Online Airline Booking Chaos-Could I Claim Under Section 75??

antsean

I am at my wits end so hopefully somebody could advise me!

I made an online booking a couple of weeks ago with Airphil Express as I am going to The Philipinnes on 7th August. They are supposed to be flying me between Manila and Cebu and flying me back to Manila on the 19th August, to catch my international flight back to the UK.

The problem I am having is after I had booked and paid for the return ticket with my credit card, I was then advised by a friend that it maybe better to change my flight to an earlier one on the 19th, so as to make sure I did not miss my international flight home. Although I had left myself a good 4 hours anyway, I decided to air on the side of caution and change the flight time to earlier in the day-Oh how I wish I had not bothered!

I have had to ring and email the airline in The Philippines constantly as I was happy to pay the amendment charge, but everytime I have done this they say my credit card is blocked and I can only use the card that I initially used to purchase my tickets. I have telephoned my card provider and they insist that to refuse a payment they have to be approached by the airline first, asking for payment-and they have not been! I am within my credit limit and I have a flag on my account stating I will be on holiday over there, so as to let transactions take place.

I then received an email from the airline on the 22nd July asking for a copy of the credit card I used to make the original booking, and photo ID, so they could process the extra amendment payment (??) and amend the flight time. They said I would then be reissued with a new e-ticket. On the 26th July, after constantly checking online with my card provider to see if payment had been made, which upto today has not been. I emailed the airline again asking what was going on-I had been checking my reservation online and there are now 2-one showing my original flight time and the other showing the amended!!

So far I have still not heard a word from them so am at my wits end. 2 days ago I sent another email saying I was fed upto the back teeth with the mess and then told them to leave the booking exactly as it was-with the original flight time and under no circumstances were they now to charge my credit card. I said that it was incredibly close to my holiday and they had not even bothered to reply to me, and I have no idea what flight I am booked on, and whether there is now going to be a problem when I actually arrive there.

I have decided that it maybe best to go to one of the other airlines and rebook the whole return trip through them! But what I would like to know is whether it maybe worth me attemtping to get some of my money back? The tickets are classes as non-refundable, but I still paid over £100 for them. And am I right in thinking that they are in someway breaching their contract with me, by not bothering to even reply to my emails-meaning I have absolutely no idea what is going on?

Hope someone can point me in the right direction as to what to do about this!

wealdroam

So you have no problem with your outward flight?

I would go to Cebu as planned.
Sometime while you are there maybe go to the airline office at the airport and get everything agreed.

You mention breach of contract.
Maybe they have breached the contract, but how do you plan to use that to get them to do what you want?
I assume they are acting under Philippines law.

Oh, just read the title of your thread again.
Section 75 may well help you but it won't be quick.
Have you read MSE's Section 75 refunds article?

mountainofdebt

In all fairness this is a mess that you created by changing your mind - you can hardly say they have breached the contract at this moment time (as they haven't refused to let you on a plane) and to be fair I wouldn't be surprised if there is a !!!!-up ........I hardly think that there's someone at the CS department scanning the system for emails that you may have set ....I bet any emails you've sent are in a virtual inbox some where waiting to get to the top of the pile.

The only thing I can suggest is that you try and obtain a CS number in this country and see if someone can help you

wealdroam

mountainofdebt wrote: »

The only thing I can suggest is that you try and obtain a CS number in this country and see if someone can help you

May be difficult to find a UK contact.
Airphil Express are a Philippines based low cost carrier.
Apart from some flights to Hong Kong and Singapore, all flights are internal to Philippines.

Mk14:37

Non-refundable relates to the fare, so you may be able to get the taxes back if you cancel the tickets.

mountainofdebt

wealdroam wrote: »

May be difficult to find a UK contact.
Airphil Express are a Philippines based low cost carrier.
Apart from some flights to Hong Kong and Singapore, all flights are internal to Philippines.

Oh - didn't know that .

What about trying their website and see if they have live webchat?