Flight changed, booking agent won't refund

mrsilencio

Hi
Apologies if this was covered elsewhere. I have searched but can't find an answer.

My wife and I booked flights from Hong Kong to Langkawi on Christmas eve. As we were unable to fly directly, we had to book two separate flights - one to Kuala Lumpur, then another on to Langkawi with a different airline.

We had made sure there was a good gap between the flights in case of delays, but we have been contacted by mytrip (the booking agent we used for the second flight) to tell us that the second flight has been to 4 hours earlier than previously advertised. This means that we would now not be in KL in time to make this.

mytrip said they would cancel the flight for a fee of ~£47 and refund the remaining... £2. They also said we could contact the airline and ask them to refund it. The airline - Malindo - state in their Ts&Cs that they will refund in full any such change. We contacted them, and they said this is correct; however, as we booked through mytrip, they would not be able to process the refund themselves...

We went back and forward between the two with mytrip saying they wanted money to issue the refund (leaving £2) and Malindo saying they were unable to issue the refund themselves even though it was due to us without cost. We got nowhere.

Can anyone give me any advice on whether there is anything we can do in this situation? It seems absolutely farcical and appalling customer service from mytrip. It is not a huge sum of money by any means, but I massively resent having to fork out on a now inflated sum for a new flight due to no fault of my own.

Thanks in advance
JC

jpsartre

You need to look at the T&C of your booking. It is not unreasonable for the agent to charge a fee to process the refund. This is another example of a situation that could have been avoided by booking direct from the airline.

Westin

I think you are going to find any fight a lost cause.

You have chosen to book via an online ticket seller who is based overseas (in Greece). It is this agents terms and conditions you will have agreed to and whether or not the airline is making a full refund, mytrip will likely have it covered that they can still charge you for their services.

richardw

Can you change the booking from KUL-LGK to the next day?

leylandsunaddict

It's not unreasonable for an agent to charge a cancellation fee. They don't generally work for nothing, and it's no more their fault that the airline changed the schedule than it is yours.

If you'd have booked direct with the airline then yes, you'd have got a full refund, but you chose not to an involve a third party, and a foreign one at that.

Voyager2002

Contact both the agent and the airline saying that you do not accept the refund and want them to arrange alternative flights. You might suggest the flights that you had planned to buy had you been given a full refund.

photome

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Contact both the agent and the airline saying that you do not accept the refund and want them to arrange alternative flights. You might suggest the flights that you had planned to buy had you been given a full refund.

Do they have to offer an alternative flight.

I know EU airlines do , so just asking

Voyager2002

photome wrote: »

Do they have to offer an alternative flight.

I know EU airlines do , so just asking

I don't think they HAVE to offer anything (an Indian airline flying within Malaysia) but since they have offered a refund they seem to be reasonably obliging.

leylandsunaddict

photome wrote: »

Do they have to offer an alternative flight.

I know EU airlines do , so just asking

I don't know anything about the laws covering Malaysian airlines.

photome

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I don't think they HAVE to offer anything (an Indian airline flying within Malaysia) but since they have offered a refund they seem to be reasonably obliging.

Not sure why you had to put have in capitals.

I was just asking as I had no idea, but your post did suggest telling the airline that you want them to arrange alternative flights rather than asking if they would, so I thought you would know

jpsartre

Most airlines are willing to consider rebookings after schedule changes (even if they are not mandated to by law). If the airline is willing to refund, it would be odd if they refused to rebook. Of course, getting a rebooking done through a less than stellar OTA may not be easy.