Traveloworld

ukrunner

Yesterday, I booked four flights to the USA in October, through Traveloworld. Everything went through okay, and I received a confirmation email. This morning, I was contacted by the company who said that the airline had told them that the tickets were not available at the agreed price, and that I would have to pay an extra £40 per ticket to secure them. I told them that I did not think that this was legal and that I would be contacting my lawyer. They sent me a cancellation email, stating that no charge had been made to my credit card, which appears to be true, so far.

I immediately booked the same tickets, for a few pounds more, through Netflights, and I have received confirmation, reserved my seats and meals.

I am wondering if Traveloworld have broken any laws and what can be done to bring these people to account?

Alan_Bowen

You must have a very cheap lawyer if you want to contact him over £40. It appears they didn't make a booking or charge your card before telling you the price was higher, unlike others who do so on a regular basis. There may have been a misleading price indication but I very much doubt in view of the way they dealt with the matter that any Trading Standards Officer is going to open a file. Net Flights have booked what you wanted, also at a slightly higher fare suggesting there was a human error in the first place. Personally I would not take any action but if you feel as a matter of principle that you must, feel free to contact ABTA of which they are a member but I am not sure what you expect them to do.

Voyager2002

ukrunner wrote: »

I told them that I did not think that this was legal and that I would be contacting my lawyer.

And what did your lawyer say?

If you object to a business possibly fibbing to you, I am sure that you would not consider doing the same thing.

ukrunner

I subscribe to Which?, for which I am offered free legal advice. Same goes for FSB, of which I am also a member. I will be contacting them tomorrow, so I will then be able to tell you what they said, if you are actually interested.

Also, I do not consider a completed and agreed transaction, for which they then ask for more money, is a fib. But that's just my opinion. I'll see what my lawyer says.

ukrunner

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

You must have a very cheap lawyer if you want to contact him over £40. It appears they didn't make a booking or charge your card before telling you the price was higher, unlike others who do so on a regular basis. There may have been a misleading price indication but I very much doubt in view of the way they dealt with the matter that any Trading Standards Officer is going to open a file. Net Flights have booked what you wanted, also at a slightly higher fare suggesting there was a human error in the first place. Personally I would not take any action but if you feel as a matter of principle that you must, feel free to contact ABTA of which they are a member but I am not sure what you expect them to do.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. We are actually talking about £140, as there were 4 tickets involved. I use these sites regularly, and occasionally a price is offered, accepted, and then you are informed that these tickets are no longer available, and a new price offered. Irritating, but part of the on-line business. What was different here was that everything went through to a conclusion, payment details were submitted, confirmation was given and an email sent confirming the booking. The following morning, I received a telephone call, informing me that the booking would not be honoured and that the tickets would now be £40 per person more. This struck me as questionable. I can imagine that this sort of practice would result in easy pickings for this company, as many people would not want to face searching for tickets all over again, and go with the new price. I went back on-line and bought the tickets for only £10 per person more than their original offer, saving myself £120 by cancelling the original booking. It just seems questionable to me, which is why I asked the question.

Thanks, again, for taking the time to reply.