Lastminute.com £30 Handling Charge from Coronovirus Cancellations

pk1900

Lastminute.com are charging a £30 handling fee to refund tickets where airlines have cancelled flights. I was due to travel to Italy and BA cancelled all their flights. So my options from Lastminute.com are to reclaim the full value of the ticket in vouchers to use on their site or get a refund on my card minus a £30 handling fee. Is this £30 reasonable, it seems like they're making profit off the cancellations.

Caz3121

you need to refer to section 4.4 of the terms you agreed to
4.4. BOOKING CANCELLATION OR MODIFICATION BY THE AIRLINE OR FLIGHT PROVIDER
The Company will charge handling fees (per booking) for the services carried out in obtaining this refund, the amount of which can be seen in clause 6.4 of the Terms & Conditions
from 6.4 -   If you do not have an Assistance Package: 30 GBP per refund request applies.
(the company is having to do the work so can charge a fee, for future reference you can avoid third party fees by booking direct with the airline)

bagand96

This is as per the T&Cs that you accepted when you book with lastminute.com

I know it's no good for you now but if you'd booked directly with the airline, or even with a less shady agent, then you wouldn't have to pay this.

Whether it's reasonable or not? Well they will incur a cost in processing your refund, whether it's likely to cost them £30, unlikely IMHO.  You could maybe claim it's an unfair contract clause, I wouldn't know where to start with that though, and it would likely be a long drawn out process.

leylandsunaddict

They don't work for free. There was work involved in booking the ticket and again in cancelling it and processing a refund. 

mattyprice4004

As above, these shonky OTAs (which I use, and accept I might get stung) need to cover their costs - it's not their fault the flight is cancelled; admin costs time and money. 

Seems reasonable to me, it's only 30 quid.