Refund for cancelled flights booked through an OTA

fordie1974

Hi All, I'm just after some advice about chasing a refund for some flights I booked through mytrip that were cancelled. I don't seem to get any response from mytrip. I booked a return trip to Turkey for my wife to go and have some surgery, the outbound was with Jet2 and the return with Easyjet. Easyjet cancelled first and I contacted mytrip to ask about a refund as I could not claim it directly with easyjet as I didn't book it directly with them. They actually responded to this enquiry after I chased it up again with the following:

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Thank you for your email we apologize for the delay in response.

We will send a refund application to the airline and if the request is granted by the airline, we will process your refund in accordance with the airline's policy and our Terms and Conditions. When you confirm to cancel your booking, the refund amount will be paid out to your original form of payment.

 

You need to reply to this email to confirm the cancellation of your booking.  The refund amount will be sent to your original form of payment, minus our cancellation fee of 30.00 GBP.

 

Please note that the Support Package and credit card fee will not be refunded as these services were already carried out. For more information about this and our fees, see our Terms and Conditions.

Firstly, are they allowed to charge a £30 cancellation charge when I didn't cancel, the airline did? I did not reply to this message, but then my outbound trip was also cancelled by Jet2, so I messaged again to ask for a refund for both flights, so far they have not responded!

I paid via credit card, should I ask them to perform a chargeback? Or is there another protocol I should follow? It's only about £300 but, I'd like it back! Also, after booking through mytrip, I booked seats directly with easyjet for the return flight, do I claim this refund through mytrip or directly with easyjet?

Thanks for any help / advice anyone can offer!

 

bagand96

As long as the admin fees were in the T&C's you agreed to, then yes they can charge them. 

It's to cover their own costs/time in sorting your refund. That's the problem booking via an agent, you are putting a middle man between you and the airline. And OTA's profit margins on flights sales are wafer thin, so they make their money in admin fees. 

You could try starting a chargeback or Section 75, but seeing as the agent are not refusing a refund, then the bank may not want to help. 

Thrugelmir

bagand96 said:

 so they make their money in admin fees. 

There's costs to be covered. Premises, staff and overheads don't come free of charge. 

Caz3121

Money paid directly to easyJet should claimed back from easyJet 
If you book direct with an airline you don’t have third party fees to pay. Mytrip did not cancel either and you need them to do work on your behalf…£30 is the lower end of the fees charged and you should see it stated in the t&cs you read and agreed to.

[Deleted User]

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gwernybwch

[DELETED USER] said:

Had a similar issue last year. Did a chargeback and got a full refund in the end.

I'm wondering how you got a full refund via chargeback?


In the case of the OP mytrip weren't refusing to give a refund only charge an admin charge for assistance in getting a refund.

I've got a similar situation to the OP as flights booked via mytrip have been cancelled. I received this email from mytrip
"The airline has advised that you can apply for a refund for your trip. Alternatively, we can apply for a refund from the airline on your behalf.....If you would like us to apply for the refund, you would be charged a 30 GBP/booking assistance fee".

The email kind of suggests that I can get a refund directly from the airline. The airline has told me to refer to the place of purchase (i.e. mytrip).

CKhalvashi

[DELETED USER] said:

Had a similar issue last year. Did a chargeback and got a full refund in the end.

That would be at best immoral.

If you agree to pay a fee, you have a moral duty to pay that fee. I know this is MSE, but this is not a site that advocates debt evasion, which in my mind this effectively is.

michael1234

CKhalvashi said:

[DELETED USER] said:

Had a similar issue last year. Did a chargeback and got a full refund in the end.

That would be at best immoral.

If you agree to pay a fee, you have a moral duty to pay that fee. I know this is MSE, but this is not a site that advocates debt evasion, which in my mind this effectively is.

I think the issue is did he agree to pay it? Most legislation is rightly in favour of the consumer - your customers.

They will not be expected to read all the "small print" before parting with their cash. That is why you will see some companies making it very, very clear in bold or requiring the customer to tick a special box to confirm they have understood a particular, important and especially if unusual part of the terms and conditions.

Butts

CKhalvashi said:

[DELETED USER] said:

Had a similar issue last year. Did a chargeback and got a full refund in the end.

That would be at best immoral.

If you agree to pay a fee, you have a moral duty to pay that fee. I know this is MSE, but this is not a site that advocates debt evasion, which in my mind this effectively is.

Not nearly as immoral as the actions of a lot of OTA's during the pandemic.

A lot of them failed to refund clients for flights or holidays within the legally proscribed timescale hence the number of chargeback / section 75 claims submitted.

In my view this negates any obligation on the part of their clients to pay any administration fees whether agreed to or not.

CKhalvashi

Butts said:

CKhalvashi said:

[DELETED USER] said:

Had a similar issue last year. Did a chargeback and got a full refund in the end.

That would be at best immoral.

If you agree to pay a fee, you have a moral duty to pay that fee. I know this is MSE, but this is not a site that advocates debt evasion, which in my mind this effectively is.

Not nearly as immoral as the actions of a lot of OTA's during the pandemic.

A lot of them failed to refund clients for flights or holidays within the legally proscribed timescale hence the number of chargeback / section 75 claims submitted.

In my view this negates any obligation on the part of their clients to pay any administration fees whether agreed to or not.

I agree with you on this too

[Deleted User]

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