Hayes & Jarvis - flight cancelled but I wasnt informed?

ciaobella_x

I booked a holiday with Hayes & Jarvis in a Thomson's branch in January this year for a trip to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving. At the time of booking I told my booking agent that we could only stay for 6 nights because my partner's holidays go from Monday - Sunday, so we were unable to go for a full week because of the the time difference coming home.
I added the booking to my British Airways Executive Club account and that was the last contact I had with them. However last week I randomly logged on to my BA account and discovered that my return flight had been cancelled and we had been rebooked onto a flight the next day!
I called my Thomson's agent who had no idea this had happened, they then contacted Hayes and Jarvis who confirmed the change only after speaking to their operations department. My agent then told me this is standard procedure if a flight was cancelled and I would have been told 'in due course' and we were liable for the additional nights accommodation should we choose to accept the change. As it was incompatible with my partners holidays I turned down the new flight and instead I got placed on a new flight on the original date, arriving in Heathrow instead of Gatwick.
I could smell a rat though, why hadn't I been told, and when did it happen? So I called BA directly who informed me the flight was cancelled in JANUARY! That means H&J have had nearly 7 months to tell me this flight had changed. BA had informed H&J of the change, and we were the only passengers who had yet to reconfirm the new booking.
The girls I spoke to at Thomson's were quite outraged and encouraged me to send in an email of complaint via them to H&J and to expect a reply within 28 days.
I was just wondering what other people think of this situation. Do you think I have a case to complain here, and do you think I should expect compensation in the form of an upgrade or something along those lines?

agrinnall

Pretty good, we got all the way to the last sentence before the C word was mentioned! What compensation do you think you are due? Are you getting back at a significantly different time of day from the original booking? Have you pre-booked transport from Gatwick that now won't be any use? If either of those things apply you might get something, otherwise you're in a very similar position to when you first made the booking and you shouldn't expect anything.

ciaobella_x

I am not actively searching for a room upgrade, and most definitely not a flight upgrade. I was happy with my booking until I felt like we had been ignored.
We actually live in Glasgow, so we get a connecting flight from LHR to GLA.
We arrive i n Glasgow around 10 hours later than initially planned. My partner works split shifts and was looking to return to work on the day of our return, which he can no longer do, so he needs to take the day unpaid.

MrsBunny

Airlines do swap and change their schedules all the time some by 5 minutes, some by a day or two but if BA advise the change was done in January, then yes, they travel agent should have informed you by now. When an airline makes a change it is almost automatically sent to the agent who booked the flights who in turn should tell the traveller.

I think if you complain, you will only get a 'sorry' letter back, I do not think you will get anything off the company - have you had to change your flight back to Glasgow or was it booked as a through connection? If the shuttle flights were booked separately I would ask the travel agent to refund any difference in price/change fee.

With arriving back in the UK 10 hours later, there is nothing you can do about that, the airline duty is to get you home.....your original flight back to Heathrow could of had a time change if it still operated. I would not be surprise if you have another small change in timings come October, as a lot of airline time changes happen when the clocks go back and forth, though these are normally only by 10/15/20 minutes.

I personally would have an extra day spare before going back to work...if everything was still the same as you originally planned then on the day of your flight back to the UK then plane is delayed due to technical reasons or weather then you would still be in the same position. I know it is aload of what ifs but personally I would have taken the Monday off work or only stay for 5 nights, not 6.

bagand96

One of the problems booking with travel agents, can be flight changes.

If you'd booked with BA directly, you'd have had an email from them directly advising of the change. And it would have been sorted in January, straight away.

This way, BA had to tell Hayes & Jarvis, who then had to tell the Thomson Shop, who then had to tell you. And the chain broke down.

Regards to compensation, I doubt they'll offer anything more than a good will gesture.

Dimey

Given that your holiday booking was made and accepted by the agent Thomson for Hayes & Jarvis subject to travelling on the dates that suited your partners work. I suggest Thomson have breached the agreement and you might have an argument for compensation for consequential losses. Eg:

• transfers between the two London airports to re-connect with your Glasgow flight.
• one day pay that your partner has to forfeit for not arriving back in time

Whether Thomson and H&J see it that way is another matter. They will probably say you are welcome to cancel the holiday with no loss of deposit.

I reckon you'll be lucky to get a written apology and some token upgrade or bottle of plonk on the flight.

Caz3121

Flight cancellations do not attract EU compensation unless less than 14 days notice is given.
As you are going back to Glasgow I am assuming it makes no difference whether the trans atlantic flight goes into LGW or LHR
I have had flights booked direct with BA before where I have noticed the timechange/cancellation before being notified. On each occassion they have made the changes onto the replacement flights I request. It seems like they have moved you onto flights on the day you require all be it not at the original time you booked which, unless they reinstate the cancelled flight is not going to happen.
I would expect H&J to come back and advise that they would have been contacting you to sort out flights at some point prior to your trip
I cannot see any compo claim here

Caz3121

Dimey wrote: »

• transfers between the two London airports to re-connect with your Glasgow flight.
• one day pay that your partner has to forfeit for not arriving back in time

Whether Thomson and H&J see it that way is another matter. They will probably say you are welcome to cancel the holiday with no loss of deposit.

I agree with your first point however I think OP not has connecting flights from LHR to GLA so this will not apply

Disagree with the second point, airlines tend to word the contract carefully, the contract is to get from A to B but not at a specific time and airlines are not liable for consequential losses. EU compensation would have been payable for the cancellation had OP need advised of this less than 14 days before travel

Dimey

Caz3121 wrote: »

I agree with your first point however I think OP not has connecting flights from LHR to GLA so this will not apply

Disagree with the second point, airlines tend to word the contract carefully, the contract is to get from A to B but not at a specific time and airlines are not liable for consequential losses. EU compensation would have been payable for the cancellation had OP need advised of this less than 14 days before travel

Yes I agree with your comment on point 2 but I don't reckon the airline is responsible. I reckon it would be the agent Thomson who allegedly made the agreement that the customer would be home by a specific time.

I say allegedly because I doubt that Thomson would have been daft enough to make such an agreement. However OP did seem clear in his first post that the agreement was made before they booked.