Issue with directline flights

carhandle

Can anyone give advice on this case with directline flights, please? They’ve withheld info about my original flight being cancelled and effectively stopped us getting a refund. They won’t cancel my amended flight as they say the 24-hour cancellation period only counts for the original booking. More info below, but would greatly appreciate any help with where we stand and how we can get out of this. 

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I originally had a booking Edinburgh/Bristol return w/e of 4th July (made late Feb). 

Due to COVID disruption, these flights were no longer suitable. My primary option would have been to cancel the bookings and obtain a refund, however as of 17th June the flights were still going ahead so I was unable to. 

With the 14-day ‘no charge’ flight change rapidly approaching, and conscious that I was at risk of losing my fare money, we changed our flights to Lisbon over Christmas. 

Very shortly after receiving confirmation that you had changed the flights, I discovered of my own accord that Easyjet had in fact cancelled the Bristol flights and I would therefore have been fully entitled to a refund. 

I am extremely disappointed that Directline did not inform me of this cancellation when I changed my booking to the Lisbon flights. Their Ts and Cs say they will “inform me as soon as reasonably possible if the Supplier/Principal needs to make a significant change to your confirmed Flight Booking or to cancel them” and they had ample opportunity to do so via email or indeed during my phone call with their agent on 18th June.

Caz3121

A good lesson on why it is preferable to book flights direct with the airline. I had Easyjet flights booked direct and was notified as soon as they were cancelled. (48 hours before departure) As you chose to deal with a middleman, they were the airline's customer and would have received the notification (no doubt amongst 1,000s of others). What did your booking on the Easyjet website show?...it is possible that the flight was cancelled shortly after you had changed your booking.
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/directline-flights.co.uk
Many third party ticket floggers have poor after sales service. (even before covid, where they now likely have reduced staff and working from home) It is worth checking reviews in advance before choosing who to give your money to.

Life__Goes__On

IMHO You would need to show they knew the flights were cancelled.
So if you didn't know about your own one return flight,  how would a TA that might have thousands to deal with.

carhandle

Unfortunately my wife made a mistake in booking with them - she did think she was booking direct with Easyjet.
Anyway, that's the past - so the here and now.
Easyjet offer 24 hour cancellation on flight bookings (subject to cancellation fee) - can anyone confirm if this is effective from the rebooking date (yesterday) or the date when we made our original booking (Feb)?