STA TRAVEL, EMIRATES, CAA, ATOL, ABTA, NATIONWIDE, no-one will help us get our £2892 back.

AnnaPendleton

In February 2020 my husband & I booked flights to New Zealand with Emirates through STA TRAVEL in Belfast. In March NZ closed borders & our flights were cancelled. After many emails & calls with STA, where they made me explain WHY I needed my money back/ beg them for it ("we have had take a mortgage holiday...we are both in the hospitality industry & are therefore making a lot less than what we used to" "okay so I can authorise the refund because you REALLY need it (!!!!????)", I got it in writing that I would receive a full refund by the 8th of August. This date came & went & I was given further reassurance (in writing) that the money would be in my account by the end of August 2020 "at the latest". Then STA go bust. The liquidation company RollingsButt will not speak with us & advised via email to contact to CAA, ABTA, EMIRATES & NATIONWIDE. CAA will not help us because the flight was not ATOL protected. ABTA will not help us for the same reason. EMIRATES say it is not their responsibility despite both CAA & ABTA assuring me it is. NATIONWIDE say they won't help because we are outside the 120 day claim window for a charge back on a debit card. The Consumer Council in Northern Ireland advised me to keep on at the bank, but they have drawn a line and said under no circumstances will they help, nor will VISA. What is additionally frustrating is that my parents booked on the SAME flight, same day, sitting at the same desk, same flight itinerary, same agent, same everything... but they ARE able to get a refund through EMIRATES because their ticket number begins with 176 & ours begins with 000, EMIRATES says that means they cannot under any circumstance process our refund. We were NEVER told by STA that we booked a "riskier" ticket. I was assured on the phone with STA "STA are ATOL protected so you will always get your money back" but the flight they booked on my behalf was NOT ATOL protected. The itinerary has and ATOL & ABTA number, with corresponding logos. But I've been told by ABTA, CAA & EMIRATES that these mean nothing. We are being passed from pillar to post. I have spent over 50 hours on the phone, sending emails & I have got nowhere. I cannot wrap my head around how £2892 of my hard earned money can effectively evaporate & no-one seems to be able to be held responsible. I feel I have been miss-sold a flight that was booked in good faith & I'm at the end of my tether. If anyone could PLEASE point me in the right direction I would be so very grateful. I can forward any emails/ proof necessary. Thank you, Anna. 

lincroft1710

It sounds like you may have bought a non refundable ticket. Have Emirates said why they refunded your parents and not you, other than the ticket number, which doesn't answer the question.

Caz3121

did you try travel insurance? https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/08/sta-travel-ceases-trading---what-you-need-to-know/
176 is an Emirates ticket, I would assume they had received the money from STA for the ticket so were able to issue a refund
000 is an STA ticket to not clear if they ever paid Emirates so that could explain why refund not possible if STA still had the money when it went bust.

re ATOL for flight-only, the ATOL site states

When does ATOL not protect flights?

If you purchase an airline ticket from an airline or travel business and you receive a valid ticket in exchange for payment, ATOL does not cover this flight sale. 

Alan_Bowen

If your tickets were issued the same day you paid for them, then ATOL protection was not necessary and I would assume you never got an ATOL Certificate? If so, then that is the CAA out of the picture. The next question is whether the flights to NZ operated or not, surprisingly Emirates and Qatar did keep flying but not as frequently as usual. If the flights were cancelled you are clearly entitled to a refund and it seems to me, the airline is responsible. Emirates don't want to refund because STA had deals with many airlines which meant unlike everyone else, they didn't pay the airline when the tickets were issued. That means they never got paid as STA went bust and I expect the airline assumed that the agency would refund the money.
the fact is if you had a valid ticket, you had a contract with the airline and they are responsible for refunding, that may seem unfair but that is the law of agency and principal in this country. Getting the money may not be so easy and if 120 days has passed for a chargeback on a debit card (use a credit card and you have 6 years to make a claim) you may have to issue legal proceedings to get your refund.
If you never received the tickets, then there may be no liability on the airline at all. In this case, the sale should have been ATOL protected but as it wasn't then the claim goes back to ABTA, good luck!

Alan_Bowen

Also, although you can put a claim into the liquidators, they estimate the debts exceed the assets by £29 million, so there is no hope of ever seeing a sixpence from that avenue either

Butts

Biggest mistake you made was waiting until August on the promise of a refund for a March Flight that was cancelled.
You should have gone straight in with a chargeback - it's an (or was) open and shut case.

AnnaPendleton

Alan, thanks so much for coming back to me. My flight was cancelled. Emirates claim that because my ticket begins with 000 that it means STA never transferred them the money but ABTA say, it doesn’t matter & that I still had an agreement with Emirates that they would be providing me with a flight. Whatever the format they chose to take with STA shouldn’t affect my refund. But Emirates under no circumstances will process my refund because of this 000 number. I was given I flight itinerary with all the details, no ATOL certificate, although it had an ATOL number & logo... and I was told by STA that they were ATOL protected. But as it turns out, that’s all just smoke & mirrors. I’m completely lost & no one seems to be able to help. The Financial Ombudsman can’t even help because the companies in question, STA & Emirates aren’t regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority... The bank will not consider leniency outside of the 120 day charge back window. I’m scared that this is actually £2892 just GONE. But how can that be? It had to go somewhere, surely that is fraud/ theft/ illegal?! 

Thanks again for your help. 

AnnaPendleton

Lincroft, thank you for your reply. Emirates say the 000 ticket number means that they never got the money from STA. But whatever deal they had between them, that I was not made aware of, surely should not mean I get to have £2892 stolen from me with no accountability?! ABTA say no matter what the ticket number is, or no matter what the agreement was between STA & Emirates regarding flight numbers or held tickets, the airline still holds the responsibility to refund me. Emirates categorically refuse that. 

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated!  

Voyager2002

AnnaPendleton said:

Alan, thanks so much for coming back to me. My flight was cancelled. Emirates claim that because my ticket begins with 000 that it means STA never transferred them the money but ABTA say, it doesn’t matter & that I still had an agreement with Emirates that they would be providing me with a flight. Whatever the format they chose to take with STA shouldn’t affect my refund. But Emirates under no circumstances will process my refund because of this 000 number.

As a passenger with a valid ticket for a flight that was cancelled, you have certain rights. In your situation I would be speaking to a solicitor who specialises in this area of law (Bott and Company is the firm that springs to mind; many others are available).

Do bear in mind that an airline is allowed to cancel a ticket if they do not get paid for it. If you pay an agent (such as STA) for a ticket; the ticket is issued against the agent's promise to pass on payment, but the airline never receives the money and so cancels the ticket, then the agent has probably commited a criminal offence but the airliine has acted correctly. So it does rather matter whether or not your tickets were valid on the day the flight was cancelled.

Alan_Bowen

The law says that the airline appointed STA as its agent, and in its wisdom did a deal that meant it did not have to pay until the ticket was used. They probably realise now that was complete madness but that was their choice. The fact that you had a valid ticket issued by an airline agent means the airline is legally responsible for the acts of its agents. I accept this may seem harsh, but the issue is of their own making.
I would suggest you now sue the airline, you can start it all online for the full cost of the tickets at moneyclaim.gov.uk on the basis you paid their appointed agent, and as principal to the contract, they are responsible for refunding the amount paid. The situation occurs with all too much regularity, when Thomas Cook travel agency failed, 70 tour operators who were being sold by the agents had to provide free holidays or in some cases full refunds of much greater sums than you are looking for. They didn't like doing it but that is the risk of appointing agents!

HopeAndDriftWood

You’ve said that you were sent an itinerary a few times - did you receive the actual ticket?