Refusal of Section 75 claim for cancelled Oman Air flight ticket

Westin

I think that is the best you will get at the moment.  Seems Oman Air have not changed their position. If an ex U.K./EU originating flight which the airline cancelled then legally you are of course entitled to a refund. Get it however is another matter.  I don’t think it will change anything in the short term but you could write a complaint to the CAA about Oman Air who may gather your and any others and put the matter to the airline as and when they start U.K. flying again.

niktheguru

Think you better accept the voucher and book another holiday.

desiman

I don't quite agree with what others have said, that you should be content with a voucher. Your contract was with the Travel Agent, so you should be able to do a chargeback of that amount from Lloyds. Whether or not Oman Air have refunded the travel agent is of no concern to you. Respectfully, to me it seems you have pitched this incorrectly to Lloyds and you need to insist on the customer-travel agent relationship and that you have not received the service you were entitled to, therefore you are owed money back. 
I had a similar situation and Lloyds refunded me via a chargeback pretty quickly. In my case, I purchased Gulf Air tickets from a travel agent. Gulf Air cancelled their flight and at first the Travel Agent insisted that I would have to wait for them to receive the money back from Gulf Air. I asked Lloyds for advice and they did a successful chargeback. 

Caz3121

desiman said:

 you should be able to do a chargeback of that amount from Lloyds. 

I had a similar situation and Lloyds refunded me via a chargeback pretty quickly.

In your situation how much time was there between the flight date and the chargeback application? I have seen 120 days maximum quoted so would expect the OP is well out of time to do a chargeback 

sheramber

desiman said:

I don't quite agree with what others have said, that you should be content with a voucher. Your contract was with the Travel Agent, so you should be able to do a chargeback of that amount from Lloyds. Whether or not Oman Air have refunded the travel agent is of no concern to you. Respectfully, to me it seems you have pitched this incorrectly to Lloyds and you need to insist on the customer-travel agent relationship and that you have not received the service you were entitled to, therefore you are owed money back. 
I had a similar situation and Lloyds refunded me via a chargeback pretty quickly. In my case, I purchased Gulf Air tickets from a travel agent. Gulf Air cancelled their flight and at first the Travel Agent insisted that I would have to wait for them to receive the money back from Gulf Air. I asked Lloyds for advice and they did a successful chargeback. 

Chargeback is different from a S75 claim which is broken when you  pay a third party, as Lloyds have stated.
The OP knew from June that the flight had been cancelled so chargeback option ( 120 days) ran out months ago.

desiman

Caz3121 said:

desiman said:

 you should be able to do a chargeback of that amount from Lloyds. 

I had a similar situation and Lloyds refunded me via a chargeback pretty quickly.

In your situation how much time was there between the flight date and the chargeback application? I have seen 120 days maximum quoted so would expect the OP is well out of time to do a chargeback 

Ah yes fair point. My chargeback was within that time period. (cancelled 16MAR2020, chargeback accepted & applied 05MAY2020)
However I don't feel all is lost still. I don't think the onus should be on the consumer to determine whether a chargeback OR a S75 is the most appropriate option, it should be guided by the credit card provider. It seems you the OP may not have been sure which route to claim under and the Financial Ombudsman should take that into account.  See here for further guidance https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/coronavirus-covid-19-information-businesses and in particular this statement "We expect card issuers to consider chargeback and section 75 claims where appropriate, regardless of how the consumer expressed their claim" 
@SIM99_2 - Does the reply from Lloyds give you guidance on escalating to the Financial Ombudsman and have you done this? 

sheramber

if  the OP was outside the 120 days limit then a chargeback is not an option.
if the OP asked for S75 claim within  the 120 days or a chargeback claim  then you point would be valid.

eskbanker

desiman said:

@SIM99_2 - Does the reply from Lloyds give you guidance on escalating to the Financial Ombudsman and have you done this? 

As highlighted by previous posters, Lloyds are correct in rejecting a s75 claim due to the broken debtor-creditor-supplier chain, caused by the use of an intermediary agent, so FOS won't find against them on that.  However, as above, if OP contacted Lloyds within 120 days but they failed to consider chargeback as an alternative within that timescale before rejecting the s75 claim once chargeback was too late then FOS might side with the customer, based on the expectations expressed by FOS on that Covid page....