Is Section 75 applicable to a cancelled credit card?

eddddy

thenudeone wrote: »

Not so. If you booked through an agent, your contract is with the agent. If the airline goes bust the agent is responsible for honouring the contract. If necessary, there would be no problem in enforcing s75 rights against the travel agent.

The fact that a third party (the airline) intends to provide the service does not make any difference to your contract with the agent.

Not according to the Financial Ombudsman:

credit cards - equal liability under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974

...
Where customers use a credit card to buy airline or other travel tickets from a travel agent, they cannot normally claim against the travel agent if the airline delays or cancels the flight. This is because the travel agent contracted to supply the ticket, not the flight. So the customer would not have a claim under section 75 either.

Link: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/31/creditcards-31.htm

But some lawyers see it as a 'grey area':

Grey areas

Then there are uncertainties. When the service is purchased, by credit card, from a travel agent, it is currently unclear whether the agent is the "supplier" of the service and hence whether the claim falls within the CCA. Credit card companies have fought hard to limit the operation of section 75 to this type of claim, arguing that payment made to a travel agent should be regarded as payment for services as to a middleman only.

Link: http://www.stewartslaw.com/modules/news/item/default.aspx?contentid=39640

So if the OP was to make a claim under s75, I suspect it would go like this:

- The CC company rejects the claim
- The FOS rejects the claim
- The OP could then try their luck in court, but the CC company might fight it really hard (and really expensively) to avoid any legal precedent being established.

(Although, they might settle out of court without admission of liability instead - to avoid any precedent.)