BYOJet Cancellation Fee - £250 per person

johnstonnorth

Hello

Last year we booked flights on Virgin Atlantic to the USA via BYOJet (linked through from Skyscanner - I think).

Our flights are in July so there is a reasonable chance they will be cancelled.

On their website -  help.byojet.com/en-UK/taxonomy/term/24/travel-alerts - they have posted this FAQ - emphasis mine. 

Q: What if my booking has been cancelled?
A: You have the following options:
Your airline may have offered you a credit with them. If this is the case, that credit sits with the airline and not with BYOjet. We can assist you in rebooking using that credit for a small processing fee of £55.00 per booking, and in accordance with that airline's credit and booking Terms and Conditions when you are ready to travel.
If you are not offered, or do not take, a credit with an airline or travel provider your options are:
If you choose to keep the full amount of your booking (less any supplier fees) on file with BYOjet to spend on travel within 12 months of cancelling, we will waive our own cancellation fees. BYOjet will only charge a small processing fee of £55.00 per booking to assist with your changes.
If you want a refund for cancellation that is forced (by the supplier), we will apply our standard £250 cancellation fee per person, as per BYOjet’s Terms and Conditions [byojet.co.uk/booking-terms-and-conditions]. Please note that the supplier fees will also apply.

We appreciate that these are difficult times for our customers. Should you be at all concerned with any of our policies, here is the GOV.UK [www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights] website referencing cancellation policies within the travel and event industries.
Please note that supplier cancellation terms and fees may differ. No refunds can be issued until we have received final refunds from our suppliers.

So by my reading, if our flights are cancelled and we are offered a refund BYOJet are going to claim £250 per person (4 of us) = £1000 in total. 

Can anyone confirm if this is a legitimate practice? And if so, could we in turn claim the fee on our travel insurance (Nationwide)?

If it helps - we also booked the flights on a credit card. 

bradders1983

Well you chose to use a third party to book a flight, and those are the terms they operate under.  Suppose its a lesson for next time to book direct, not helpful now but there we are.

mattyprice4004

These shonky cheap online travel agencies (using the term loosely) make all their money on these fees - charging more for name changes, baggage fees and seats than the airline would directly. 

There's a reason they were cheaper than booking directly, unfortunately - as you're finding out. 
It'd be one to put to your travel insurance, rather than expecting a full refund if it is indeed in their T&Cs.