I am entitled to a refund on cancelled flight booked through 3rd party

lucylou86

I had a flights booked for 10th April to Rio de Janiero.  The flights are with Lufthansa. I however used the company Butter to book the flights and paid them monthly. The flights have been paid off in full. 
The flights were cancelled by Lufthansa because of coronavirus. I waited the appropriate time stated before getting in touch as I knew they were very busy. They firstly offered to let me rebook before 31/12/20 but I dont believe it's safe to travel to Brazil at the moment especially without a vaccine. They then told me that I would have to speak to Butter and get them to engage with Lufthansa for me as that's who booked the flights! I asked Butter to arrange a refund for me but they are now saying Lufthansa has refused. Please help as its taking forever to get anywhere as butter only work small hours

Life__Goes__On

lucylou86 said:

I had a flights booked for 10th April to Rio de Janiero.  The flights are with Lufthansa. I however used the company Butter to book the flights and paid them monthly. The flights have been paid off in full. 
The flights were cancelled by Lufthansa because of coronavirus. I waited the appropriate time stated before getting in touch as I knew they were very busy. They firstly offered to let me rebook before 31/12/20 but I dont believe it's safe to travel to Brazil at the moment especially without a vaccine. They then told me that I would have to speak to Butter and get them to engage with Lufthansa for me as that's who booked the flights! I asked Butter to arrange a refund for me but they are now saying Lufthansa has refused. Please help as its taking forever to get anywhere as butter only work small hours

You are due a refund from Butter (if that who you paid),   and it's Butter's job to sort out a refund from Lufthansa, these aren't legally connected.
What method of payment did you use to pay monthly?
Edit to correct info

Alan_Bowen

Lufthansa hasn't been offering refunds to anyone, they claim without immediate assistance they will go bust! Butter appears to be in reality an agent for a finance company and not really a travel agent at all. They certainly could not have issued the ticket as they are not an IATA agent, nor ATOL nor ABTA! Have a look at your ticket and see who the issuer was as they will be the company that must make the claim against the airline. Lufthansa has put in place a system for real travel agents to claim refunds but they will take 90 days to process. Contact the real agent and get the process started.

Life__Goes__On

I wonder what Butter means with this?
"For low cost carrier flights we act as your agent in processing your booking with the airline;"

Westin

Life__Goes__On said:

lucylou86 said:

I had a flights booked for 10th April to Rio de Janiero.  The flights are with Lufthansa. I however used the company Butter to book the flights and paid them monthly. The flights have been paid off in full. 
The flights were cancelled by Lufthansa because of coronavirus. I waited the appropriate time stated before getting in touch as I knew they were very busy. They firstly offered to let me rebook before 31/12/20 but I dont believe it's safe to travel to Brazil at the moment especially without a vaccine. They then told me that I would have to speak to Butter and get them to engage with Lufthansa for me as that's who booked the flights! I asked Butter to arrange a refund for me but they are now saying Lufthansa has refused. Please help as its taking forever to get anywhere as butter only work small hours

You are due a refund from Butter (if that who you paid),   and it's Butter's job to sort out a refund from Lufthansa, these aren't legally connected.
What method of payment did you use to pay monthly?
Edit to correct info

I'm not sure.  I think the OP needs to look further at the supplier of the LH tickets and it is that company she needs to engage with.  Butter may be some sort of introducer to a travel third party, but I don't think they would have booked this or be deemed the responsible party.

To the question on method of payment - it appears to the finance company.  This looks like a holiday on the never-never.

OP - can you look over your flight paperwork and see if mention of the booking agent?

utigers79

Got them same problem as the OP.  Used Netflights to book with TAP Portugal, can see this being a problem for a lot of people.  These travel agents want you to take vouchers also to keep their commission.  I've got Barclaycard involved.

Fiona1066

I have the same problem, booked flights through Barrhead who act as agent for Gold Medal who sold the ticket for business class flights April  to Australia with  Lufthansa , flights were cancelled I kept in touch with travel agent Barrhead from end of February  who I believed my contract was with, they are now offering a rebooking at an additional cost £400 10% more when I know there are flights available at less than this years fair, I am happy to fly next year but don't think I should have to pay more money than advertised flights. When I wasn't getting any response from Barrhead a few weeks ago I went back Amex who I booked with, they originally refunded and have now taken that back. I don't understand why they can refund and then claw back and now I'm being stuck with higher costs flights. Anyone able to help?

Life__Goes__On

Did you ask Amex  why they took it back?

MattJC

hi i have a similar issue and wanted to get some advice and guidance.  I booked a holiday with Expedia to go to Mauritius 2nd week of June 2020.  This holiday package was cancelled last week by Expedia and the hotel. Expedia say they have no issue fully refunding the hotel and the transfer but they say that as the flights with Air Mauritius were termed as:

Airline Rules & Regulations

1. We understand that sometimes plans change. In case of change or cancellation, you may also need to pay us an administration fee in addition to any fee or fare difference charged by the airline
2. Tickets are non-refundable, non-transferable and name changes are not allowed.

Expedia are saying that Air Mauritius will refund the flights but at a cost of £200 per ticket, so in essence they cancelled the flights and now i have to pay the refund cost of £400 for the privilege.  Air Mauritius have also offered a credit note of 110% value but i already have holidays booked next year and only booked this holiday because of the great discount i got and probably wont get again so will never use the voucher.  Also it seems Air Mauritius are in voluntary administration so possibly the voucher or credit note may not be worth anything anyway.  Cant remember at the point of booking whether i was told the flights were non refundable or not 
Am i entitled/legally able to press them for a full refund? Expedia are saying they cant do anything as its the airline policy not theirs.

Life__Goes__On

MattJC
First important questions, what do you mean by "holiday"?
Did you buy flights and hotel at the same time and pay for them altogether?  What method of payment did you use?

MattJC

i bought flights hotel and transfer all at the same time as a package with Expedia and used my visa debit card