Company resheduled outgoing flight, didn't inform us.

gayleygoo

My hubby and his friend were due to fly out this morning to Canada, starting from Dublin to Gatwick, then to Vancouver. They got to the airport and were told that their flight had been rescheduled for an hour earlier and that they had missed check in.

His friend checked all his emails, there were none from the company to say the flight had changed. When he checked online after trying to check in, the flight status still showed the flight departure as the original time.

All the flights, including the return flights, have been cancelled, and they were told that nothing could be done, they would have to rebook all their flights and have lost their money.

Is this right? They really weren't informed, the friend travels regularly and checks this all the time. They arrived at the airport in plenty of time but were 20 mins too late for check in with the rescheduled flight.

I don't think it was paid by credit card, and travel insurance probably won't cover it. Can they make a claim for compensation? Thanks for any advice.

Caz3121

Was this booked direct with the airline or through a third party?
Which airline? what was the original time?

gayleygoo

The airline was Aer Lingus (connecting flights were by a Canadian Airline), and the flights were all booked as a package from TravelUp.

Original flight time was 9.50am, rescheduled flight was 8.40am.

leylandsunaddict

Deleted. Double post

leylandsunaddict

Oh the joys of booking through shonky OTAs :eek:

It's the passengers responsibility to check bookings regularly for changes, even when you book direct with the airline. Some don't send notifications, some do, and even when they do emails can and do go astray. Sticking a middleman into the equation just complicates the process leading to more potential for problems.

If you miss a flight sector on a ticket, all the remaining flights on that ticket are automatically cancelled.

Whoever made the booking agreed to Travelups terms and conditions, and they tell you that it's your responsibility to reconfirm flights to check for any changes (for both outbound and inbound) by ringing them or the airline.

Didn't they think it strange that they couldn't check in online, or notice the changes in MMB at that point? Aer Lingus recommend you arrive at the airport 2.5 hours prior so did they cut it late arriving? Check in/bag drops closes 45 mins prior. If they'd arrived in good time they'd have still been in time to make the flight.

Caz3121

gayleygoo wrote: »

Original flight time was 9.50am, rescheduled flight was 8.40am.

I suspect this change (if there was a change) was made some time back...I cannot see any record of a 09:50 departure and the 08:40 has been the scheduled flight over the last few months
If they booked many months in advance it is possible they had a tentative timeslot which never actually happened
Where was the 09:50 departure seen online?
If there had been a change, Aer Lingus need to notify Travelup as it will be their details that they hold as they are the agent who hold the relationship and then Travelup should advise the passengers

They do have this on their website so I expect this is not an isolated incident
Just a brief reminder to all passengers not to forget to re-confirm your flights 72 hours prior to your departure from the UK and again prior to your return flight. There has been a spate of small timing changes by some of the airlines, and it is important that you remember to check, as you do not want to miss a flight or find yourself running across the terminal in a panic.
They may be best taking legal advice if you maybe have it with a home insurance policy etc and decide whether there is a case against Travelup

gayleygoo

Our friend checks his emails for this kind of thing as it's not the first time he's had the flight rescheduled. He also checked yesterday and this morning before leaving on the website to see if it was delayed or anything. It still showed up as 9.50am. The woman at the check-in desk pointed out that it was still showing up at 9.50am too, even though the flight had boarded earlier. What's the point of being able to check these details online if you're supposed to do it over the phone?

If they had showed up 2.5 hours early then they may have got the flight, but they didn't need to be that early for a Dublin-Gatwick flight, and were there at 7.45am. The check-in was probably still open when they got there but since they'd no idea their flight had been changed, they waited over half an hour in the queue.

I understood that the company should make resonable effort to inform customers of changes. One email (which was not recieved), is not much of an attempt when they could have contacted him on two phone numbers or written to confirm.

leylandsunaddict

gayleygoo wrote: »

Our friend checks his emails for this kind of thing as it's not the first time he's had the flight rescheduled. He also checked yesterday and this morning before leaving on the website to see if it was delayed or anything. It still showed up as 9.50am. The woman at the check-in desk pointed out that it was still showing up at 9.50am too, even though the flight had boarded earlier. What's the point of being able to check these details online if you're supposed to do it over the phone?

If they had showed up 2.5 hours early then they may have got the flight, but they didn't need to be that early for a Dublin-Gatwick flight, and were there at 7.45am. The check-in was probably still open when they got there but since they'd no idea their flight had been changed, they waited over half an hour in the queue.

I understood that the company should make resonable effort to inform customers of changes. One email (which was not recieved), is not much of an attempt when they could have contacted him on two phone numbers or written to confirm.

Aer Lingus say 2.5 hours for flights within Europe. If they'd have followed advice they wouldn't have missed the flight. Where abouts online was it still showing at the original departure time?

That flight has departed at 08.40 since at least the beginning of April.

leylandsunaddict

Caz3121 wrote: »

I suspect this change (if there was a change) was made some time back...I cannot see any record of a 09:50 departure and the 08:40 has been the scheduled flight over the last few months
If they booked many months in advance it is possible they had a tentative timeslot which never actually happened
Where was the 09:50 departure seen online?
If there had been a change, Aer Lingus need to notify Travelup as it will be their details that they hold as they are the agent who hold the relationship and then Travelup should advise the passengers

They do have this on their website so I expect this is not an isolated incident
Just a brief reminder to all passengers not to forget to re-confirm your flights 72 hours prior to your departure from the UK and again prior to your return flight. There has been a spate of small timing changes by some of the airlines, and it is important that you remember to check, as you do not want to miss a flight or find yourself running across the terminal in a panic.
They may be best taking legal advice if you maybe have it with a home insurance policy etc and decide whether there is a case against Travelup

Most OTAs and lots of airlines have wording to the effect that it's the passengers responsibility to reconfirm flight times, which it always is, whether you book via third party or direct.

gayleygoo

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

Aer Lingus say 2.5 hours for flights within Europe. If they'd have followed advice they wouldn't have missed the flight. Where abouts online was it still showing at the original departure time?

That flight has departed at 08.40 since at least the beginning of April.

Thank you for your help! I think the flight time was changed in February, so you're right. I'm not sure where online it was showing as the orginal time, on the travel agent's website I think, but it wasn't myself who made the booking.

It's just frustrating. The holiday was booked for nearly a year and as far as they were concerned the times were still all right as they'd had no contact from the company. You seem to be experienced in air travel, many of us obviously put too much faith in companies to provide what they offered.

In future I will make sure to phone the airline every day in the month before travelling to confirm flight times since it's not their responsibility to let passengers know.

JPears

gayleygoo wrote: »

Thank you for your help! I think the flight time was changed in February, so you're right. I'm not sure where online it was showing as the orginal time, on the travel agent's website I think, but it wasn't myself who made the booking.

It's just frustrating. The holiday was booked for nearly a year and as far as they were concerned the times were still all right as they'd had no contact from the company. You seem to be experienced in air travel, many of us obviously put too much faith in companies to provide what they offered.

In future I will make sure to phone the airline every day in the month before travelling to confirm flight times since it's not their responsibility to let passengers know.

It is their responsibilty to let you know if you book directly with the airline. Very rarely is it any cheaper to book through an agent/third party so there is little point in using them, especially when they wash their hands of any serious f*** ups like this.