Paid for flight in full got confirmation then tripadvisor demands more for flight

bebopbaby

Hi

Just wanted to check others opinions. Booked a holiday through tripadvisor couple of days ago. Paid full cost of flight, got confirmation of flight cost at time of booking. 24hrs later rep from tripadvisor phones to say sorry about this but the flight cost changed as you booked and you need to pay us a further £54 for this flight. Our paperwork shows the price pre £54 change. Can this be right, we have no proof the flight price changed, surely we got the flight at the price stated on the invoice details. Any ideas or comments on the legality??

Many thanks

Westin

You haven't booked with Trip Advisor but rather one of their shoddy third party referral links.

What you describe is widely reported even on the the Trip Advisor forums themselves. I suspect you have actually booked with someone like Bravofly. Check your paperwork to find out who you have booked with then Google for horror stories and poor reviews.

These third party sites will advertise a price which either (a) not available as they don't have access to live prices and when they try to book it for you the airfare is higher and they call you for more money (b) available at that fare only if you use an obscure prepay credit card that only five people in the World have (c) hide a service fee so when you add their fee to the 'cheap' fare you pay more than if you booked with a reputable agent or the airline directly.

I would try to back out of this arrangement and then book direct with the airline if you can.

If however your booking is confirmed I think you may have to chalk this one up to experience. I suspect the £54 extra is a combination on (b) and (c) above and that their T&C's which you clicked to agree to will cover them to make this charge.

bebopbaby

yep

its chalked up to experience. I phoned Thomas Cook the actual flight company and they checked my reference and said I did buy the flights at the original price. However when Trip Advisor paid (after I paid them) the price had gone up and Trip Advisor passed the difference onto me. I phoned T A who said the system had kicked out our flight due to the flight difference and it had to be processed manually, hence it taking 24hrs before they called. They were not making any money just passing the price rise on. I pointed out that there terms and conditions state if there is the same flight cheaper elsewhere at the time of booking they refund the difference. I said yes Thomas Cook!! The call handlers head exploded at this point. It wasnt worth pursuing as they werent giving in. In future I am booking everything myself, Thomas Cook said we would have got the original price if we booked on their site. You live and learn. So in future I will use Skyscanner for the flights.

fuzzyduck22

bebopbaby wrote: »

yep

its chalked up to experience. I phoned Thomas Cook the actual flight company and they checked my reference and said I did buy the flights at the original price. However when Trip Advisor paid (after I paid them) the price had gone up and Trip Advisor passed the difference onto me. I phoned T A who said the system had kicked out our flight due to the flight difference and it had to be processed manually, hence it taking 24hrs before they called. They were not making any money just passing the price rise on. I pointed out that there terms and conditions state if there is the same flight cheaper elsewhere at the time of booking they refund the difference. I said yes Thomas Cook!! The call handlers head exploded at this point. It wasnt worth pursuing as they werent giving in. In future I am booking everything myself, Thomas Cook said we would have got the original price if we booked on their site. You live and learn. So in future I will use Skyscanner for the flights.

Sorry for your hassle. I usually use skyscanner to find cheap flights but then always go to the airlines actual website and book directly x

Voyager2002

bebopbaby wrote: »

yep

its chalked up to experience. I phoned Thomas Cook the actual flight company and they checked my reference and said I did buy the flights at the original price. However when Trip Advisor paid (after I paid them) the price had gone up and Trip Advisor passed the difference onto me. I phoned T A who said the system had kicked out our flight due to the flight difference and it had to be processed manually, hence it taking 24hrs before they called. They were not making any money just passing the price rise on. I pointed out that there terms and conditions state if there is the same flight cheaper elsewhere at the time of booking they refund the difference. I said yes Thomas Cook!! The call handlers head exploded at this point. It wasnt worth pursuing as they werent giving in. In future I am booking everything myself, Thomas Cook said we would have got the original price if we booked on their site. You live and learn. So in future I will use Skyscanner for the flights.

Please note:

1. You were not booking with Trip Advisor, but with an agent who advertises on their site. You might care to name and shame;

2. In future, by all means use Skyscanner to find flights. However, Skyscanner does not sell flights, and if you click through from their site you will again find yourself dealing with a disreputable agent. So once you have found a flight at a fare that you like, use Google to find a way to book it with the airline directly (or with an agent that you know you can trust).

budgetflyer

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Please note:

1. You were not booking with Trip Advisor, but with an agent who advertises on their site. You might care to name and shame;

2. In future, by all means use Skyscanner to find flights. However, Skyscanner does not sell flights, and if you click through from their site you will again find yourself dealing with a disreputable agent. So once you have found a flight at a fare that you like, use Google to find a way to book it with the airline directly (or with an agent that you know you can trust).

I have found Skyscanner to be very clear.
Quite often you click thru to the airline ie Ryanair or Easyjet.
Other times for long haul especially, they give you a choice of who to click thru to,
Nothing is hidden. Its all very clear who you are booking with.
At the same time, they have to make money

Voyager2002

budgetflyer wrote: »

I have found Skyscanner to be very clear.
Quite often you click thru to the airline ie Ryanair or Easyjet.
Other times for long haul especially, they give you a choice of who to click thru to,
Nothing is hidden. Its all very clear who you are booking with.
At the same time, they have to make money

That is my experience as well, but this board is full of people who find flights on Skyscanner and end up buying the tickets from Opodo, generally without realising that they had a choice of agent.