Bogus cancellation reason?

libf

Hi,

I booked some flights to Nice on Norwegian air via lastminute.com but today have recieved an email stating that my reservation will be cancelled due to:

As stated in ourTerms and Conditions under section 7 of B. Flights:
‘….there are tiny number of airlines which participate in the GDS/CRS, but donot participate in the UK Ticketing plan. In the unlikely event that youpurchase tickets from an airline that does not participate in the UK TicketingPlan, Globepost will be unable to issue the relevant tickets, and we may haveto terminate the reservation.’

However, they then go on to list alternative flights with Norwegian, with the return no longer being a direct flight and say:

We now have alternatives to offer you, therefore please note your reviseditinerary enclosed. It is very important you check the altered flight detailscarefully. Also there would be a fare differecne of GBP 353.70 per passenger(subject to availability) Kindly reply to us advising how you wish to proceed.

If the reason for cancelling is that they can't issue tickets for Norwegian Air, then how can they offer an alternative that's with the same airline? So basically the price was too good and now they want to back out of it...

Is this legal?

Caz3121

What dates did you book?

If looking to fly from Gatwick to Nice, this appears to be a new service by Norwegian Air Shuttle starting in April with direct flights 4 days a week - Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun. The flights offered on the other days of the week are indirect and at least 3 times the price

Can you book the same flights direct on the Norwegian Air Shuttle site?

libf

Caz3121 wrote: »

What dates did you book?

If looking to fly from Gatwick to Nice, this appears to be a new service by Norwegian Air Shuttle starting in April with direct flights 4 days a week - Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun. The flights offered on the other days of the week are indirect and at least 3 times the price

Can you book the same flights direct on the Norwegian Air Shuttle site?

It's in May, out on a Wednesday and back on a Monday, so after the new flights have started.

The same ticket booked through Norwegian is £600+ for myself and my boyfriend and we paid lastminute.com less than £200 when I booked it yesterday. So they messed up on the price and now trying to get out of it.

Caz3121

libf wrote: »

It's in May, out on a Wednesday and back on a Monday, so after the new flights have started.

The same ticket booked through Norwegian is £600+ for myself and my boyfriend and we paid lastminute.com less than £200 when I booked it yesterday. So they messed up on the price and now trying to get out of it.

Were you by chance travelling back on the 27th May? whilst the other Mondays are either £43 or £33, there is only the option of a Flex ticket at £248 - I can only assume either the cheaper seats have sold out or were never available due to the Cannes Film Festival ending on the 26th

Not sure if Lastminute's booking system is live but it seems like they were either advertising seats that were no longer available or the seats were sold elsewhere at the same time. Did you look at the Norwegian site yesterday too (if the seats were more expensive I would expect then that the cheaper seats were already gone)

The reason they have given looks like nonsense but unfortunately as long as they give you a full refund of any moneys paid they cannot be forced to do any more

libf

Caz3121 wrote: »

Were you by chance travelling back on the 27th May? whilst the other Mondays are either £43 or £33, there is only the option of a Flex ticket at £248 - I can only assume either the cheaper seats have sold out or were never available due to the Cannes Film Festival ending on the 26th

Not sure if Lastminute's booking system is live but it seems like they were either advertising seats that were no longer available or the seats were sold elsewhere at the same time. Did you look at the Norwegian site yesterday too (if the seats were more expensive I would expect then that the cheaper seats were already gone)

The reason they have given looks like nonsense but unfortunately as long as they give you a full refund of any moneys paid they cannot be forced to do any more

Yer, it's the 27th on the way back, which is also the day after the Monaco GP. And the prices on the alternative websites that skyscanner checks were all £600+ when I booked yesterday too.