Help with flights cancelled!

Lady12345

Hi everyone. Hoping for some help. Basically I booked flights with a 3rd party via Skyscanner. The booking was confirmed onscreen and the money taken from my credit card. Next thing I know the money has been debited back in with no warning! I've spoken to them and all they're saying is sorry you do not have flights booked. Surely a payment is regarded as booked and purchased? I now have villa, car etc booked and no flights. The flights have increased dramatically. I am trying to speak to them again and they cut me off the call!!! Having waited 30 mins each time to get through! You wouldn't go to a shop and buy something and then they take it off you and the money put back into your account. Surely this is no different??? Such bad customer service, especially in the aftermath via cutting me off! Any advice appreciated

Rambosmum

Have you got travel insurance?

Caz3121

Lady12345 wrote: »

I booked flights with a 3rd party via Skyscanner. The booking was confirmed onscreen and the money taken from my credit card.

which 3rd party was it. Many do not have live prices and the prices they advertise (cheaper than the airline to make you want to book with them and not the airline direct) are not the current prices and when you "book" you are actually requesting to book. The norm is usually for them to contact you first and confirm if you want to pay the real price (more £s) before they cancel
Bad service but will be pretty much covered in their T&Cs I expect, a lesson that you should book direct with the airline...what was the advertised saving?

Lady12345

No hadn't bought travel insurance yet. The saving wasn't that much more at the time maybe £50 or so than direct with the airline. However the prices are now £300 more! Very frustrating but feel you are right. Obviously with the money being taken we presumed we were just waiting for the tickets and confirmation. Everything else booked now, this is a huge pain! Thanks for the replies!

Caz3121

If there is a number of you travelling, it may be worth checking the prices for one at a time as, when you book for 4 for example, it will quote the lowest fare with 4 seats. So if there were 3 seats left at £150 then the next flights were £250...If you ask for 4 seats it will do 4 x £250. If you ask for 3 seats it will do 3 x £150 - then you can book 1 @ £250 which would save some money...might not work in your case but worth checking

malkie76

What do you have in writing from the 3rd party? If a genuine contract then buy new tickets and pursue them for the difference through the courts.

Rambosmum wrote: »

Have you got travel insurance?

Totally irrelevant in this case.

Lady12345

I'm not sure I understand what you mean Caz but thanks! Bit late maybe in the morning lol.

I have nothing in writing from them. They said they sent me an email saying the flights weren't booked but I didn't receive it. This was still sent after the money was taken though. I'd just like to know why they took the money and why they had it for days if my flights were not booked. Surely I'm not the only person that would think their flights were booked if money had gone and just thought the confirmation/tickets were on the way?

bagand96

Many agents don't actually have a live connection to airline reservations. What actually happens when you "book" with them is it generates a request which they manually process to book your flights with the airline.

To add to this, because it's not a live connection, prices are only updated periodically and therefore not always correct. So, between the last time they updated prices, you booked, they found the prices had increased so didn't continue.

This is most likely buried in their T&Cs I'm afraid. Who did you book with?

Caz3121

Lady12345 wrote: »

I'm not sure I understand what you mean Caz but thanks! Bit late maybe in the morning lol.

I assume you will be now on the market for buying flights direct from the airline and you commented that the flights had increased..just explaining that it is worth checking fewer number passengers in case the number you are booking for takes you into the next price band and you end up paying more than if you bought the tickets on separate bookings
eg if you were booking for 4 people and originally the flights were £150 each you would have expected to pay £600 for the 4 flights
In the interim someone may have come along and bought tickets so there are now only 3 seats left at the £150 fare and the next fare is £250
If you book for 3 it would be 3 x £150 however if you book for 4 it will be 4 x £250 (all passengers on the one booking would be in the same fare class so it will not mix the £150 and £250 fares in one booking)
4 x £250 = £1,000
3 x £150 + 1 x £250 = £700
When you search for the tickets, start with looking for 1, then increase to 2, 3 etc until you can see the maximum you can have on the same booking without falling into the next fare bucket

martindow

And get your insurance in place! You really need to have cover as soon as you book anything although I doubt if most insurances would cover you for the extra costs of booking flights.