Lastminute.com only offering refund

dave_m13

We have booked flights through Lastminute.com, 2 stops, with 2 different airlines. The last 2 flights are with the same carrier, the last flight the airline cancelled and rescheduled to 10 mins earlier, however this has meant that the connection time is now below the recommended time.

So this has been ongoing for a nearly a month now, Lastminute, firstly offered a change of flight that meant a 9 hour stopover into the next day. Then I suggested some different times, again they came back with the same 9 hour stopover, I declined, I gave them some more flights times, again they came back with the same time. Next time it took 10 days to get a response, they gave me a flight that got us to our destination 24 hours later than the original flight or a refund.

So I've declined as I don't want that flight or a refund. So 2 days ago, I said I want a flight similar to my original that leaves and arrives on the same day. They have now come back and said they can only offer a refund.

I do not want a refund, we got the flights at a really good price. Is there anything I can do to get flights that are scheduled for a similar time as our original flights. Is it not unreasonable to ask for this, are they able to ask the first airline to move us to an earlier flight or different first destination.

Thanks

Caz3121

Lastminute are your agent but they will only be passing on the information from the airline.
What is key is what is the re-accomodation policy that the airline are using. If that is for their flights only or refund then that will be the info lastminute are passing on to you. Lastminute would need to go back to the airline and ask what alternatives they could offer that meets your criteria to see if they will offer a suitable alternative or whether the refund is the only other option.

Westin

I would agree with caz3121 in that LM will just be passing on information from the airline.

The original airline is likely to be offering an option on their or partner flights as the alternative. This might be the following day, 9 hour option you refer to.

They are very unlikely to offer you alternative flights with a competitor airline or outside of their partner alliance if they are in one. e.g you were on Delta/Aero Mexico and have now seen an American Airlines flight.

The airline will offer the reroute and if that is not suitable will offer a refund.

Can you share the original and new flight information?

leylandsunaddict

Oh the joys of booking through a third party, and in this case, a particularly shonky one. This would have been easily sorted if you'd have booked direct with the airline. As it is you've got to go through a third party with an awful reputation, and customer service is one thing that you don't get.

If a 10 min difference takes you below the MCT then there really wasn't a long enough connection in the first place, and there was a big risk you'd miss the connection anyway. MCTs only work if everything goes 100% to plan.

I'd give them the flight numbers, times, dates you want and if they can't book you on them then cut your losses, get a refund and be thankful you've had a lucky escape!

dave_m13

Thanks for the replies. The price we paid originally was £200-£300 per person cheaper than what it is now, this is why we don't want a refund.

The flights I have seen are both with the same carriers, just leaving earlier in the day and the first connection being different.

Original flight -
[FONT=&quot]LH 955 28MAR Birmingham to Frankfurt International 1330 1605
AC 877 28MAR Frankfurt International to Toronto Pearson Int 1715 1930
[/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]AC1676 28MAR Toronto Pearson Int to Orlando Int. 2055 2342

First option
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]LH 955 28MAR Birmingham to Frankfurt International 1330 1605
AC 877 28MAR Frankfurt International to Toronto Pearson Int 1715 1930
AC1670 29MAR Toronto Pearson Int to Orlando Int. 0615 0902 [/FONT]

Second Option
[FONT=&quot]LH 955 28MAR BIRMINGHAM TO FRANKFURT 1330 1605
AC 873 29MAR FRANKFURT TO TORONTO 0920 1135
AC1674 29MAR TORONTO TO ORLANDO 1735 2022

[/FONT]They do not want to or not able to change the first flight from Birmingham, can the second airline request this from the first airline?

jpsartre

It may be a problem of the ticketing airline not codesharing on the flights you want. If you look up your ticket number you should be able to see which airline issued the ticket (from the first 3 numbers). Once you know, look up options on that airline's website. Also, just because your original itinerary is through YYZ it doesn't mean that you need to rebook onto that particular routing. All that said, if LM isn't willing to offer anything else then there's not much anyone can do about it in here since they control the booking. It's just one of the downsides of going through a (dodgy) 3rd party site. Had you booked direct with the airline it would have been a simple change and you probably could have gotten a much better routing.

dave_m13

The ticket is with Air Canada, I have already spoken to them and Lufthasa, it seems that they cannot do much and I'm in the hands of LM.

I have given them the flights I'd like to be changed to, so I will wait to see what they say. I may just have to accept one of the flights they offered originally and put up with 9 hour stay in Toronto. As there are 6 of us, if I got a refund, we'd have to find another £2k for the same flights.

silvercar

Wait long enough and the flight times may change again!

dave_m13

So a little update, they are still trying to put us on same flights, even though I've declined them a month ago. We have some friends on the original flights and their travel agent have recommended flights I've already asked for but been told they are not available, this was a month after I asked for them. Just getting a little tired of lastminute.com

Westin

I can understand your frustration. I would of also expected it to be resolved by now.

Unfortunately, Lastminute.com (Bravofly), and many of these online agents simply don't have a very good back office process for dealing with issues outside of the normal. Margins are wafer thin and so staffing levels, training and customer service are simply not built into the operation of these sites selling cheap tickets. You are very much at their mercy when ticket changes are required or things go wrong along the way.

Persistence will hopefully find the solution although you might need to suggest to them a couple of self planned options that they can put to the airline.

Whilst you might prefer the AC/LH options in post 5 it may be that you have to stick with AC flights and look at routing via MAN or dare I say LHR. Or, of course suck up that long transfer in YYZ.

Hope you get it sorted.

Westin

Just another thought, if you got a refund on the LM tickets would the weekly BHX -> Orlando Sanford service with Thomson/TUI be a suitable replacement. The flight out is however 29March.