Payment in full at time of booking for flights - needs banning

finneyb

I purchased flight tickets 16 January 2020 for a flight 3 October 2020 - had to pay in full at time of booking, arguably an unfair contract condition..
6 August 2020 flight cancelled, 11 October still no refund and unlikely before the end of the year I am told.
 Therefore I have been providing finance for the airline to function since January and likely for the full year.
This has got to stop. I am not an airline financier and do not want to be. Legislation is needed to prevent the full price being charged on booking, a 10% non-refundable deposit should be adequate with the remainder paid 3 weeks before the flight.   
It is blatantly clear the airline industry can't be trusted to be reasonable, therefore legislation is required. 

bradders1983

Very good. You havent a hope in hell with this. Good luck.

JJ_Egan

Link to your campaign please OP .

eddddy

finneyb said:

This has got to stop. I am not an airline financier and do not want to be. Legislation is needed to prevent the full price being charged on booking, a 10% non-refundable deposit should be adequate with the remainder paid 3 weeks before the flight.   
It is blatantly clear the airline industry can't be trusted to be reasonable, therefore legislation is required. 

But can consumers be trusted?

What if lots of them decided not to pay the final 90% 3 weeks before departure - maybe because they simply decided they didn't want to go anymore?

It makes planning and costing very difficult, if you're not sure how many passengers you'll have until 3 weeks before departure.

finneyb

eddddy said:

But can consumers be trusted?

What if lots of them decided not to pay the final 90% 3 weeks before departure - maybe because they simply decided they didn't want to go anymore?

It makes planning and costing very difficult, if you're not sure how many passengers you'll have until 3 weeks before departure.

Seems to work just fine in the package holiday market - a deposit is paid on purchase and the balance sometime before departure. 

. 

k12479

It can already be done. Just book, and pay for, your flight a day or two before you wish to travel.

jon81uk

People want the cheapest option. Some airlines do offer flexible fares where you can pay later, but they are a much higher price.
Up to you if you want to pay the extra.

macman

Why don't you just do a chargeback on your card, if you've waited 9 weeks already? You've still got about 7 weeks before the 120 day cutoff point.

NaughtiusMaximus

You're looking at this from the wrong angle. I see no problem in paying for a ticket in full at the time of booking, the issue here is refunds. If a flight is cancelled by the airline there should be legislation in place requiring refunds be paid promptly. 

Nebulous2

I sort of agree with this. The whole Coronavirus escapade has shown how much of the travel industry has become used to forward charging. It shouldn’t be like that. The car industry is also hugely capital intensive, but they get by with a £500 deposit and the rest paid within a couple of days of collection. 

It isn’t fairly spread in the travel industry either. Foreign hotels may not get paid for weeks after the guest has been. 

Possibly more palatable to the industry would be a separate body holding money until departure. Similar to the deposit protection scheme for renting property. Then the money could be returned if needs be, but it would protect the holiday company from disinclination to travel. 

finneyb

macman said:

Why don't you just do a chargeback on your card, if you've waited 9 weeks already? You've still got about 7 weeks before the 120 day cutoff point.

Chargeback applied for -  8 weeks ago. Appears to be not worth the paper its written on.