Directline flights and ryanair

Sirgordonzola

So I booked with these cowboys for flights to Milan last April, obviously covid hit and they were cancelled, I contacted them to get a refund and they were not very helpful and told me to go to Ryanair. After months of nothing I got a chargeback on my CC, now directline flights are threatening me saying I didn't do things correctly and I owe them the money and they are gonna put it in the hands of debt collectors, can they do this, help

eskbanker

Chargeback may get you your money back but it doesn't actually resolve any dispute between customer and merchant, so the latter can still pursue you.  However, from what you've described, it's hard to see how they'd have a case, what specifically are they asserting?

Thrugelmir

You've provided no timeline to say whether your action was appropriate or not. 

bagand96

As eskbanker says chargeback is not a judgement of any kind, as your bank is not a judge.

Usually when you book a flight with an agent it goes via a GDS (Global Distribution System - fancy name for a ticketing system).  These are long established and have clear rules over who is responsible for the ticket.   Ryanair don't deal with agents/GDS so when you book via an agent they use "screenscraper" technology to basically book directly with the Ryanair website on your behalf.  You need to look at the T&Cs with Directline flights and see what they say about refunds and who is responsible.  You booked with them, and payed them, so in theory it should be them who refund you, they should deal with Ryanair on your behalf.  But it's not always that simple with shady OTA's.

.Just checking, you haven't also received a refund from Ryanair have you?  

andymull1609

Hi, we are going through the same thing now with Directline flight. but our case is slightly different. Our flight to Cyprus went as schedule but, due to the pandemic, Cyprus weren't letting uk residents in, meaning we could fly. We received an email from Easyjet saying not even to travel to the airport as we would not be let on the plane. When we apply for a refund they said we were classed as a no show and were not entitled to a refund. We ask our bank if they could help. Barclay made a successful charge back, Happy days, as so we thought. 10 month on, Directline flight are now wanting the money back and have threatened court action. We have 14 days. We have had to restart the complaint for a refund with Easyjet as we stop pursuing them after the success of the charge back. The flight were back in July 2020. Not sure where we stand with Easyjet or Directline flights.
Could anyone help!

Westin

Andymull1609, circumstances you describe would suggest a travel insurance claim would have been in order. Did you buy travel insurance?

andymull1609

hi Westin, we had a platinum travel insurance policy and have tried to claim but our situation wasn't covered. As the flight was quite early in the pandemic, 21st July 2020 and we bought our insurance well before them, at the time Covid wasn't an issue, so wasn't included in the policy. We have now had to restart the complaint with Easyjet and have started a claim through Aviation authority. 
thanks, Andy.

Sandtree

andymull1609 said:

Hi, we are going through the same thing now with Directline flight. but our case is slightly different. Our flight to Cyprus went as schedule but, due to the pandemic, Cyprus weren't letting uk residents in, meaning we could fly. We received an email from Easyjet saying not even to travel to the airport as we would not be let on the plane. When we apply for a refund they said we were classed as a no show and were not entitled to a refund. We ask our bank if they could help. Barclay made a successful charge back, Happy days, as so we thought. 10 month on, Directline flight are now wanting the money back and have threatened court action. We have 14 days. We have had to restart the complaint for a refund with Easyjet as we stop pursuing them after the success of the charge back. The flight were back in July 2020. Not sure where we stand with Easyjet or Directline flights.
Could anyone help!

Unfortunately this is like not realising you need a visa to get into a country and turning up at the airport without one... the airline wont allow you on because they know the country wont let you in but the flight is going so you are considered a no show. It then comes down to airline policies but budget airlines tend to have the strictest approaches and say its your own fault. 

As said to the other poster, banks make arbitrary decisions on if to claw back the money or not when it comes to a chargeback but they have no authority to resolve the underlying dispute... they just change it from you issuing proceedings to get your money back to the merchant issuing proceedings to get their money back. 

superbigal

andymull1609 said:

hi Westin, we had a platinum travel insurance policy and have tried to claim but our situation wasn't covered. As the flight was quite early in the pandemic, 21st July 2020 and we bought our insurance well before them, at the time Covid wasn't an issue, so wasn't included in the policy. We have now had to restart the complaint with Easyjet and have started a claim through Aviation authority. 
thanks, Andy.

You need to focus on the insurance as that is your only hope.
What was the exclusion ?

andymull1609

Hi, what do you mean by exclusion.

andymull1609

Sandtree said:

andymull1609 said:

Hi, we are going through the same thing now with Directline flight. but our case is slightly different. Our flight to Cyprus went as schedule but, due to the pandemic, Cyprus weren't letting uk residents in, meaning we could fly. We received an email from Easyjet saying not even to travel to the airport as we would not be let on the plane. When we apply for a refund they said we were classed as a no show and were not entitled to a refund. We ask our bank if they could help. Barclay made a successful charge back, Happy days, as so we thought. 10 month on, Directline flight are now wanting the money back and have threatened court action. We have 14 days. We have had to restart the complaint for a refund with Easyjet as we stop pursuing them after the success of the charge back. The flight were back in July 2020. Not sure where we stand with Easyjet or Directline flights.
Could anyone help!

Unfortunately this is like not realising you need a visa to get into a country and turning up at the airport without one... the airline wont allow you on because they know the country wont let you in but the flight is going so you are considered a no show. It then comes down to airline policies but budget airlines tend to have the strictest approaches and say its your own fault. 

As said to the other poster, banks make arbitrary decisions on if to claw back the money or not when it comes to a chargeback but they have no authority to resolve the underlying dispute... they just change it from you issuing proceedings to get your money back to the merchant issuing proceedings to get their money back. 

hi Sandtree, not sure how it can be the same as realizing you need a visa and turning up at the airport. At the time of booking the flights There was no issue with flying to Cyprus. The flight where booked back in 2019.