Booked flights from Birmingham Alabama instead of Birmigham UK - Cannot cancel

sky_rat

I booked a holiday package to Florida on Expedia last night for myself, my girlfriend and our 1 year daughter.

The package included flights, accomodation and car hire for £1700.

The airport I thought I had chose to fly from was Birmingham (UK) but after ringing Expedia this morning to enquire about the flight times and the airline I was shocked to find out the flight is from Birmigham Alabama.

Expedia say there is nothing they can do about it.

They will not refund me for the flight which costs about £300.

So I have paid for a flight which is no use to me.

The accomodation and car hire is fine, but I have no flights booked to get there.

If I cancel the whole holiday I loose all the money (£1700) - I have to pay £1700 whether I go or not.

The only other option is to find flights to Florida but the cheapest Ive found is around £1000 in total for all of us.

This holiday has now gone up from £1700 (which was a big stretch but it was suppose to be a special holiday) to £2700 which is impossible for us to find the money for.

Weve got to save for spending money on top of all this as well !

My girlfriend does not work because she is bringing up our baby.

We live 90 miles from family so there is no one to look after the baby if she went back to work.

If she did get a job then the money she earnt would all go on child care.

We are in a no win situation here and worried sick.

We either pay £1700 and not go on holiday, or pay £2700 to go on holiday.

My Mum spoke to Expedia who said they could have changed the booking if I had noticed the error on the same day.

But because I booked on Thurdsay night and rang up Friday morning it was void.

The holiday has been booked for less than 12 hours and they say that theres nothing they can do.

If I cancel the flight then I will get a refund on taxes (they couldnt tell me how much this would be) but I doubt it will be much on £300.

The airline would easily find someone to fill those seats between now and October.

So there is absolutely no reason they should charge me for the flight.

It hardly seems worth cancelling the flight on principle, because I have paid for those seats so why should I let the airline charge me and someone else who will end up taking those seats.

I have only paid a £309 deposit so far using Visa.

The remainder is due 24th September.

Is there anything I can do to get out of this mess ?

Because at the moment I've got to find £1700 for a holiday I cant even go on.

Alikay

Oh dear....that's the main drawback of making a booking online yourself. Nearly 30 years ago when I started working in travel, that's one or the reasons it was SO SO important to learn the 3-letter airport codes. Our supervisor gave us weekly tests on them. An experienced travel professional wouldn't have made this mistake, firstly because of their knowledge of which airline flies what routes, plus the 3 letter code (BHX is one of the first codes a UK travel consultant will learn, Birmingham Alabama I think is BHM?).And surely the fare would have been in USD?

I'm so sorry that this has happened to you, but Expedia has a live booking system so what's done is done. As a travel trainee I once had to bear the cost of booking a client to Dhahran (DHA) instead of Doha (DOH)...I never made that mistake again! Expedia's systems would have made the booking immediately so any cancellation costs would be passed from the airline via Expedia then to you.

I'm not telling you this to gloat, but this is EXACTLY why online-only travel companies can undercut the rest...any mistakes and "you've made the booking, so it's your responsibility". I'm sure there will have been an "disclaimer" type agreement you ticked on Expedia's booking page which makes you responsible for the booking.

dmg24

I'm afraid that the t & c's do state that holidays are non changeable and non refundable, so any change that they allow you to make would be as a goodwill gesture.

If you do not pay the balance when requested, this will leave you open to action from debt collection agencies, and ultimately damage your credit rating.

Sorry I can't be more positive x

alchemista

I would see what you can do by dealing with the airlines and hotel/car places directly rather than with Expedia.

Most airlines (US) will allow you to change your ticket for either free or cheap. Maybe you could find a flight at a different time that could get you to the US?

Also, most hotels in the US have a cancellation policy. Depending on the arrangements with Expedia, maybe you can cancel directly with the hotel?

Finally, almost all car rentals are cancellable even up to the day of the vacation.

If you can't work anything out with the providers directly, then I would keep pressing Expedia at least on cancelling the accommodation and car rental portion of the trip, as they should not have to pay full penalty there.

As a last resort, you can try flogging the trip on eBay if it is possible to change names on the package.

Didn't the confirmation screens make it clear that it was Birmingham, AL instead of Birmingham, UK? If you have any screenshots or receipts that you have that just say Birmingham, then you may have a legal case that it wasn't clear to you that it was in the US. However, I would bet that Expedia did show you that it wasn't from the UK.


It sounds like to me from your post that you can cancel everything except for the plane, so you are only out £300 at worst, not £1700. Sometimes you have to live and learn. Also, if you thought you were getting flights for 3 people from Birmingham, UK to Florida for £300 total, then I think they will say that you should have obviously known there was something wrong.

LB1985

Surely the fare would have been in US $?

Also, having just gone on to the Expedia website and typed in 'Birmingham' as my departure airport, it came up with bullet points with options:

Leaving from:

Birmingham (BHX-Birmingham)
Birmingham, AL, United States (BHM-Birmingham Intl.)

I don't see any way that that wouldn't have come up, unless you specifically entered 'BHM'.

saveapenny

wouldnt it be cheaper just to book another flight to BHM ...or the cheapest destination in US and then use the budget airlines to connect to it

dmg24

As there are no international flights direct to BHM (or at least there weren't last time I went, and that was a good few years ago - fantastic place!), then it would probably be as cheap just to book direct to Florida.

Another point - did you not notice the flight time?!

Doublespresso

reminds me of the story of the guy who booked a flight to Nice and actually physically ended up in Tunis (real story!)

Sorry, I know it's no laughing matter, but couldn't resist...

Sam_Bee

It's a horrible story, I have no idea what you can do. Apart from look for cheap flights from Birmingham, UK to Birmingham Alabama...

The most common mix-up booking online is with people who get great flight deals to GOA, India by simply entering GOA in the destination box, and finding flights for £80.

Unfortunately, GOA is the airport code for Genoa, Italy, which is where they have actually booked the flights for.

sundin13

As previously suggested - why don't you see which airline it is with, then see which international hubs they fly to. You might be able to get cheap flights from the UK to NY or Atlanta for example, and the US carrier you've bought the tickets with might let you change your flights at that end.

Worth a try...

lynn44

So sorry, what a worrying thought...I have a friend who lives in the in the U.S (for 6 mths of the year) and he has delayed his flight twice at very short notice and they have been fanastic ( no offence Brits ) and has never been charged for cancellation they just said ring us when you are able to travel!
RE flights £300 I have just paid £638 for 2 weeks in florida includes flights car hire and hotel on International Drive...I paid same amount last year too...So you could get cheap flights if your willing to book within 6 weeks of travel ?
Good Luck....really feel for you and your family, hope it all works out.x