Southall travel

ladyblueyes_uk

Has anyone ever booked flight tickets through a internet agency, and then had a problem?

I booked tickets to India on Mon for a wedding in Feb. I booked with a company called southall travel, and was flying with Finn Air.

When the confirmation email came through I noticed that stupidly I had put 14 March and not Feb. I contacted southall travel immediately to explain my mistake, and they have told me nothing I can do. I have also contacted Finn Air who have said my problem is with southall travel, and nothing they can do. The flights have cost me £900 so cant afford to book them again, can't go in March.

I just wondered if anyone knew if companies like this maybe sometimes change their rules a little out of good will or am I f----d?

Oh yesterday the confirmation arrived in the post as well. Now on the front it says no cancellation refunds that they have typed on, yet on the back it says under section 19 that up to 14 days before flying you cancel! is this legal to add something yourself on to what looks like a contract

4743hudsonj

ladyblueyes_uk wrote: »

Has anyone ever booked flight tickets through a internet agency, and then had a problem?

I booked tickets to India on Mon for a wedding in Feb. I booked with a company called southall travel, and was flying with Finn Air.

When the confirmation email came through I noticed that stupidly I had put 14 March and not Feb. I contacted southall travel immediately to explain my mistake, and they have told me nothing I can do. I have also contacted Finn Air who have said my problem is with southall travel, and nothing they can do. The flights have cost me £900 so cant afford to book them again, can't go in March.

I just wondered if anyone knew if companies like this maybe sometimes change their rules a little out of good will or am I f----d?

Oh yesterday the confirmation arrived in the post as well. Now on the front it says no cancellation refunds that they have typed on, yet on the back it says under section 19 that up to 14 days before flying you cancel! is this legal to add something yourself on to what looks like a contract

if the T&C's state you can cancel then you can cancel. Inform them in writing, if they refuse then speak to ABTA and or ATOL if the purchase was protected by them, if not seek to make a claim in small claims court to enforce the cancellation.

Chambece

Not had dealings with these in the past, but have had similar terms on other flights...

In my instance, I was perfectly at liberty to cancel, however, that would not mean that I would get a refund, just that the flight would become available again. You might be able to get some part of the fee back, which I think is the taxes, but not 100% sure on this.

Edit: Looking at their terms, this may well be the case.... http://southalltravel.co.uk/terms.aspx

dmg24

OP, can you quote to us exactly what Section 19 says please? The terms and conditions on the website would indicate that cancellation without charge is not possible, and these would be what you agreed to at the time of booking, so it is unlikely the later t&c's would overrule them.

4743hudsonj, sometimes you take things at face value a little too much. Can I suggest that sometimes it is better to clarify the facts a little more before giving what appears to be definitive advice?

Caz3121

It may be worth trying to find out exactly what type of ticket you have
looking on the Finnair site for the lowest priced tickets

Economy Special
Changes are permitted, subject to certain limitations, against a change fee before departure within the time of validity of the ticket. Please check exact time of validity at the Finnair office.
Ticket changes are possible providing that the rules for minimum and maximum stay at destination of the fare type are fulfilled.
The change fee is EUR 100 per transaction.
If the ticket is changed to a more expensive fare or route, the difference between the fares and possible new taxes are also charged.
A service fee is applied for changes.

No refund for cancellation or unused tickets.

unless it was a special agent fare you may be able to change the dates (but not cancel) so you would have a change fee and the difference in fare (Feb 14th is more expensive than Mar 14th)

ladyblueyes_uk

CHANGES BY YOU
If you wish to change any item - other than increasing the number of persons in your party - and providing we can accommodate the change, you will have to pay an Amendment Fee per person which will be notified at the time of change. Otherwise any changes come under the terms of the Cancellation clause 19.
CANCELLATION BY YOU
You and/or any member of your party may cancel your booking of Individual Components at any time, providing that the person who made the booking notifies us in writing. Since we incur costs in cancelling your arrangements we will charge cancellation fees based on the day your written cancellation is received and whether your tickets have been issued.
Air Ticket Refunds
Many airline tickets are paid for in full at the time of booking and are not refundable if you cancel. We will tell you at the time of booking. In respect of any alteration to an APEX ticket or certain other special fare tickets, some suppliers (particularly airlines) may treat a name change as a cancellation and as such will not refund any monies. Where an outbound portion of your flight coupon is not used the return sector will be automatically cancelled by the airline and no automatic right to a refund exists for such part-used tickets. All other partly used tickets are normally non-refundable and cancellations made within 24 hours of departure are non-refundable.
Other Individual Components
For all other Individual Components, unless your confirmation invoice specifies different cancellation charges, the charges below shall apply:

These are some of the terms and condtions that are set by southall travel.

I don't think I am going to be allowed to change the dates, but am now wondering if I would be able to claim the air taxes back which amount to £440 seeing as though I won't be flying that date.

I'm not really to good understanding the terms and condtions, as never before have I made such a stupid mistake, and thats why I am wondering what if any my chances of a date change would be possible.

dmg24

The info that you have quoted does say that you can cancel, but not that you would get any money back.

If you cannot change the dates you should be able to claim the taxes back, however there may be an administration charge attached to this.

Caz3121

ladyblueyes_uk wrote: »

I don't think I am going to be allowed to change the dates, but am now wondering if I would be able to claim the air taxes back which amount to £440 seeing as though I won't be flying that date.

I'm not really to good understanding the terms and condtions, as never before have I made such a stupid mistake, and thats why I am wondering what if any my chances of a date change would be possible.

I cannot see anything that says you won't be allowed to change dates
a) airline rules say can change for fee + difference in fare
b) Southall says they will change for a fee if they can accommodate it
have you asked ???

ladyblueyes_uk

Contacted Southall travel today, and again they have said nothing they can do about changing the dates. I then asked about my taxes if I cancel my flight, to which they said the airline, which is finn air charge £100 per ticket! I telephoned finn air who said they only charge £45 a ticket, so I have no emailed southall travel to ask why they said I would be charged £100 per ticket! As of yet I have had no response.

I am also wondering will they as well as finn air charge me for cancelling? I have enclosed a sextion from their terms and conditons regarding cancelling a airline ticket. Any help is very much welcome.


Air tickets returned to us for a refund are subject to an administration charge of £60 per ticket, irrespective of the number of tickets returned and you will be required to pay a per ticket cancellation charge imposed by the airline or the consolidator pursuant to their terms and conditions. There is no automatic right to a refund and, when you return an air ticket to us, we will arrange for it to be presented to the respective airline or consolidator to assess eligibility for a possible refund in accordance with the relevant airline's or consolidator's terms and conditions. We recommend that you return such air tickets to us by special delivery post as we do not accept responsibility for documents mislaid or lost by the Royal Mail.
If a recoverable air ticket refund is less than the above administration charge, the ticket will be deemed to be fully non-refundable. An administration fee of £60 per ticket will be levied on any non-refundable ticket where a tax refund application is made by us at your request and on your behalf. If the recoverable tax components for your ticket are less than the administration charge the ticket will be deemed to be fully non-refundable. Refunds will not be paid to you until they have been received by us from the relevant airline or consolidator. In the case of airline ticket refunds this is normally 10-12 weeks from the point the tickets are submitted for consideration to the airline.

dmg24

The charge that Southall is quoting is their cancellation fee plus the airlines cancellation fee. You will not have to pay the airline again.