Flight booking problems consumer rights query

ajweeks30

With regards to the aftermath of flight purchases, I have a few questions that I’d like to ask that I hope you could answer or at least point me in the right direction.


1. Three years ago I purchased a flight using the Opodo.co.uk website and they sent the confirmation email and tickets with the wrong outbound date. I’d selected 27th Dec 2004 and they put 27th Nov 2004. I called them the very next day to correct it and they refused to do anything as the ticket was non-refundable. They recommended that i called the airline which I did but they still refused so had to buy another ticket. It was a Continental Airlines flight to Mexico which cost £475.68 so there was surely an error on the website which caused this incorrect date as I would not have selected the wrong date. I then contacted my credit card company to register this issue as a disputed transaction and they refused to do anything about it and simply suggesed that take legal advice. In the end I purchased another flight costing around £600 with the correct dates via another website. I intend to take Opodo and/or my bank to court to retrieve the money. What are my consumer rights regarding this?


2. Six months ago my flight from San Diego was delayed so I missed my connecting flight in Los Angeles to London and ended up arriving back a day late. Thus I missed a day’s work and lost a day’s money as I am hourly paid. My travel insurance require a letter from the airline to pay out the paltry £30 delay fee. Therefore I contacted Expedia.co.uk with whom I purchased the flight and they have been in contact with the airline but still they’ve received nothing from then over five months on. Expedia are helpful and state that they have to wait for the airline to respond to them. They recommended that I contacted them also which I did and have still heard nothing. The airline, United Airlines, have no customer service telephone number in the UK! My travel insurance are demanding a letter from the airline before they'd pay out a paltry £30 for a day's delay. I am sure that I am entitled to compensation from the Airline for the delay. What are my consumer rights to claim from the airline?


Thank you very much for your time and keep up the excellent information that you provide. I look forward to receiving your response.

budgetflyer

1.
It is obvious (to me anyway) despite your assurance, that you selected Nov instead of Dec so you can waste as much money as you want in court but I bet you a £1 to £100 you will end up with NADA.

2.
UA are not covered by EU regs. You can read your entitelment at
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=306&pagetype=90&pageid=3312

Disruption to flights, such as cancellations and delays, or missed connections, can cause considerable annoyance and inconvenience. But there are no regulations on compensation payments whatever the circumstances of the disruption. Typical airline terms and conditions include clauses which state that schedules and timings (and even dates!) are not guaranteed.
Most airlines follow a Recommended Practice on "General Conditions of Carriage" from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The Recommended Practice is updated from time to time. The clauses on delays and cancellations in the most recent versions give passengers the choice, in the event of cancellation or failure to operate "reasonably according to schedule", of a later flight on the same airline, or some other "mutually agreed" alternative transportation ("within a reasonable period of time"), or a refund. But you have to know to insist on your choice!
Cancellation and Delay

In practice, many airlines will provide refreshments or overnight accommodation for passengers whose flights have been cancelled or are subject to a long delay. Or they may transfer passengers to other flights. But very few will voluntarily pay compensation in addition (unless under EU Regulation 261/2004. Click here for details)
Nevertheless, under provisions in the newly adopted Montreal Convention (which came into force in the UK on 28 June 2004), an airline is liable for "damage occasioned by delay" (Articles 19 and 22.1), up to a limit of 4,150 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). (On 25 June 2004, this was equivalent to £3,333). However, an airline may not be liable if "it proves that it and its servants and agents took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage or that it was impossible for it or them to take such measures" (Article 19). In practice, any payment that an airline is prepared to make for a delay will at best be reimbursement of expenses that it accepts were directly and necessarily incurred as a result of the delay (such as meals or overnight hotel accommodation). Airlines generally do not accept any liability for inconvenience, stress or any consequential losses arising from the delay, unless they are required to do so as a result of court action.
When a flight is cancelled, an airline is contractually obliged to provide alternative transportation (not necessarily by air) or a refund. But most airlines' conditions of carriage specifically exclude liability for any consequential losses. In theory, it should be possible to argue that a cancellation is the same as a delay for the purposes of making a claim under the Montreal Convention (because of the Convention simply refers to "delay in the transportation by air" and a passenger can be delayed as a result of cancellation). But in practice, the two are generally taken to be different.

My honest advice is - move on. Why put yourself through all this hassle.

ajweeks30

Hi

1. I did select the correct date. I am an IT contractor and have developed website systems for many years so I know that things can go wrong with the systems. However surely my consumer rights allow me to contest or change it if I reported it the very next day. I cant' believe that companies with websites can be allowed to simply wash their hands of it.

2. I'll need to look into this more. At the very least they should answer my complaint and provide me with the letter than my travel insurance requires.

If we all moved on to avoid the hassle, then the big companies will continually get away with mistreating its's customers. I, for one, won't let it drop.

dmg24

However surely my consumer rights allow me to contest or change it if I reported it the very next day.

No, they do not.

I'll need to look into this more.

No need to look into it anymore, budgetflyer is correct.

Yes, they should provide you with a letter from them for your insurance, but for the sake of £30, is it really worth it? The time you are putting into your complaint is surely worth more than £30?!

Crabman

dmg24 wrote: »

No, they do not.

Woah, I just want to clear something up - if a mistake is made on any sort of travel booking you have no rights in terms of resolving the error even if you phone them the next working day?

ajweeks30

Crabman wrote: »

Woah, I just want to clear something up - if a mistake is made on any sort of travel booking you have no rights in terms of resolving the error even if you phone them the next working day?

That's what happened to me. I called them the very next day and they refused to do anything about it. I lost £470 and had to book another flight.

I'm sure the mistake wasn't at my end but even if it was surely it can be rectified if you contact them straight away. Consumer law needs to be investigated further here.

Sam_Bee

ajweeks30 wrote: »

That's what happened to me. I called them the very next day and they refused to do anything about it. I lost £470 and had to book another flight.

I'm sure the mistake wasn't at my end but even if it was surely it can be rectified if you contact them straight away. Consumer law needs to be investigated further here.

Irrespective, the onus is on you to prove that the error was not yours. Did you take a screenshot, or perhaps have any other proof that you entered the right dates? Although it might seem very harsh, they will say it was not possible for their site to make this error. Unfortunately many people do make this error, and they all argue the same thing.

With regard to not being able to change the ticket - once you pay, the ticket is issued. It can then only be anulled the same day. The following day, ticket conditions apply, which in your case, is non-refundable (rules set by the airline, not Opodo).

Your 2 options as I see it is to: a) provide proof it was their error or b) go via a small claims court and hope they refund you merely to minimise their costs (they won't admit to an error).

You wouldn't like my suggestion, which mirrors Budgetflyers.

With regards to Crabman's suggestion comment about rights - well, if you book online, these are the risks you take doing it yourself. A travel agent wouldn't necessarily have issued the tickets so the error could be sorted out. For online companies to have better consumer rights, the whole worldwide airline industry would need a big shake-up. Which isn't going to happen in a hurry.

dmg24

Crabman wrote: »

Woah, I just want to clear something up - if a mistake is made on any sort of travel booking you have no rights in terms of resolving the error even if you phone them the next working day?

Sam Bee is correct. Unless you can prove that the fault was not of your own doing, then you have no rights.

turtle2k1

If this was 3 years ago why are just starting to do something about it now?

Alan_Bowen

I am afraid I agree with the comments above, if you have no proof that you inputted the correct dates, which normally also appear immediately before you click to pay, you are on a hiding to nothing. The legal obligation is on you to prove they were wrong, not for them to prove that you were wrong. It is all to easy to do, someone booked flights for me today to attend a conference in Edinburgh next month, ironically on travel law, they thought they booked for the 14th Sept. but when they emailed me the confirmation it is for 14th August next year, the money is down the drain.

In respect of the second booking I assume you were flying United all the way from San Diego to London? Exactly the same problem happened to me a few years ago, the undercarriage collapsed as we pushed back from San Diego, luckily I was booked on the first United flight from LA and was transferred to the later one. They certainly used to have offices at Heathow which dealt with consumer affairs, they are on the Southern Perimeter Road in a building they used to call United House! Do a telephone search, you should find them easily enough

Voyager2002

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

I am afraid I agree with the comments above, if you have no proof that you inputted the correct dates, which normally also appear immediately before you click to pay, you are on a hiding to nothing. The legal obligation is on you to prove they were wrong, not for them to prove that you were wrong. It is all to easy to do, someone booked flights for me today to attend a conference in Edinburgh next month, ironically on travel law, they thought they booked for the 14th Sept. but when they emailed me the confirmation it is for 14th August next year, the money is down the drain.

I understood that in this kind of situation airlines would correct the mistake, provided they were contacted on the same day as the booking was made. Or was the booking made through an agency? It seems that the likes of Opodo and Lastminute are unable to correct mistakes, even if contacted immediately.