Fly.co.uk

Chomeur

Has anyone used fly.co.uk? I made a booking with them on their website, thinking I was buying a flight ticket. Instead of getting back a confirmation of reservation I got an email saying:

"Thank you for your flight reservation which will soon be processed and confirmed by the airline!

Attached is a PDF file containing the details of your booking request. We will now initiate the automatic ticketing for you. Within the next 12 business hours, you will receive an invoice and your travel schedule as a PDF file"


In spite of chasing them, 36 hours later I have not received an invoice nor schedule. So I don't know whether I'm buying a ticket with them or not. Unbelievable.

Chomeur

OK, after I booked they said they weren't able to confirm my credit card details and could I please send a copy of my credit card and passport. Seemed a bit dodgy, but I complied. Now they continue to ignore my emails and haven't charged my card but my booking is showing on the airline's website. I'm a little bit worried that that booking will get cancelled (it's just a one way flight back to the UK) and I'll be left in a fix. I suppose the best thing is to contact the airline if I don't hear any further.

Chomeur

Have now had to book a flight direct with the airline because I'm worried the price will go up if I leave things any longer.

fly.co.uk are 50 pence a minute to call and they ignore all emails. Avoid them.

Bangkok_Owl

Thanks for the advice. I'll certainly avoid this company, in fact I'll avoid any company which asks me to post a copy of my credit card and passport.

I suggest you contact your credit card company and tell them what happened.

wary

There are threads on the Trip Advisor forums:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g311315-i4487-k4853393-Fly_co_uk-Dalyan_Mugla_Province_Turkish_Aegean_Coast.html

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k4808828-Www_fly_co_uk-Air_Travel.html

Chomeur

wary wrote: »

There are threads on the Trip Advisor forums:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g311315-i4487-k4853393-Fly_co_uk-Dalyan_Mugla_Province_Turkish_Aegean_Coast.html

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k4808828-Www_fly_co_uk-Air_Travel.html

It seems what I feared did indeed happen to someone on one of your links - they ended up with two tickets. I contacted my credit card company who cancelled my card and sent me a new one. I can't decide if the company is incompetent or trying to scam people. Anyway it's not going to last for long if it carries on like this.

"
Very Dodgy company. Do not ever book thru them.
Tried booking tickets on 6th march. They did not issue any etickets after 12hrs. When we called thier paid number thier repersentative told us fly.co.uk cant issue tickets by debit cards and our card would not be charged. After recorfirming 2-3 time he kept assuring us that our debit card would not be charges as fly.co.uk only accepts credits cards.
We got our tickets from another agent. Then 3 days later fly.co.uk charges us and issues the tickets. Ther is the dodgy service fee attached ofcourse. We are now stuck with two tickets per person on same flights. They do not respond to emails. Helpline said to cancel the booking and get GBP 24 back as refund where they have charged us GBP 853. Why should we be charged because of major misinformation from thier side.
Have now contacted european consumer centre.
Stay as far away as possible from them"

Permanently_confused

Hello,

I would like to add to this with my experience as maybe it can be of help to others.

I tried to book a flight through fly.co.uk after they came up "cheapest" on skyscanner. They are effectively a scam company, as other people have noted - if you go on trip advisor or Google "fly.co.uk reviews" you will find literally hundreds of complaints. I did not know this before I booked and I wish I would have checked first but Syscanner has always worked well for me in the past.

To give a summary, I tried to book a flight from Gatwick to Manchester, the price on Skyscanner showed at £50.00, so I went through to book and deselected all of the "optional" extras, including insurance as I already have a highly comprehensive free-standing insurance policy. I clicked "confirm" and received an emil confirming my "request to make a reservation", NOT booking and that they would email me within twelve hours once the airline (BA) confirmed, so even though I thought I had made a booking, I hadn't.

I then received an email like the original poster, asking me to email a scan of my card and passport as they were "unable to verify" my identity. This immediately started ringing bells for me and I researched them on the internet and found that this is a standard trick they use to delay issuing a ticket and once you have submitted documents, they explain that the price has gone up so that you have to pay more. Once you have done that, they email you to say you have made a double-booking and will be charged a £100.00 cancellation fee.

They also added on £14.00 unexplained "service charge" AND the insurance that I deselected, aong with a miscellanious "fee" taking my £50 flight to £80.00, only discovered on the emailed invoice.

I emailed explaining that I was not prepared to transmit my documents via email for security reasons and from there out, got into an email argument that is still ongoing.

Originally they were warning me of various fees and charges I would be liable for if I did not send the documents, along with the risk of the flight price increasing in the interim and that I had better send the documents they wanted.

I had already contacted my bank, as they are a German company, the payment request had flagged up for fraud and I cancelled the payment in view of everything I had read, I will also be cancelling my card as I have read many instances of them taking unauthorised payments months after the flight date.

As soon as I advised fly.co.uk that I had researched them and found all the negative reviews, breach of Pci - Dss online retailer compliance, whose badge they display on their website, by requesting unsecure transmission of documents AND adding insurance which I deselected AND they did not even attempt to make a booking with BA as I called them myself to check, so there could be no cancellation fee from a non existent booking and the breach of compliance and illegally adding services I deselected meant that there was absolutely no contract between us.

I have re-iterated the same points in every email they have responded with so far and stood my ground, as soon as I emailed demonstrating I had researched them and their bad reputation, the "charges" I was apparently liable for starting going down with each email, from around £500.00 to £300.00 to £200.00 to £100.00 to £50.00 and they are currently offering to "waive part of the cancelation fee if the price is a cause for concern".

I am going to stand firm until they acknowledge in writing that nothing is owing and I have reported them to Skyscanner, Travel Watchdog, Pci - Dss and the European Trading Standards Council.

If anyone else has been unfortunate to book with these guys, I would uge you to be clear and stand your ground. They are in the wrong, which they are well aware of. There is one poster on another thread who ended up going to European Small Claims Court with them for the same thing - fly.co.uk lost.

The more people that report them and complain and warn others, the greater chance they won't be able to steal money, which is what they are doing. If forums like MSE weren't around, I would have probably shelled out several hundred pound unnecessarily by now and be feeling pretty upset. So I hope my experience is of use to someone!

If anyone would like to see the email train for more ideas or to see what to expect, please PM me and I'd be happy to help.

Fly.co.uk - crooks and they know it, avoid booking but if you have, be confident in standing your ground and make sure you refer to all the cases of people just like you. Good Luck!