Opodo, EU Regulation 261/2004 and 7days

bobalicious

I’ve had a look through here and elsewhere, but don’t see any responses on this specific point, so here goes:

Okay – my partner and I were caught up in the snow at LHR on 19 December.

We were booked to fly out on Etihad Airways to Melbourne via Abu Dhabi, to attend a wedding in Australia on 22 December where I was due to be best man. Our flight along with all others from the terminal that day were cancelled.

We tried to re-book our flights via the Etihad contact centre. The earliest flights we were offered departed on Boxing Day, which was too late for anything.

Having tried to re-book, Etihad Airways said (on 22 December) they would provide a full refund of the £3,150 paid to Opodo, with whom we had booked the flights. They have confirmed that the refund has been made both verbally and explicitly in an email.

I have contacted Opodo. They say they will be ‘processing’ any refund. They have said both verbally (and now in email) that I will received the refund in 4-12 weeks! I have verbally stated that this is unacceptable given that Etihad Airways refunded them on 22 December 2010.

That’s that background… now the query. The flight originated in the EU, so the relevant regulations apply.

EU Regulation 261/2004, Article 8(1)(a) states that where a flight has been cancelled in accordance with Article 5, passengers shall be offered:

“reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought”

Now, ticket is defined at Article 2(f) as:

“ ‘ticket’ means a valid document giving entitlement to transport, or something equivalent in paperless form, including electronic form, issued or authorised by the air carrier or its authorised agent”

Accordingly, my interpretation is that Opodo act as Ethihad’s agent, and therefore Opodo ought to be bound by 261/2004, and I am entitled to reimbursement within seven days by cash, by electronic bank transfer, bank orders or bank cheques (in accordance with article 7(3)).

Can anybody confirm that this is indeed the case that Opodo should refund within seven days rather than 4-12 (before I write to them).

I have seen plenty of discussions about airlines where people have booked flights directly, but none about agents. Thanks.

Alan_Bowen

I spoke with the CAA who are the enforcing authority, during the last snow storm, their views were that they could not enforce the rules against agents who would not receive the refunds except through the IATA direct debit scheme that operates only once a month, on the 17th. You cannot expect an agent to refund what he hasn't got, if Etihad arrange a refund without a request from your agent, they may get the money this month, if the agent has to request the refund, which may be the case if you have been asked by the agent to return the e ticket, then it may be February 17th before the refund arrives. This is one time when it pays to book direct with an airline, I had a flight on 21st from Heathrow which didn't operate, without so much as a phone call, the airline refunded the fare back to my debit card within 48 hours!

bobalicious

Thanks Cityboy.

Cityboy wrote: »

Opodo are acting as your agent not the airline's agent so the refund will go back to the agent.

Surely it's the other way around? Opodo are agent for the airline. The airline is using opodo as it's agent to sell to others (e.g. me) in the same way one uses an agent to sell a property, or any other goods/service. On a plain reading of the regulations, Opodo must surely be an authorised agent of the airline in the context of Article 2(f)? You may well be right, but that would be a somewhat odd situation given who I have treated with - Opodo, not the airline directly.

Cityboy wrote: »

What do Opodo's Ts and Cs say regarding refunds?

Section 5 of http://www.opodo.co.uk/opodo/StrutsServlet/DisplaySiteInfoPage?pageName=termcond

"Refunds will be processed to the form of payment used at the time of booking. This will be made payable to the person who made the original payment. When processing a refund for a flight ticket, please be aware that not all taxes are refundable. A tax refund will be processed in accordance with the relevant airline's refund policy."

The refund section of the T+Cs is aimed squarely at passenger-initiated cancellations.

Opodo are not an airline so cannot be bound by the provisions of 261/2004 but the airline have refunded the fare within 7 days to the person/organisation making the original payment as required by the Regulation.

Hmm. I find this very difficult to understand having looked at 261/2004, as Opodo are the agent for the airline in the same way as one used to book air travel, by going to the Travel Agent on the High Street. I cannot see

Interestingly, Opodo have a page dedicated to "your rights under EC Regulation 261/2004" at

https://opodouk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1779/~/your-rights-under-ec-regulation-261/2004

Except Opodo have interestingly decided to completely omit any reference of the provisions of Articles 2(f), 7(3), and 8(1)(a).

I've asked a Barrister I know who has experience of aviation related matters to take a look at this for me, so I'll see what he says as well, but would be interested in any comments that anyone has in the meantime.

bobalicious

Thanks Alan.

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

I spoke with the CAA who are the enforcing authority, during the last snow storm, their views were that they could not enforce the rules against agents who would not receive the refunds except through the IATA direct debit scheme that operates only once a month, on the 17th.

To be fair, in my view, that's not my problem if that is indeed how it works. However....

You cannot expect an agent to refund what he hasn't got, if Etihad arrange a refund without a request from your agent, they may get the money this month

I have it in writing from the airline that they have already refunded the money to Opodo. Whichever you look at it, the airline must be bound by 261/2004 Article 8(1)(a) to refund within seven days. The airline have confirmed that the monies have already been refunded. However, Opodo have yet to pass that on to me. To hang on to it for "4-12 weeks" is simply staggering.

This is one time when it pays to book direct with an airline, I had a flight on 21st from Heathrow which didn't operate, without so much as a phone call, the airline refunded the fare back to my debit card within 48 hours!

Just shows how simple it is for a refund to take place!

cactusdust

Firstly it would appear the poster above me has not been in contact with the site management beforehand to register and check his association with Opodo. So bear this in mind.

Secondly, I had a booking via Expedia to travel on Lufthansa. I was told that although I booked through Expedia, the airline would refund me directly. We will see what happens when I chase up my refund in a few weeks..

bobalicious

Cityboy wrote: »

I refer you to the answer I gave in my previous post. Opodo were acting on your behalf to book a flight with Etihad.

To clarify, Etihad did not approach Opodo to say that they wanted to offer bobalicious a flight did they?

Taking a step back, logically, they did. Etihad approached Opodo to offer any member of the public a flight. Bobalicious and probably a few others took them up on that offer. Opodo couldn't offer something for sale if they hadn't been approached by the business offering that service (in this case a flight) for sale.

Either way, I've already sought legal advice, so I'll see what that says on the whole issue.

chrismerricks

Hi Cactusdust

It's a fair point, I hurriedly registered in order to post the comment, and have to admit, I did not know that you could do such fancy things as registering your association, so will look into that, as it is natural to be sceptical of someone randomly claiming to be the sales centre manager.

Regarding your second point, there are two types of booking "BSP" and "PSP" as they're known to us. BSP are where the agent takes their fees, and the airline takes the fare. In this circumstance, the money would indeed come directly from the airline. In PSP the agent takes all the money and passes the fare to the airline (via the iata method described above).

Hope this helps.

Regards

Chris

bobalicious

cactusdust wrote: »

Firstly it would appear the poster above me has not been in contact with the site management beforehand to register and check his association with Opodo. So bear this in mind.

Understood.

Secondly, I had a booking via Expedia to travel on Lufthansa. I was told that although I booked through Expedia, the airline would refund me directly. We will see what happens when I chase up my refund in a few weeks..

Interesting, thanks for that. Let us know how you get on. I gave over three thousand pounds to Opodo, so in my case, I'm very much chasing them up now

chrismerricks

Hi

alternatively, send a mail to [EMAIL="contact@opodo.co.uk"]contact@opodo.co.uk[/EMAIL] from the e-mail address used in the booking, with my name in the subject line, and I'll be able to easily pick it out.

Regards

Chris

cactusdust

No worries Chris. One has to be naturally curious, but the information you've provided has actually helped me slightly.. I now understand why Expedia took £4.50 and Lufthansa took the majority of the remaining payment.

Good luck with your refund bobalicious, I'm sure something will be done shortly..

chrismerricks

Hi

I had a look through our e-mail system and noted you hadn't taken me up on my offer, so I searched our booking database with the info above. Thankfully you had been specific enough for me to find your booking. I have just passed the booking to one of my team leaders, and they are currently processing the refund for you. As you were not a registered customer, I couldn't see if you had other bookings with us, so have assumed that this is the only one that requires attention.

I am confident that we have acted correctly, and Josh (whom you spoke to) indeed noted your disatisfaction with the timescale he advised. Unfortunately, we are not a huge call centre, and as mentioned before there are reasons for this timescale.

In an attempt to further assist customers in a similar situation to yourself, we are increasing our overtime over the next two weeks, and I am in the process of recruiting 14 more staff.

I trust that the news of your impending refund is to your satisfaction, but if I can be of any further assistance, please do let me know.

Kind regards

Chris