Travel agent/airline cancelled my flight

srt86hil

Hi all,

I recently booked a return trip to India, and was then sent to Nepal two weeks beforehand (I work for a humanitarian organisation). This meant that I couldn't take my outbound flight, so I called the agent to see if I could change the flight to my wife's name, but was told that I couldn't. That was annoying to hear, but my employer paid for my flight from Nepal to India, so I figured I wasn't out of pocket and not too worried.

However, when I got to check-in to fly back to the UK from India, I found that my in-bound flight had been cancelled because I hadn't taken the outbound flight! I was forced to call up on the spot and book a new ticket at the cost of £400! I understand that this cancellation policy will be in the agent's T&Cs but at no point was I explicitly informed of the cancellation - even when I called up to say that I wouldn't be taking the outbound flight.

My question is whether there is any way I can recover this money - through the agent, airline or insurance? I've lodged a complaint with the agent but their reply is predictably that it's in their T&Cs. Should I keep pursuing compensation or am I fighting a losing battle??

Thanks for your help!

Caz3121

the fare rules will stipulate that all flights must be taken in sequence. Apart from some low cost carriers that sell a return flight as 2 independent singles, miss a flight all subsequent flights will be cancelled
Did you ask your agent whether the return would still be valid if you did not take the outbound? (they may have assumed you were not going to travel at all) you should have asked for them to reprice as a one-way return, you may have been able to pay a change fee plus fare difference (one-ways are generally more expensive than return tickets)
If you were specifically told there would be no problem with the return leg, ask them to listed to the phone call and raise a complaint
You may be able to reclaim the APD of £73 less any agents fees for processing

agrinnall

I'm not sure why you'll be out of pocket (you may even make money if you get the APD back) as your employer will have to get you home again, although you may have to get back to Nepal.

srt86hil

My employer paid for my onward flight to India, i.e. to get me out of Nepal instead. That was my own choice - so there's no luck there.

I didn't ask about the return flight at all because I simply didn't know the policy - I'd assumed I'd paid for the flights so I could use them how I wanted!

Is reclaiming APD the best I'm going to get? Is that from the airline?

Caz3121

srt86hil wrote: »

I'd assumed I'd paid for the flights so I could use them how I wanted!

unfortunately your assumption was incorrect and would have been confirmed in the fare rules. You can try to claim the APD from the airline, most will refund but there is no legal requirement to and you may get an admin fee that will eat into the refund or they may refer you back to your agent to process