skyscanner and fly.co.uk scam

petermann

Just searched for a flight on skyscanner, and fly.co.uk came out cheapest. I went and booked it, didnt add any extras. The email invoice came through and it showed an extra £27 service charge and £5 credit card charge that werent on the final payment page!!!!!

It also showed that the company is German ( unister gmbH ).
I looked at the terms and conditions, which stated that the refunds will cost £100 per booking, and the service charge will not be refundable!

Is this legal ? What should I do as I'm sure they will not cooperate.

bagand96

When you get to the payment page on the website, and select your credit card type, there is a monetary amount shown in brackets next to the card type. This is a card fee, and it then itemises it at the bottom of the page just above where you agree to the T&C's and press "Book my Flight!".

Are you sure this is not what you've been charged?

petermann

yes, there was no extra £27 service fee on the page. just the total i was expecting.

unfortunately, german law has a 14-day distance selling law that does not cover travel contracts, from what i've gathered. and they are happily exploiting this.

Can my Uk bank do anything?

bagand96

Out of interest what airline are you flying?

petermann

swissair and bmi.

what just gets me is the apparently artificial low price that guarantees the top spot in the search engine knowing that they will just add extra in quietly later, and more, as a "fee".

bagand96

petermann wrote: »

swissair and bmi.

what just gets me is the apparently artificial low price that guarantees the top spot in the search engine knowing that they will just add extra in quietly later, and more, as a "fee".

The fly.co.uk website shows initally good prices, but on the payment page it adds a "taxes & fees" as well as a card fee to that initial price to give a "trip total for all passengers". It also adds a credit card charge here.

This trip total is displayed quite clearly just above where you tick that you have read and agree to the "T&Cs", and click "Book my Flight!"

So were you charged more than what was shown there or not? If you have been charged more than the "Trip total for all passengers" price then yes something is amiss and your card company should help you.

petermann

yes i was charged more

bagand96

petermann wrote: »

yes i was charged more

Are you absolutely sure you were charged more than the line that says "Trip total for all passengers" on the fly.co.uk booking page (forget skyscanner)?

Bearing in mind that this is at the bottom of the final payment page, and includes "taxes & fees" and credit card fee? And is different to the "Flight price" shown on the search result page, and the top of the booking page?

If again, you have been charged more than that total price then you should speak to fly.co.uk and then your credit card company. However, if in fact those extra charges were shown at the bottom of the fly.co.uk and you merely missed them; then you have no claim as you agreed to it. Fly.co.uk will be able to prove this.

The quickest way to tell is try and do a dummy booking for your itinerary again now and see what happens (assuming the flight price hasn't changed anwyay).

roses

Hi, has anyone else booked with fly.co.uk? They are £30 cheaper than booking direct with BMI and I am just wondering if they are genuine or not. I have got to the final checkout page and it is still showing £30 less inc all card & tax surcharges.

petermann

search google - theres a few stories there.

budgetflyer

petermann wrote: »

yes i was charged more

I bet you weren't.
I suggest you were charged what was shown on the final page.
This may well be different from what was on skyscanner though.