Phone call compensation?

reasonableman

Apologies if this is covered elsewhere but I did search (both Google and the forum) but was unable to find appropriate information.


I have recently racked up a hefty phonebill (£250!) due to a flight cancellation. There were no airline staff at the airport and the only way to progress the issue was to call an international number. I spent multiple hours on the phone so the bill was not a surprise. However, it seems unfair that I'll have to foot the bill, do I have any options?


It seems to me this is the sort of thing that is quite likely to happen during a flight cancellation so I can't be the only one that's had this issue.


Any advice will be appreciated.

legal_magpie

In principle, you should be entitled to reasonable expenses but we need a lot more information please. Flight details, airline, reason for cancellation how much notice you were given etc. It sounds as if you were trying to get home from abroad so what arrangements did you actually make.

reasonableman

Thanks for the response, more details as requested:


Flight: AtlasGlobal KK1005 Ercan (Northern Cyprus) to Istanbul (Turkey).


Cancellation reason: None given, but AtlasGlobal recently suspended all flights for a month due to financial issues. They restarted on 21st December and our flight was 23rd but was cancelled on the 19th (we were not told). Our travel insurance told us that because they did not go bust it is not covered.



The phonebill was racked up talking to the travel agent, kiwi.com, who were unaware of the cancellation and incompetently tried to book us on later flights (they would offer a price which would change due to the short notice and so on...).


The trip was part of a longer holiday to Turkey so we were just getting back to Turkey (non-EU I know). In the end we had to book a flight ourselves for the next day and get a hotel to sleep in.


So far I've had the travel agent agree to refund the flight cost...the AtlasGlobal passenger rights do say we're entitled to compensation but I don't hold much hope given their, clealy parlous, financial state.

Voyager2002

reasonableman wrote: »

The phonebill was racked up talking to the travel agent, kiwi.com, who were unaware of the cancellation and incompetently tried to book us on later flights (they would offer a price which would change due to the short notice and so on...).

I think I shall use a different travel agent...

Westin

Given the recent hiccup with AtlasGlobal combined with using a shonky OTA like kiwi.com I very much doubt a claim for your phone calls will be successful. Might be one to chalk up to experience.

reasonableman

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I think I shall use a different travel agent...

Definately. Imagine being so dodgy that Ryanair sue you...that's kiwi.com.

Westin wrote:

Given the recent hiccup with AtlasGlobal combined with using a shonky OTA like kiwi.com I very much doubt a claim for your phone calls will be successful. Might be one to chalk up to experience

Indeed. AtlasGlobals Passenger rights document clearly state we are entitled to compensation. They don't seem to want to acknowledge this though...

BoGoF

From what I can see kiwi.com are not a UK company I fear your chances are slim to none.