Olympic Holidays Changed flight and Day

sketchy19

Hi all I hope you can help.

In short:

Nov 2010 booked holiday, had to be specific dates and hotel as it is for a wedding.

Between Nov 2010 and 2011 Flights were amended twice (not in my favour) I was not happy complained to Thomas cook , Olympic holidays and abta, but as the change was less than 12 hours on the outbound nothing could be done dispite being shortened at both ends.

August 2011 flight amended again this time by more than twelve hours on the outbound and the return is the following day(no good to me due to work commitments). Contacted Thomas cook to cancel holiday. Was informed that Olympic claim although flight has changed more than 12 hours from original booking that the 12 hour rule applied to the last amended flight time that they imposed on me not the original flight time that I booked. Thomas Cook have worked hard on my behalf to resolve this but to no avail as Olympic claim that they have not broken their terms and conditions

Olympic t&c state that.

Occasionally, however, we may have to make a significant change to your confirmed arrangements. Significant changes are deemed to be the following.

Change of your time of departure from the UK by more than 12 hours


If we have to make a significant change, we will notify* you as quickly as possible and you may then either

withdraw from the booking completely in which case we will, as soon as possible, refund all money paid to us.

Abta have said they agree that the 12h rule should apply from the booked time not the amended time but they cannot force olympic to refund me they can only disaplin them for breach of procedure

Thomas cook can rebook the holiday for me at the original flight times but i need Olympic to cancel the holiday and refund me but they are refusing. I think they are just wasting time so i will not have a chance to re book.

I hope you can help as i am not sure what to do next but time is running out.

Westin

Abta have said they agree that the 12h rule should apply from the booked time not the amended time but they cannot force olympic to refund me they can only disaplin them for breach of procedure

I would also have said that the 12 hour amendment rule should be based on your original flight times. It was at that point you contracted the services. From your post it would seem ABTA agree as well.

I wonder if whoever looked at this from Olympic Holidays is fully aware of the situation and the rules they should abide to. I personally would try to make that approach again but insist on a Supervisor or Manager looking at the file. If they are still holding out do mention that you will raise with ABTA and from ABTA guidelines Olympic would be in breach of their code of conduct and will potentially face disciplinary proceedings from their own trade body and a financial fine. I would have thought that sufficient to allow you to cancel (if that is what you want to do).

Alan_Bowen

Olympic are having serious problems with their flights this year, they seem to be jumping from one airline to another for reasons only they know. I suspect Olympic are well aware of the rules but do not intend to stick by them. Frankly in this situation, if they refuse refund and you cannot travel because of the changed times, you should advise them that you will sue immediately in the County Court not only for the full cost of the holiday but the cost of a replacement and compensation for disappointment and distress. You can start proceedings on line as soon as they confirm that they will not allow you to cancel because of the changed times but before you do so, consider again whether there is anyway you can travel on this holiday, taking legal proceedings may not be quick if they defend them and you 'can't get blood from a stone'

bagand96

It should be based on your original departure times. Stand your ground with them. ABTA's website has a helpful section for the complaints procedure to follow: http://www.abta.com/consumer-services/travel_problems

Olympic are having serious problems with their flights this year, they seem to be jumping from one airline to another for reasons only they know.

Main problem is they fell out with Monarch, who had been their flight operator for many years. They had been selling 2011 holidays based on the Monarch programme, but at the beginning of the year Olympic and Monarch went their separate ways. Olympic had to get airlines in at short notice and have ended up with a very mixed bag.

To the OP, who is your flight with? Change of time may be the least of your worries!

richardw

bagand96 wrote: »

To the OP, who is your flight with? Change of time may be the least of your worries!

Good point. Tor Air is my guess though.

sketchy19

I Cant belive this.

I just had a Look what airline it is and it is unknown I have a flight number but i dont know what airline only that is is a charter flight.

Thomas cook have now said that there customer services department agree with Olympic that the 12h clause is from the last amended time not the booked time. they have now said there is nothing more they can do and if i am not happy i should contact Olympic directly. Olympic say the cannot deal with me as i booked through thomas cook so i must complain to them. Thomas cook say they are just the booking agen and my contract is with Olymipc so they have no legal liablity. somone is taking the micky. I can put in another letter of complaint but they have told me they dont haveto answer it unlit 28 days time. Thats helpfull. NOT.

It should not be this complicated. I dont know what to do next but is dose not look like i will get it sorted before the holiday so i guess they win.

Pollycat

sketchy19 wrote: »

I Cant belive this.

I just had a Look what airline it is and it is unknown I have a flight number but i dont know what airline only that is is a charter flight.

Airlines have their own codes that indicate which airline it is.

e.g. if it's Thomas Cook it's TCX, Thomson is TOM, Easyjet is EZY, Ryanair is FR and so on.

So if you know the flight number, you can find out the airline you're flying with.

If it's Tor Air (which Olympic have been using quite a lot for Greece flights this season) it will be OAI.

They are also using Strategic Airlines - code STU.

What bagand96 was referring to here:

bagand96 wrote: »

To the OP, who is your flight with? Change of time may be the least of your worries!

is that Tor Air have had some lengthy delays on their Greece flights.

Lots of threads about Tor Air on the TripAdvisor Air Travel board.

bagand96

As pollycat has said, the flight number will give the airline. The main airlines Olympic are using:

OAI - Tor Air
STU - Strategic Airlines
YKH/VKH - HellasJet/Viking Hellas
GSW - Skywings

They are correct about the 28 day rule, this is stated on the ABTA consumer help page I linked above. It may be worth speaking to ABTA now...

Pollycat..... I'm thinking Skywings is the worse, by a long way!

Pollycat

bagand96 wrote: »

Pollycat..... I'm thinking Skywings is the worse, by a long way!

Sorry, bagand96, I've not read any of the Skywings threads on Tripadvisor.

I was interested in the Tor Air discussions as I was flying with them late May.
They have had some really long (12 hour +) delays recently and several of the threads on TA have been closed.

So if you think Skywings are the worse by a long way - they must really be bad. :eek:

bagand96

So if you think Skywings are the worse by a long way - they must really be bad

Skywings are in a league of their own, and the issues reach further than delays (although don't get me wrong - they are experts at delays too!).

Won't waffle on though, its all out there in the public domain!

stephb34

Olympic are now using Jet2 as well and their code is ls.