How do I lodge a complaint against vayama.co.uk

malkie76

I did a dummy booking and it gives the fare bucket code before asking for any passenger or creditcard details.
Could you please highlight which airlines free changes to their discount economy ticket that you suggest us a 'rule'. Even discounted business or first fares are nonflexible.

Why pay £25 booking fee with these people rather than direct with the airline? Seems a waste of money.

It's pretty clear you've made the error here; not the airline nor the agent!

skattili

The reason I booked with vayama was because their fare (including their service free)was cheaper than what even KLM was offering. Think I have learned my lesson to never book with vayama again. Not sure what you mean by fare 'bucket code'. There is only a fare basis code (QLSXGB). There is not a reference to this on KLM's website. I am not sure how a passenger is expected to call up the airline everytime he/she is trying to book through a travel agent!! Sort of negates the point isn't it!!!

malkie76 wrote: »

I did a dummy booking and it gives the fare bucket code before asking for any passenger or creditcard details.
Could you please highlight which airlines free changes to their discount economy ticket that you suggest us a 'rule'. Even discounted business or first fares are nonflexible.

Why pay £25 booking fee with these people rather than direct with the airline? Seems a waste of money.

It's pretty clear you've made the error here; not the airline nor the agent!

GRM

skattili wrote: »

There is only a fare basis code (QLSXGB). There is not a reference to this on KLM's website.

Because the restrictions associated with a Q class ticket probably vary by route and/or market.

But if you call KLM and ask what the restricitions are on that specific class they'd be able to tell you.

First link from Google for "klm fare class codes":

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/5232923-post13.html

OK, I know someone at the inventory department.
This is what I've discovered for KL, from high to low.

Economy cabin:
S: full flexible economy fare
B: flexible economy fare
M: restricted economy fare = changes at a fee
K: very restricted or non-flexible economy fare
H: restricted economy fare = changes at a fee
L: non-flexible economy fare
Q: very restricted or non-flexible economy fare
T: non-flexible economy fare
E: non-flexible economy fare (european routes only)
N: non-flexible economy fare (european routes only)
V: rock-bottom/action fare
W: award tickets in Economy Cabin

skattili

Dear GRM,

Many Thanks for your post. I have been buying international tickets for years and this is the first time I have encountered a problem. The reason I did not even suspect that this was a low fare was because it wasn't!! I paid 460£/ticket. Cheap tickets in this sector are usually in the range of 330-370£. I wonder if vayama have sold a 330£ ticket to me at that price!!

Anyway I think I have learnt my lesson. However it is worrying that agents are allowed to just display the class codes without referencing the meaning to the codes. I consider myself reasonably 'smart' (obviously not) as far as online trading is concerned and am pretty sure that a number of others will face similar problems if agents are not forced to take liability for the tickets they are selling. Not sure I can do anything about this anyway.

Thanks a lot guys......

GRM wrote: »

Because the restrictions associated with a Q class ticket probably vary by route and/or market.

But if you call KLM and ask what the restricitions are on that specific class they'd be able to tell you.

First link from Google for "klm fare class codes":

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/5232923-post13.html

OK, I know someone at the inventory department.
This is what I've discovered for KL, from high to low.

Economy cabin:
S: full flexible economy fare
B: flexible economy fare
M: restricted economy fare = changes at a fee
K: very restricted or non-flexible economy fare
H: restricted economy fare = changes at a fee
L: non-flexible economy fare
Q: very restricted or non-flexible economy fare
T: non-flexible economy fare
E: non-flexible economy fare (european routes only)
N: non-flexible economy fare (european routes only)
V: rock-bottom/action fare
W: award tickets in Economy Cabin

withabix

I'm sorry, but in my opinion, if you book a flight online through a booking website that isn't the airline's own website, then you should ALWAYS ASSUME that the ticket is a cheap non-flexible ticket UNLESS THE WEBSITE SPECIFICALLY STATES OTHERWISE.

Such websites should only be used to find the cheapest tickets.

budgetflyer

I dont know how you could even expect the cheapest fare to be "flexible" when you are, as you say a regular flyer.
You made a mistake or circumstances changed as happens to us all. Now you are just trying to put blame elsewhere.
You already said that Vayama were cheaper than KLM so I dont understand your logic that they sold you a lower class ticket than available from KLM. Both websites will show the lowest price + class available unless you specify otherwise
From any mistake, lessons can be learned as long as you accept it.
Ive learned what the fare codes are.

skattili

As I said it wasn't a particularly cheap fare. Vayama's fares were only around 10 pounds cheaper than KLM's own which is the reason why I did not suspect. As i said learnt my lesson (s) now!! But I am/ will not be the first one to make this mistake and hence it is important for this to be known to everyone buying tickets online!!

budgetflyer wrote: »

I dont know how you could even expect the cheapest fare to be "flexible" when you are, as you say a regular flyer.
You made a mistake or circumstances changed as happens to us all. Now you are just trying to put blame elsewhere.
You already said that Vayama were cheaper than KLM so I dont understand your logic that they sold you a lower class ticket than available from KLM. Both websites will show the lowest price + class available unless you specify otherwise
From any mistake, lessons can be learned as long as you accept it.
Ive learned what the fare codes are.

malkie76

As a rule all airlines on international flights (I am not talking of Ryanair or other budget flights) allow one free change to the return date (not the onward date).

I have been buying international tickets for years and this is the first time I have encountered a problem.

you still haven't highlighted which airlines allow changes to their cheapest tickets

GRM

skattili wrote: »

The reason I did not even suspect that this was a low fare was because it wasn't!! I paid 460£/ticket. Cheap tickets in this sector are usually in the range of 330-370£.

Unfortunately, expensive doesn't always mean flexible. It's all down to route competition, the time of year, how far ahead you book, airline yield management etc. etc. I try to book M class on my usual routes so I can upgrade using miles. I've often paid far less for an M than for some T class fares I've had to buy when demand was high.

Anyway, welcome to the dark art of fare classes ;-)

Voyager2002

The OP has highlighted a problem, which is that many (most?) on-line travel agents don't tell you the conditions attached to the air tickets they sell. As an extreme example: I once needed some flexibility on the return date with a business trip to China. I cam fairly close to buying from Lastminute, who could not tell me whether or not the ticket they were offering was indeed flexible, but promised that once I had bought it they would let me see the fare rules. Kind of them, but no thank you.

And yes, for long-haul flights, most airlines do tend to allow changes to the return date, but no-one should count on this unless they have paid for a semi-flexible ticket.

I find it interesting that the OP has got a statement from KLM that the agent should have explained the ticket conditions. KLM are generally very hard to contact. Anyway, I do suggest that the OP asks the KLM person to try to find some way to change the ticket, given that the agent was apparently in the wrong in the eyes of the KLM person. If this does not work, print out the email or whatever, and try again with KLM in India.