Apartment through booking.com wont refund/move dates after flights cancelled

karen2612

We booked 4 x apartments through booking.com last year, due to covid flights cancelled, owners refused to refund, but moved dates to 19 June this year. Now Jet2 have cancelled our flights.  Owner refused to move dates again or refund. Booking.com spoke to owners and say that as Greece is open they wont refund or move dates. The problem we have is that the apartments are booked saturday to saturday and no other air companies fly on that day!  Do we have a leg to stand on ? We had to pay booking.com in full on booking.  They were all booked under one name which was not mine, so i cant even claim on my travel insurance. ANy help will be appreciated

CKhalvashi

If you booked a non-refundable rate, you have no right to a refund.

It may be worth taking a look at connecting options. If you were flying from the London area, Wizz have an Athens flight on 19 June from Luton at £11.09pp for the basic flight (selected as I have their app on my phone, note I'm a Wizz Discount Club member and therefore the price you see may be different). I'm sure that other airlines have similar flights, and there may be a direct flight available to where you need to go.

As you don't mention any islands or starting points, I can't really offer much more advice at this stage.

eskbanker

CKhalvashi said:

If you booked a non-refundable rate, you have to no right to a refund.

Fixed that for you!

Mrsn

As it was booked separately there is no entitlement to a refund. Your option is as suggested above regarding connecting flights etc. Sorry it’s not better news but it’s a pitfall of booking separately I’m afraid.

CKhalvashi

eskbanker said:

CKhalvashi said:

If you booked a non-refundable rate, you have to no right to a refund.

Fixed that for you!

Corrected on my end too. Apologies, it would have been autocorrect on my phone

Westin

karen2612 said:

We booked 4 x apartments through booking.com last year, due to covid flights cancelled, owners refused to refund, but moved dates to 19 June this year. Now Jet2 have cancelled our flights.  Owner refused to move dates again or refund. Booking.com spoke to owners and say that as Greece is open they wont refund or move dates. The problem we have is that the apartments are booked saturday to saturday and no other air companies fly on that day!  Do we have a leg to stand on ? We had to pay booking.com in full on booking.  They were all booked under one name which was not mine, so i cant even claim on my travel insurance. ANy help will be appreciated

I would agree with the replies you have received so far. Sadly no recourse for a refund from booking.com or the accommodation owner.  

Greece is however a big place and lots of airports. CKhalvashi has tabled one option to explore on alternative flights but if you post your routing then other suggestions might be forthcoming. 

Upsidedownandaround

You are not entitled to a refund as said above but if you don't take the advice above of booking other flights I would still not rule out an insurance claim just because it's not booked in your name. If you have suffered a financial loss I would have thought this wouldn't necessarily rule you out from making a claim just because the booking is not in your name. Whether or not your insurance would cover you for cancelled flights this far out is another matter.

CKhalvashi

Upsidedownandaround said:

You are not entitled to a refund as said above but if you don't take the advice above of booking other flights I would still not rule out an insurance claim just because it's not booked in your name. If you have suffered a financial loss I would have thought this wouldn't necessarily rule you out from making a claim just because the booking is not in your name. Whether or not your insurance would cover you for cancelled flights this far out is another matter.

I would, due to the date change, especially if done after around 12 March.

My insurance (which was one of the better ones last year) has significantly tightened terms this year on the renewal.

I will note that some Greek islands are not against travel advice now, so if it is one of these, direct may be the only option as disinclination to travel will not be covered.

Upsidedownandaround

CKhalvashi said:

Upsidedownandaround said:

You are not entitled to a refund as said above but if you don't take the advice above of booking other flights I would still not rule out an insurance claim just because it's not booked in your name. If you have suffered a financial loss I would have thought this wouldn't necessarily rule you out from making a claim just because the booking is not in your name. Whether or not your insurance would cover you for cancelled flights this far out is another matter.

I would, due to the date change, especially if done after around 12 March.

My insurance (which was one of the better ones last year) has significantly tightened terms this year on the renewal.

I will note that some Greek islands are not against travel advice now, so if it is one of these, direct may be the only option as disinclination to travel will not be covered.

The point I was making was that whether they have a valid insurance claim will unlikely be dependant on the fact that they never made the booking in their name. As you will see from their post that was the reason they stated they couldn't go to their insurance.

Of course there is numerous other possible reasons why they won't have much success from an insurance claim as that, as I made clear, is another matter.

CKhalvashi

Upsidedownandaround said:

You are not entitled to a refund as said above but if you don't take the advice above of booking other flights I would still not rule out an insurance claim just because it's not booked in your name. If you have suffered a financial loss I would have thought this wouldn't necessarily rule you out from making a claim just because the booking is not in your name. Whether or not your insurance would cover you for cancelled flights this far out is another matter.

Of course, however I'd say that the date the pandemic was declared is the date of cut off for any reorganisation of plans in this case. Of course, we don't have this date, so reasonable assumptions have had to be made.

In addition, if it's to one of the islands that travel advice has changed (although there are still legal restrictions that should have been removed by the time OP is due to travel), there is a good chance that alternative flights can be sought for low prices in the interim, albeit with another airline/from another airport/with a transit stop, which will provide OP with a resolution that should now have insurance coverage in the event of a further change due to the change in FCO advice if the apartment is being split in cost. This will be a matter between the OP and their insurer and bound by the contract they hold between them.

The islands in question are Rhodes, Kos, Zakynthos, Corfu and Crete, however Athens probably won't work as the advice is against all but essential travel to the mainland at this time.

Wizz fly to 4 of these on the dates OP needs (19-26 June) for between £43 and £70 both ways from Luton

Easyjet fly to 2 of these on the same dates (LTN-CFU/HER, LGW-HER) for sub-£100, with multiple other options available for a little more.

Ryanair fly to Rhodes from Stansted for £107

Aegean fly to Corfu for £133 from Heathrow

BA fly to all 5 from £196 and will offer 'proper' connections through LHR.

There are flights available on those dates, this is just checking the London area with Google Flights, and was checked at 23:56, including the basic baggage allowance. Prices may have changed.

mattyprice4004

Unfortunately no, you have no right to a refund or rebooking.
How or if you get there isn’t the apartment owners problem.