Amending flight within 24 hours

WolfSong2000

Hi,

I booked a flight thursday evening via The Flight Centre - 10 days flying London to Boston (return). All good.

I then called less than 24 hours later and asked to amend the flight - make it up to 2 weeks and change return from Boston to DC, flying to London. All with the same carrier (FinnAir), and no change to outward bound flight.

Cost in difference of flights was about £35 so I was assuming I could amend the original flight - indeed the travel agent told me that there was a 24 hour grace period to allow for amendments, but that it only referred to changes made on the same day (?). Surely if that's the case then the 24 hours doesn't apply?

FinnAir's website seems to suggest that there is indeed a 24 hour grace period to amend flights - and they have a relatively low fee to do so (Flight Centre charged me £170 plus the flight difference - came to just over £200).

Just wondering in retrospect if the Flight Centre are legitimately able to charge the £170 fee as I was within the 24 hours allowed by the airline to make an amendment? The flights are last min (flying out tomorrow) and was in quite a rush to book them so I didn't query too much at the time (big mistake!).

In the past I have had great service from the Flight Centre, but this time not so much....for the original flight, I got them to price-match and when I came back later the same day to purchase the flight, they refused to honor the original quoted price (despite me having the quote from them which was only a few hours old) and tried to charge me more than double. I challenged them and got the cost down but was still paying over and above what had been originally agreed.

So yeah....do I have any comeback over the £170 charge as the amendment was made in under 24 hours?

callum9999

WolfSong2000 wrote: »

So yeah....do I have any comeback over the £170 charge as the amendment was made in under 24 hours?

Do their T&Cs say they can charge £170? If so, no you don't.

leylandsunaddict

The airline charge will depend on the fare rules of your ticket. You need to re-read those to find out their charges. They might not be as low as you seem to think. The Flight Centre charges will depend on the terms and conditions you agreed when you booked. Plus the airline will charge you any difference in fare cost, and they might charge a reissue fee.

Gleeful

Tickets can only be voided on the same calendar day. You didn't book directly with the airline so the terms and conditions you are seeing will not apply to you. The Flight Centre terms and conditions are those which will apply to you.

WolfSong2000

Thanks for the advice....I am looking for a copy of invoice which should have T&C's, but this was a webpage I electronically "signed" by ticking a box and is no longer available. The general T&C's say £75 fee, but also talk about a £16 fee for booking flights which I don't think was applied, so who knows?

I wasn't looking for the ticket to be voided - only amended. £170 admin fee to amend one leg of a ticket seems excessive to me which is why I was checking.

bigadaj

The OP obviously didn't watch the dispatches documentary a few weeks ago.

Gleeful

WolfSong2000 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice....I am looking for a copy of invoice which should have T&C's, but this was a webpage I electronically "signed" by ticking a box and is no longer available. The general T&C's say £75 fee, but also talk about a £16 fee for booking flights which I don't think was applied, so who knows?

I wasn't looking for the ticket to be voided - only amended. £170 admin fee to amend one leg of a ticket seems excessive to me which is why I was checking.

You've misunderstood me. The only reason the ticket could be changed without the reisssue fee is if it was voided and then issued again.

Flight changes are expensive....you've learned the hard way