MSE News: Kiss Flights goes bust: your travel rights

Ivenofinmoney

richardw wrote: »

Transport is excluded from the rules.

Thanks - can anyone else confirm this - all research I have done on this the list of exempt items are as follows ...

• Financial services, such as insurance
• Timeshares
• Goods bought from a vending machine
• Contracts concluded with a telecommunications operator using a public payphone
• Contracts for the sale of land
• Auctions

no mention of travel here ??

cantcope

Our flight numbers start with VIK.... does that mean they are booked with Viking? or Kiss? When we booked the holiday over the phone we were told we were flying with Kiss.
Just got bogstandard "we are calling people in turn of their flight date" response from bookableholidays.co.uk

Moonchild

Ivenofinmoney wrote: »

Thanks - can anyone else confirm this - all research I have done on this the list of exempt items are as follows ...

• Financial services, such as insurance
• Timeshares
• Goods bought from a vending machine
• Contracts concluded with a telecommunications operator using a public payphone
• Contracts for the sale of land
• Auctions

no mention of travel here ??

I'm directly quoting from Richardw from a different thread, so he should get credit for this:

From http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2000/20002334.htm

"2) Regulations 7 to 19(1) shall not apply to -

• (a) contracts for the supply of food, beverages or other goods intended for everyday consumption supplied to the consumer's residence or to his workplace by regular roundsmen; or
  
  (b) contracts for the provision of accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services, where the supplier undertakes, when the contract is concluded, to provide these services on a specific date or within a specific period.

(3) Regulations 19(2) to (8) and 20 do not apply to a contract for a "package" within the meaning of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992URL="http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2000/20002334.htm#note9"]9[/URL which is sold or offered for sale in the territory of the Member States."

linzolay

Hi

I booked a holiday to Greece through lastminute.com - Flight Options contacted me to finalise details etc. I recieved the bookings through last week and have flights with Viking.

After contacting the CAA, they seem to think that Viking are fine and I will still be able to fly. However, they asked me to contact my hotel where I was told that they have recieved no monies from Flight Options and therefore no booking. If I wanted to persue the booking then i would have to book directly with them and pay on arrival...then claim back from the CAA.

Surely if Flight Options haven't paid the hotel, then the airline hasn't been paid and I won't be able to fly. I cannot get hold of Viking to double check this.

I paid one lump sum for everything so i don't have a breakdown of costs for flights / hotels - if I persue booking the hotel seperately how do I know what can be claimed back? The CAA won't allow me to claim the whole lot back outright as Viking are still OK but I don't understand how they can acutally have any payment from me and therefore the booking still be in place?!

I've contacted the credit card company who are letting me fill a dispute form but i still have to make a claim with the CAA and Atol.

Lastminute have emailed advising me to contact the CAA for support.

There are some really mixed messages from each person!

Appreciate any thoughts on the viability of Viking being OK and bookings still being in place?!

Thanks

Linzi

bagand96

Our flight numbers start with VIK.... does that mean they are booked with Viking? or Kiss? When we booked the holiday over the phone we were told we were flying with Kiss.
Just got bogstandard "we are calling people in turn of their flight date" response from bookableholidays.co.uk

Sounds like you are booked with Kiss Flights. Kiss were the our operator selling the charter flights, and Viking are the airline that operated the flights for Kiss.

Without Kiss, Viking won't be operating the flights. You could try and get new flights, either through bookable, or just find some yourself. Your hotel/transfers will probably be booked with separate companies so those bookings probably still stand. I would get confirmation of this though before booking any new flight (if new flights are even available at decent prices?)

bagand96

A major overhaul of ATOL regulations, phoenix travel companies and discounting should be undertaken in my meagre opinion.

I am astounded that the same management individuals can continue to be awarded ATOL licenses! It is clearly a very easy process to go through, with no vetting whatsoever.

richardw

deleted.....

theblagger

what a mess ....hope it gets sorted good luck to you all

laurenemily

Hi all, be gentle with me it's my first post.
I've booked a holiday to Egypt leaving next Thurs through onthebeach.co.uk, with Kiss flights. Since they went down the other day I've managed to secure separate flights for myself and my boyfriend with Jet2 at an additional cost (obviously) that'll be sorted once we get our refund, so we're still going on holiday, and we still need our hotel. Do you think it's worth me dropping the hotel a line to let them know we still need our rooms, because as far as I'm aware we've booked flights / hotel separately so they will have been paid, or will they not even be aware of what's happening?

Thank you

bagand96

laurenemily wrote: »

Hi all, be gentle with me it's my first post.

Onthebeach has a Q&A page for Kiss Flights customers http://www.onthebeach.co.uk/kiss

The paragraph you are looking for is about half way down:

Hotel/Transfer bookings

The failure only affects the flight company, so what happens to hotels and transfer bookings?

Unless you tell us otherwise, all hotel and transfer bookings will remain as originally booked. If you do not wish to pay for replacement flights (or cannot find any suitable alternatives) then you must let us know so that your original hotel/transfer can be cancelled and cancellation charges kept to a minimum.

So looks like your hotel booking will be fine. As you said its a completely seperate booking with a different company. The ATOL claim form for your Kiss Flights is here http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/1052/FlightOptionsfailureletter.pdf