Outward leg cancelled by airline due to CV19, no refund of return leg

the3rdParty

I booked a trip for my daughter LHR-MPM-LHR through lastminute.com  The trip was outbound with TAP, return with Ethiopian.

TAP cancelled the flight LHR-MPM due to Coronavirus restrictions at the time, and I was offered and accepted a refund.   This however was ONLY for the leg LHR-MPM.

I asked lastminiute for a refund of the whole journey, bearing in mind that

1. The passenger could not take the outbound flight, so the return journey is therefore impossible
2. I booked with and paid lastminute for the journey,  not the individual airlines

I managed to call Lastminute who said that there could be no refund of the return flight, as it has not been cancelled.  When I pointed out that this was illogical they suggested I contact a lawyer, and/or take it up with Ethiopian.   I contacted Ethionian who said that as the journey was sold by an agent (lastminute), all issues should be through that agent.

This all seems crazy, but is lastminute's position correct in the light of Coronavirus (or other) travel regulations?

Grateful for any advice

JW

Caz3121

Do you have one airline ticket number or two? It sounds like they may have booked two separate tickets in which case there are two separate contacts and the cancellation of one does not affect the other booking

cx6

Exactly this - Lastminute has almost certainly booked 'last minute' deals - separate, un-linked flights for outbound and return

My advice (FWIW) is ***never*** to do this - apart from anything else if you had gone and the return flight had been cancelled you would have had no recourse and likely to have been stranded.

Always book outbound and return flights on the same ticket.

PS almost certainly the reason Lastminute themselves are not refunding is that they didn't sell you the tickets, they acted as your agent to buy them on your behalf

Caz3121

As a third party you will find that they will only refund when the airline refunds them and they have deducted the fees you agreed to. If Ethiopian are not refunding lastminute then they have nothing to pass on to you.

the3rdParty

yup, two tickets, unlinked outbound & return flights.  So it looks like I will need to be grateful for whatever TAP refund and then just grit my teeth.

The bit that annoys me is that:

- lastminute sold me a return journey, not two separate flights.  Although this in the end is exactly what I ended up with.

- there is no hint during the purchasing process of the risk inherent in buying a journey structured in this way.

Caz3121

You will see that proper return tickets have one fare and separate tickets have a fare and taxes listed under each flight which are added together to make a total payable
Can you/she purchase a replacement outbound flight? (direct from airline) 

the3rdParty

Unfortunately the travel window was very short and she will not now make the journey

Plan B might be to see if there is anyway of re-scheduling the MPM-LHR flight for sometime next year, and making a different trip.  Experience to date with Lastminute would indicate that they will not support or help with the process.

Butts

the3rdParty said:

Unfortunately the travel window was very short and she will not now make the journey

Plan B might be to see if there is anyway of re-scheduling the MPM-LHR flight for sometime next year, and making a different trip.  Experience to date with Lastminute would indicate that they will not support or help with the process.

A cursory glance at this or any other travel forum prior to booking with them should have been enough to dissuade you from conducting any transactions with LM.com.

Was it much cheaper than booking with Ethiopian Direct  ?

mattyprice4004

You booked two separate flights with a budget operator. 

Mistake 1 was not knowing the risks in doing this, mistake 2 was using LM. 

If you want the security of a return booking, you need to pay more.  

cx6

You could try Ethiopian Airlines (not LM) to see if they will allow you to re-schedule. Depends on the ticket type I suspect.

CKhalvashi

It looks like Last Minute have booked two one-way fares on connecting Star Alliance partners, with the two not being linked flights in law, which will lead to the approach being correct.

As your booking agent, LM should have communicated this to you.

If the PNR for both flights is the same I can advise further, but it looks like they're different, this will be the 6 letter code.