Budgetair refusing to rebook open ticket as per terms

eskbanker

samsam89 said:

I cant tell what they’ve done with the tickets as I have no visibility of them through their site - which is frustrating. I believe they were changed to open tickets through Turkish airlines and not re-issued so to speak.

What I don’t understand (and apologies if I’m being wholly thick), is that the terms of the ticket state no fare difference will be applied - therefore there is no fare increase to pass on?

But you're looking at the terms of the Open tickets according to the airline, and my suspicion is that Budgetair didn't actually invoke the Turkish 'Change to Open Ticket' process but instead perhaps just did the Zero Change Fee thing instead, so the tickets probably aren't actually Open status as such and hence the reference to fare difference in the above email.

samsam89

eskbanker said:

samsam89 said:

I cant tell what they’ve done with the tickets as I have no visibility of them through their site - which is frustrating. I believe they were changed to open tickets through Turkish airlines and not re-issued so to speak.

What I don’t understand (and apologies if I’m being wholly thick), is that the terms of the ticket state no fare difference will be applied - therefore there is no fare increase to pass on?

But you're looking at the terms of the Open tickets according to the airline, and my suspicion is that Budgetair didn't actually invoke the Turkish 'Change to Open Ticket' process but instead perhaps just did the Zero Change Fee thing instead, so the tickets probably aren't actually Open status as such and hence the reference to fare difference in the above email.

I see what you’re saying.

The terms do state however - “You will not be charged penalties or fare differences when ticketing your open ticket OR when you benefit from zero change fee”

As far as I can tell the zero change fee Is referring to if you wanted to book new travel dates straight away.

The open ticket is if you want to keep your tickets but don’t know when you want to travel yet.

Thrugelmir

When are you proposing to travel? 

samsam89

Thrugelmir said:

When are you proposing to travel? 

July/August.

eskbanker

How specific were you in your July request to BudgetAir, i.e. did you explicitly state that you wished to invoke the airline's generous change policy?  The reference to an apparently different airline policy in their email response (allowing fare differences to be added) suggests that they weren't following Turkish's published process, assuming your booking qualified for that policy (booked before March, etc), so my suspicion remains that BudgetAir failed to do what they were supposed to, leaving you with tickets that aren't as flexible as you expected.  If that is the case then I'd have thought you have a reasonably strong case against them to recover additional costs arising from their negligence, but you'll need to be able to demonstrate clearly what you asked them to do and that they didn't comply....

samsam89

eskbanker said:

How specific were you in your July request to BudgetAir, i.e. did you explicitly state that you wished to invoke the airline's generous change policy?  The reference to an apparently different airline policy in their email response (allowing fare differences to be added) suggests that they weren't following Turkish's published process, assuming your booking qualified for that policy (booked before March, etc), so my suspicion remains that BudgetAir failed to do what they were supposed to, leaving you with tickets that aren't as flexible as you expected.  If that is the case then I'd have thought you have a reasonably strong case against them to recover additional costs arising from their negligence, but you'll need to be able to demonstrate clearly what you asked them to do and that they didn't comply....

Thank you for your comments so far, you’ve been v helpful. I’ve now written a pretty legally assertive letter to budgetair and copied in the CEO in the hope that it prompts some action.

Ultimately I want the flights as opposed to any refund, but if they don’t sort their act out quick sharp then I’ll pursue it legally.

Interestingly after including a link to the Turkish Airlines terms for the tickets on resolver, a rep has responded saying:

” Dear ,

​

​The attachment below clearly states that , free of cost change is permitted provided the new ticket is in same cabin class.

If you want to want to proceed with the changes we ask you to contact us on our special phone number +44 2080 162335(support in English only). This number is available from Monday to Friday between 03:00 and 18:00 CEST.“

What’s frustrating is that’s the number I’ve already rung countless time’s!

My original email to request the new flights read as this: 

“ Good morning.

As per my previous booking (BUK-********) which now contains open tickets. I’d like to rebook all 4 passengers onto the following flights with Turkish Airlines.

Outbound: 

Saturday 24th July 2021 - LGW (Gatwick) to DLM (Dalaman) 11:30-17:40 TK1232.

Inbound:

Thursday 4th August 2021 - DLM (Dalaman) to LGW (Gatwick) 08:25-10:25TK1231.

Please can you confirm once this has been actioned?

Kind regards.”

I received no response to that email. It was sent on 31/10/2020.

Thrugelmir

samsam89 said:

Thrugelmir said:

When are you proposing to travel? 

July/August.

When did you book? 

samsam89

And the original request to change to open tickets read like this:

“Good afternoon.

As CEO of this company, I’m hoping you are able to ensure that my request is fulfilled.

Turkish Airlines are happy to change me to an open ticket (BUK-******** with budgetair) and this is what I wish to happen, however it needs to be budgetair that instigates it. It is in everyone’s interests. You keep your profit, Turkish Airlines keep their profit and I keep my ticket open for future travel.

There is zero way to contact budgetair as you have disconnected all phone calls. Email responses are not personalised and are of a blanket approach. Extremely unhelpful.

Please can you ensure the relevant person looks into my situation and organises the open ticket option with Turkish Airlines. 

This situation is clearly challenging, however budgetairs lack of communication is making this extremely difficult for thousands of people of which I am one.

I look forward to a response!

Kind regards.”

samsam89

Thrugelmir said:

samsam89 said:

Thrugelmir said:

When are you proposing to travel? 

July/August.

When did you book? 

15/01/2020.

eskbanker

samsam89 said:
Interestingly after including a link to the Turkish Airlines terms for the tickets on resolver, a rep has responded saying:

” Dear ,

​

​The attachment below clearly states that , free of cost change is permitted provided the new ticket is in same cabin class.

Is that the generic Turkish policy that's being referred to as the attachment stating free changes?  It would be helpful if it was something specifically relating to your booking, especially if there was reference to lack of fare differences being applied too!

samsam89 said:

And the original request to change to open tickets read like this:

“Good afternoon.

As CEO of this company, I’m hoping you are able to ensure that my request is fulfilled.

Turkish Airlines are happy to change me to an open ticket (BUK-******** with budgetair) and this is what I wish to happen, however it needs to be budgetair that instigates it.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but it would have been useful to have made explicit reference to the published Turkish policy that you've subsequently shared, and likewise when they responded referring to potential fare differences it would have made sense to highlight that such a caveat conflicted with the published policy, but at this stage it would probably still be worth clarifying exactly what they did with your booking in July, i.e. did they or did they not invoke the advertised Turkish process to protect your booking?  Obviously if they did then you should be able to rebook without additional cost, but if they didn't then why didn't they....?