Unclear as to who I should claim from and if admin charge from travel company is acceptable?

squancy

I booked flights to Namibia in Jan 2020 for November 2020, it's two flights, one with virgin to Johannesburg and the 2nd a connecting flight from Johannesburg to Namibia with Comair (BA). Bought as one package flight with a travel company. I have since found out online that my connecting flight doesn't exist anymore as Comair aren't flying at all till at least Dec 2020. Virgin also changed my flight last week from 14th November to 15th Nov, meaning that if everything was going ahead, I would miss my event and be unable to take part. I purchased travel insurance in March for my flights with additional virus insurance (before the world went crazy!). I have since found out end of Sept that my event has been cancelled, so all I really have is a return flight to Johannesburg for no reason! I contacted the travel company to ask what I should do as I found out about flights being stopped/cancelled etc. They replied saying if I wanted to cancel the flight it would cost me £75 which they would take from the cost of my flight. I haven't replied yet. I phoned the insurance company and they said they wouldn't refund me the cost of my flights as travel company said they would despite the £75 charge. I asked if I would be able to claim the £75 charge and they could only reply with maybe. I've looked up a section 75 charge and sent them what documents they asked for as best I could. There is so many hoops to jump through and confused by all of it. I just want my money back as they can't provide me the service that I paid for.

eskbanker

The flight changes/cancellation sound significant enough to warrant a refund (ensure it's made clear that cancellation of the trip is because of airline-imposed changes, not your decision), but is the £75 charge documented in the Ts & Cs of the travel company?  Many do impose such a levy, to reflect the fact that the work they have to do to process a refund isn't negligible and somebody has to pay for it.

I doubt that the insurance company would reimburse that £75 and likewise it's unlikely that a section 75 claim to your card provider would work when booking through an intermediary, even if there was a breach of contract.

bagand96

You are entitled to a refund on your flights due to the cancellations/schedule changes.

It sounds like you booked via an agent rather than directly with the airline.  These third party agents make a very tiny percentage on flight sales, they make up for it in admin fees/charges.  If the £75 charge was in the Terms & Conditions when you booked then they are entitled to charge it for the work done in obtaining your refund from the airline.  Have a read over the T&Cs and note exactly what it says. 

Insurance is a last resort option.  They will not pay out on claims where money can be obtained from other parties, so it's correct they won't refund your flight monies.  Even if they will refund the £75 fee, be mindful any excess on your policy may make it not worth claiming anyway.