skyscanner and fly.co.uk scam

tapyeno

Having bought tickets to Inverness, I was horrified, as others have been, at the excessive charges added on after booking. Two emails to the firm's 'Customer Services' were unanswered.

I felt I should make a complaint about this company, but have found there is no one to complain to!

I contacted the IATA who referred me to Civil Aviation Authority who referred me to Citizens Advice who referred me to UK European Consumer Centre. Eventually got a reply from them and they are passing it on to the European Consumer Centre! They asked me for lots of documentation relevant to my complaint which I have provided for them.

However, they stated in their email: "Please be aware that as an advice service we do not have any enforcement or investigative powers. We are therefore unable to compel the trader to accept our views or suggestions and the trader may even choose not to respond to our letters. Our mediation may however, encourage the trader to trader to re-assess your case."

Will be interested to see if the fore mentioned company, fly.co, does re-assess my case - I won't hold my breath!

jpsartre

tapyeno wrote: »

I contacted the IATA who referred me to Civil Aviation Authority who referred me to Citizens Advice who referred me to UK European Consumer Centre. Eventually got a reply from them and they are passing it on to the European Consumer Centre! They asked me for lots of documentation relevant to my complaint which I have provided for them.

Just think if you'd spend 10% of that effort to do a bit of research before booking? Yeah yeah, I know hindsight is everything but if the goal is to stop these types of companies, rather than relying on complaints to government bodies, it would so much more effective if travellers wouldn't be so easily blinded by price and would do their homework before handing over money. These people are part of the problem. You got scammed by fly.co.uk because there's a whole bunch of people before you that have kept them in business by sending money their way. Now that you've done the same, they are in a position to scam the next sucker.

pg_1882

Hi all,
Just booked two flights with Fly.co.uk.
Silly boy was tired and it was late... I didn't check the reviews.

The flight seemed a good deal, not with Easyjet or Ryanair so no baggage charges. Flight booked with Lufthansa.

Pressed the return key and the flight came back with £60 booking fee and £9 of credit card charges. £339 turned into £408.
It initially said there would be a £4.50 charge for a credit card use however it charged me double and did NOT allow me to use my debit card.

These fees were NOT on the final page !!!!!!

I immediately tried to cancel the booking (at 50p per minute) and they wanted £100 fee for that. HUGE rip off!!!! It was cheaper to book with the airline direct.

They are NOT ABTA or ATOL protected. So, if they go bust you're out of pocket and no flight.

Just going to ring my credit card company to try and cancel the booking. ..... SIGH need this on my Sunday morning. Thanks Fly.co.uk!!!!

richardw

Why would an airline let fly.co.uk sell standard fares at cheaper prices?

Caz3121

pg_1882 wrote: »

Hi all,
Just booked two flights with Fly.co.uk.
Silly boy was tired and it was late... I didn't check the reviews.

The flight seemed a good deal, not with Easyjet or Ryanair so no baggage charges. Flight booked with Lufthansa.

Pressed the return key and the flight came back with £60 booking fee and £9 of credit card charges. £339 turned into £408.
It initially said there would be a £4.50 charge for a credit card use however it charged me double and did NOT allow me to use my debit card.

These fees were NOT on the final page !!!!!!

I immediately tried to cancel the booking (at 50p per minute) and they wanted £100 fee for that. HUGE rip off!!!! It was cheaper to book with the airline direct.

They are NOT ABTA or ATOL protected. So, if they go bust you're out of pocket and no flight.

Just going to ring my credit card company to try and cancel the booking. ..... SIGH need this on my Sunday morning. Thanks Fly.co.uk!!!!

Here are the terms and conditions that mention the booking fee
http://www.fly.co.uk/service/terms

I am guessing your issue is that you will have ticked a box to confirm you read these before making the booking

Norrieb1

ABTA or IATA or whoever must investigate this fly.co.uk based in germany.

I tried to book flights lastnight and all way through booking was £421 for flights inc taxes. When went to pay to confirm there was no visa debit option so I tried visa electron with my debit card - no other charges were showing at this point.the payment failed, so I tried via the visa option - which quoted £4.50&Serice charge..Not reading closely, i thought they were saying £4.50 service charge.Anyway, once i processed payment there were 2 £4.50 charges for ccard use per person, AND a service charge per flight leg of £19.99 !!! This wasnt advised al; way through booking,and I felt disgusted and decieved by the extra £80 charge and ccard fees even though a debit card.. There was very little indication of these charges.Also you had to pay £6 fee for cheap contact tel number incase oif customer service issues, alternatively they had a premium number if you didnt pay, which i didnt.

Luckily, i recieved an email today saying payment had failed and that I had to provide other form of payment for flights to confirm..or I would be charged £50-£100 for their admin costs of processing and then cancelling booking...Good luck with that one.. I emailed them showing my upset at their hidden charges etc.I have screenshotted every page s I went through the booking so can prove how decieving they are to customers.

NEVER USE FLY.CO.UK Someone out there must be able to take action against thjis fraudulent activity???

jpsartre

Keep a close eye on your card, they may well try to charge you at a later stage. In fact, I'd be tempted to cancel the card altogether. I take it you have already checked with your card provider that no charges have been made? They are a scam, obviously they're not going to care one bit that you're upset about them.

Alan_Bowen

No one can investigate a business unless they are a member, I can see no reference to ABTA, which isn't surprising since the company is based in Germany not the UK, but more surprisingly they do not appear to be accredited to IATA. This means they are buying the tickets from somewhere else, so of course they are going to charge more than the fare itself. It really is vital to check these references before booking, not afterwards

Norrieb1

Thought Id got lucky as they didnt manage to take payment initially as my card was debit and not credit, so bank stopped the payment.Buty few days later they have managed to take a £100 fee !! Im absolutely raging to say the least.Lots of UK customers are getting ripped off fraudulently in my eyes by this company,yet we cant do anything as it is a german company??? Spread the word people.>DONT USE FLY.CO.UK !!!!!!!!

jpsartre

Contact your bank and tell them the charge is unathorized.