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

dmg24

Any news sky_rat? x

sky_rat

Thanks for asking dmg24.

We have been in contact with Expedia and unfortunately its bad news.

The airline wont refund our tickets.

It was Expedia who talked to the airline whilst we were put on hold.

The airline said we should have noticed something wasnt right because the flights came to £260.

But this isnt the case because there was not a price breakdown for flights, accommodation and car hire on Expedia.

All it said was the total price for the whole package, which came to £1700.

Like I said in a previous post, there were deals on MyTravel for £1300 (£1100 a few months ago) but staying in accomodation which had a bad review.

So the fact that it was £1700 to stay in nicer accomodation didnt ring any alarm bells.

To make things worse, the flight tickets arrived in the post this morning.

Apparently if we cancelled the flight we would get £18 each refunded for taxes (dont know if that includes the infant ticket though?).

At the time my girlfriend said that we wouldnt bother cancelling the flight on principle.

Why should we be made to pay for seats on a flight that we cant use, only for the airline to charge someone else for the same seats (and probably at a higher price).

So it looks like we loose the money for the flights and weve now got to somehow find a new flight from the UK to Florida.

We've become totally demotivated about it all now.

I will probably write to Watchdog but I cant see us getting anywhere with it.

Once again, thanks to everyone on this forum for their input.

dmg24

I'm really sorry to hear that, and the fact that the tickets arrived this morning just adds insult to injury.

I think you are doing the right thing in taking it further. You know it is your mistake, but it seems so petty that they are not willing to help. Even if Expedia offered you a discount on a new flight it would be something, they will still be making more profit out of you!

In terms of looking for new flights, I would be tempted to say that there may be a price sale before October. However, there will be others on here who can give you more specific advice. Maybe start a new thread specifically on this point? x

Sam_Bee

If you want the possibility of something to happen, follow these instructions.

Forget about Expedia. That's as far as they will take it. They CAN'T do anything else for you. They are really NOT making much money on you. They are making 15% on your hotels, and 25% on the car hire. And 3% on the flights.

Instead, proceed straight to the airline. Call them up, give them your airline locator (if you don't know what it is, ask them for it, and write it down for your reference). Speak to them, Speak to their Customer Services, Speak to their Supervisors, Be NICE! Speak to someone else at the airline, and if that doesn't work, SPEAK TO THEM SOME MORE!

They CAN help you get a refund on your 'non-refundable' tickets. They NEED to make an exception for you. So keep speaking to THE AIRLINE until you get a positive response.

Think positive, and good luck! AND PERSEVERE!

I'd forget about Watchdog though, you havn't been wronged.

Woby_Tide

when is the cutoff that airlines should or should not refund as they have time to resell the tickets?

Red_Panda_2

I used to work for Eurostar and we sold non refundable, non exchangeable tickets, but we were always able to over rule the system and change/refund if we felt the traveller warrented it (and what kind of mood we were in).
Unfortunately the only exeption to this was when they were booked through a third party as your contract is with the travel agent not the airline.
We did however refund many agents that came on begging, so maybe worth another call to Expedia as maybe the first person to call Delta did not try hard enough or got through to an unhelpful person at the airline.

Voyager2002

Personally, I would contact the airline directly. Ask if they will credit the fare that you have paid towards flights that you can use.

And locate organisations within the USA that might help you. Contact the Better Business Bureau in Delta's home city (Atlanta, I think). If you don't get anywhere, contact local newspapers or radio in BHM. I am afraid that it is a funny story, but everyone will feel that it should end with the airline giving you a break. In this kind of situation, if Delta were to be generous to you in the full glare of publicity, they would gain a lot more than the price of those tickets.

And to those people who say that you should use a professional travel agent, since professionals don't make this kind of mistake, just recall my experience: I asked an agent to book me a flight to Khartoum (Sudan) and she booked me to Katmandu (Nepal): I noticed the mistake and got it corrected.

katepnlo

The others have given good advice call and be nice.
for what its worth, i am SO sorry you have to go trhough this, i totaly understand, i stay at home and my husband works while i care for our children, each trip away is like a holiday of a life time and we treat it as such, no matter if it is 500.00 or 5000.00 it is hard earned money, time you have had to spend away from your baby and wife for, i know for certain i would be so very upset.
Having the privilige of staying at home to bring our children up, meens we give up a certain amount of cash and have to live accordingly, so it is extremely important, no matter whos mistake.
Good luck.
kate

Alikay

Voyager2002 wrote: »

And to those people who say that you should use a professional travel agent, since professionals don't make this kind of mistake, just recall my experience: I asked an agent to book me a flight to Khartoum (Sudan) and she booked me to Katmandu (Nepal): I noticed the mistake and got it corrected.

Nobody said agents don't make mistakes. But they DO have a responsibility to put them right! And if the airline aren't sympathetic (quite usual - fare rules are pretty complex, but they ARE published, so agent doesn't usually have a leg to stand on!) then the Travel Agent will bear the cost. This will come out of shop overheads, or if a consultant is viewed by agency manager as having been careless (or as in my case, "office losses" budget had been exceeded for the year) then by instalments from the individual consultants salary.

Sam_Bee

Alikay wrote: »

Nobody said agents don't make mistakes. But they DO have a responsibility to put them right! And if the airline aren't sympathetic (quite usual - fare rules are pretty complex, but they ARE published, so agent doesn't usually have a leg to stand on!) then the Travel Agent will bear the cost.

Exactly! When I did work as a Travel Agent, and made a mistake (does happen - normally with a name) then I would sort it out with an airline direct. Most airlines were happy to do so if I said it was our error (they like to be friendly to us) but often would not make a change if we said it was a client error. After all, they have rules for a reason. Who are airlines most likely to help? An agent that books hundred of people, or an individual who may never book with them again...

Some airlines (Virgin if I remember) allowed us to have 5 errors a year they would assist with, so we would prioritise in terms of cost to us. It was a good system, but meant we would only fix a clients error if we had favours left at the end of the year...

And always, no matter what you are dealing with, it depends on the person you speak to and the mood they are in. I spoke to a friendly person at BT last week.....