contract and any additional expenses incurred,

Alan_Bowen

It sounds as though there was a real booking but that the ticket was forgotten about until the deadline for issuing the ticket had passed. Hence they have broken the contract, I would insist they re instate it at whatever cost it is now