Do I have to accept alternative flight?

dialdfordave

prowla wrote: »

I'm with the OP - he's asked a question and received the 3rd degree by the opionionati.

Thanks, I'm glad there is one sensible person here.

Every so often I forget what inevitably happens when you ask a question on an Internet forum, I shall have to try harder to remember in future.

dialdfordave

Dr_Crypto wrote: »

Yes, plenty.
Hire cars
Hotels - guests can sometimes be walked to alternatives

These are all still in the travel business.

When you book a hire car they always say "... or similar", so you know you won't always get exactly what you booked anyway.

If I got walked to another hotel I would be extremely annoyed as there are reasons we chose the specific hotel in this case.

bradders1983

dialdfordave wrote: »

That's not the situation we are in, plus a delay of more than 3 hours would give us compensation

Erm, no it wouldnt. Not when its this far in advance. Well I assume its a few months away, you never said.

A change of time of 3 hours up to and including 14 days beforehand? Yes.
A delay of 3 hours on the day? Maybe, depends what the reason is.

dialdfordave

LoveHolidays have said that they followed instructions given to them by ABTA and I would have to take it up with them. I called ABTA and they confirmed this.

I emphasised to LoveHolidays that we are repeat customers and would hope they could make an exception in this case but they wouldn't budge.

The outcome then, is;

We can now choose between taking the holiday, or cancelling and losing around £270 for the non-refundable parts and cancellation fees

We will probably not use LoveHolidays again, simply because they don't appear to value customer loyalty. Even a small gesture on their part could have gone a long way. I understand it was a difficult situation but IMO it is the difficult situations which give a chance for customer service to really stand out

Of course there are also a few lessons learned for the future (including not to expect anything more than derision on Internet forums)

bradders1983

Better stock up on Pro Plus then, mate. God bless x

powerful_Rogue

dialdfordave wrote: »

Of course there are also a few lessons learned for the future (including not to ask questions on a forum if i'm not going to like the correct answers.)

Fixed that for you.
So what you were advised on the forum was correct.

dialdfordave

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Fixed that for you.
So what you were advised on the forum was correct.

Not exactly, nobody mentioned ABTA.

Correct about outcome maybe but not about the reasons.

cubegame

dialdfordave wrote: »

LoveHolidays have said that they followed instructions given to them by ABTA and I would have to take it up with them. I called ABTA and they confirmed this.

I emphasised to LoveHolidays that we are repeat customers and would hope they could make an exception in this case but they wouldn't budge.

The outcome then, is;

We can now choose between taking the holiday, or cancelling and losing around £270 for the non-refundable parts and cancellation fees

We will probably not use LoveHolidays again, simply because they don't appear to value customer loyalty. Even a small gesture on their part could have gone a long way. I understand it was a difficult situation but IMO it is the difficult situations which give a chance for customer service to really stand out

Of course there are also a few lessons learned for the future (including not to expect anything more than derision on Internet forums)

To be fair, if you're not confident enough to book a holiday direct, rather than through an agent you will always expose yourself to more risk.

This should be the lesson you learn.

Loveholidays or any other travel company will not care enough about losing your meagre custom to bend to your wishes. Did you expect them to charter you a private jet? You need to learn to get realistic and go with the flow or give up traveling.

dialdfordave

cubegame wrote: »

To be fair, if you're not confident enough to book a holiday direct, rather than through an agent you will always expose yourself to more risk.

This should be the lesson you learn.

Loveholidays or any other travel company will not care enough about losing your meagre custom to bend to your wishes. Did you expect them to charter you a private jet? You need to learn to get realistic and go with the flow or give up traveling.

From small gesture to charter a private jet.

Well done that man!

bradders1983

cubegame wrote: »

To be fair, if you're not confident enough to book a holiday direct, rather than through an agent you will always expose yourself to more risk.

.

Then again, had he booked a holiday with someone liked TUI they can change the flight times by 12 hours with no recourse, so maybe the OP should wait until 2 weeks before the outbound flight in future to book a package holiday in order to totally eliminate the risk.