Flight centre wants payment of more taxes after etickets issued!

waister

Hey all,

Due to personal circumstances I had to change my flights from Easter to next year. There is an admin fee of £165 that Flight Centre charges for any amendments to flights and any differences in taxes between the new flight and existing flight.

My travel agent managed to find me a flight which was the same price and called me to inform. I confirmed with her over the phone that the only extra amount I had to pay was the admin fee of £165 and she went ahead to lock it in and also sent me a copy of my new e-tickets and a receipt for the £165 charged to my credit card.

The next day, she called me to say that there was a difference in tax which she needed to charge me now of £170. This was never bought up and I'm guessing she overlooked it. I explained that she has already finalised the contract by my payment yesterday and that I would have explored other options if I knew this at the time.

My question is, where do I stand regarding this? Can I insist Flight Centre to honour my flights given that:

1. I already have my new eticket issued,
2. I wasn't informed at the time that there was extra tax to be paid, she only informed me AFTER etickets were issued,
3. I only went ahead and changed my flights based on the information she gave me, which was the £165 admin fee to be charged.
4. Its a case of misrepresentation, she can't ask for more consideration (more money to cover taxes) after the contract has concluded.

The travel agent insist the branch can't wear this cost and if I dont pay it, the airline will not let me on the plane.

Can anyone provide any advice on where I stand or should I just cave in and pay for her mistake?

I found this under the Flight Centre T/C:
Prices:
All prices are subject to availability and can be withdrawn or varied without notice. Prices quoted are subject to change at any time until full payment is received and tickets issued and we reserve the right to correct any pricing errors or omissions. Prices are per person unless otherwise stated.

Taxes:
Certain taxes are mandatory in various countries. There may also be an additional local tax charged at some airports. All taxes are subject to change without notice.

Does this last sentence of "all taxes are subject to change without notice" cover them in this instance?

Thank you!

johnnybondfinger

Hi,

The likelihood is the ticket hasn't been reissued and that they have updated your flight times and sent through a new itinerary. I think they will have sent the ticket through for reissue and it has been rejected for undercollected taxes. With that in mind, I would pay it as you would have to pay at the airport probably a lot more to get on the flight.

Which airline are you flying with?

Alan_Bowen

If it looks like an eticket, check that it has been correctly issued on 'checkmytrip.com' That will show the current status of the ticket, if its valid then I would be reluctant to pay any more, if the route is the same, there is no reason for taxes to be £170 more anyway. If the route is different, possibly with more stopovers allowing airports to charge landing and departure fees, it might be possible but still unlikely to be £170. UK APD went up in November 2010 but there was no increase announced in the Budget to allow another increase this year, I suspect the original fare may have been wrong

lfc84

put yout flight details into here and it will tell you the taxes

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

waister

Hi! Thanks for all your replies.

The agent did say all she did was update the itinerary and tickets weren't issued. However, when I log onto the Qantas website and checkmytrip.com, the flight status is confirmed.

I haven't made any changes to stopovers or routes and was advised by travel agent that Qantas has put up their taxes? I did another search for a brand new flight for the new flying times and indeed the prices of tickets have gone up during that time.

Have tried to call through to the manager of branch but with no luck. Agent originally tried to charge me for cancelling the new flight and changing it back to the original ones. After another conversation, she has agreed to put things back to what they were without any charges, but this was last Friday, am not sure if its still possible.

I am trying to explore all my options and do all my research before calling her back.

I appreciate any other thoughts you might have.

Thanks again!

johnnybondfinger

Qantas/BA YQ tax increased by £10 per sector on long haul flights.

Obviously with limited facts I can only speculate, but if you changed your outbound flight, you may have changed into a new ticket validity and so a more expensive ticket. This should have been charged when you originally set out to do the date change.

It almost certainly seems like the agent has undercollected either a number of taxes or fees and then the ticket has been rejected for reissue. I would definitely speak to a manager and see what the reason you are being charged the extra money despite you having being told a fee already.

Is it a round the world ticket? (maybe to Australia/New Zealand, with stop overs in Asia?) Might be worth ringing Qantas and seeing what has been changed to your ticket (seat class or season).