Pre Covid booking hitting problems

chickpie

Hi 

A question for travel agents if that's ok. We have a holiday booked to UAE that was originally pre Covid with an agency, it was rescheduled 3 times.  A much longed for holiday due in just under 6 weeks. 

Long story short, on contacting the agency to ask for details, after weeks of no response eventually we get a reply to tell us our BA flights were cancelled – and they can’t rebook them as they’ve gone up in price. They claim to have had no notification and that it happened during the pandemic to all Scottish BA flights.

I think this is nonsense, I asked for the original BA ref but they said it was wiped. One of the flights has changed it’s time, but the connections all still work and the flight numbers have not changed.

I suspect they actually failed to make our flight booking at all. Do any agents know if this is true about BA cancelling flights en mass?

Thanks for any guidance

A

eDicky

So the flights are still showing as available on the BA website..?

chickpie

Yes, the flights are still available.  Internal flight to Heathrow, then another onto Dubai. The internal flight has changed to an earlier time, all other flights are the same - same flight numbers as on our invoice etc. 

I suspect the agency didn't ever book the flights - it was the 3rd time rebooking with them due to Covid, and we battled  with them back then as they tried to charge us extra for use of a voucher which we took after our earlier 2 bookings were cancelled due to Covid.  We have the invoice and all booking the details confirming our holiday for 7th April. 

I have been trying to get our booking details for weeks now as i wanted to check out the BA flight..  i was either ignored or told it was all in hand and we'd get the details 4 weeks before our departure. Today i contacted them yet again as i realised myself that the first internal flight had changed, to be told there was a hitch and BA cancelled our flights without notifiying them. I asked for the original BA booking reference, they said it had been wiped...  They claim they can't rebook BA flights as they are way too expensive. I have argued thats not our fault - we want the holiday we booked and paid for 2 years ago... They offered a refund but the cost of the holiday has nearly doubled... I found that interesting as when we asked for a refund during Covid we were categorically told no.

rigolith

So is it just flights or a package, and if they refund could you book the flights yourself?

Westin

Is this linked back to your original booking with Value Added Travel and Emirates flights to Dubai which then you changed to BA via LHR for April?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6216475/value-added-travel-exploiting-prices-for-rebooking/p2

If as you suggest the BA flights are still available as a connection then as you suspect perhaps a mix up or error that the BA flights were not ticketed and subsequently cancelled.

Have you asked about reverting back to the Emirates EK option GLA/DXB/GLA?

If no booking currently exists, and if this was a Refund Credit Note, then I thought the tour operator had to of by now refund the credit note in full.  The protection on these RCN’s ran out last year at some point I believe.

If the operator is messing around I would be tempted to ask for a refund on the RCN and just look to book elsewhere.

chickpie

It was a package. Yes we complained previously about them inflating the price when we tried to use our travel voucher and ended up agreeing to honouring the price and booking regional flights.

The problem is the flights are now twice the price, as is the entire package. So we could take the refund but we'd have no holiday.  We would absolutely take the Emirates flights, just want our original holiday ! 

They now saw they are talking to BA to reinstate the flights but i am still sceptical they were ever booked, i can't believe BA just cancelld our flights wihtout teling the agency but i'll be very happy to be proved wrong. 

chickpie

So just to update, the agent was off sick yesterday. Today we've been told they will not reinstate the BA flights and that have an option to pay an extra £800 to go Aberdeen > Amsterdam > Dubai on a flight which also stops in Saudi Arabia.  Or we can £4000 extra to go from Glasgow....

I still feel this was their error... Can't beleive BA just cancelled our flights without notifiying the agency. But at this stage all alternative flights are really expensive so it seems we take a refund and lose our holiday or we pay extra for a different route. 

Westin

£4000 extra to go on EK ex GLA seems excessive.

Are your travel dates flexible?  There can be times when just changing a day or few days either side can make a big difference in flight prices.

I know you are probably looking forward to this trip in April but I think I would be tempted to now opt to and cash in that refund credit note, then start a holiday hunt afresh.

koalakoala

It was always the case that if a holiday was rebooked after covid cancellations you paid the difference in flight prices.  I have £4000 sitting with BA for cancelled flights but the same flights now cost over £6000. The agent surely can’t be responsible for flight increases?

Westin

I would agree with you @koalakoala regarding price difference on a 2020 holiday vs this April 2022 one. I think however in this reported case @chickpie thought the flights and holiday booking had been confirmed by the tour operator (at an agreed price they were happy with).  Only closer to the new departure is it found that the flight either were not booked, or had been cancelled by the airline (BA) and not picked up as an issue by the tour operator.

Voyager2002

chickpie said:

Yes, the flights are still available.  Internal flight to Heathrow, then another onto Dubai. The internal flight has changed to an earlier time, all other flights are the same - same flight numbers as on our invoice etc. 

I suspect the agency didn't ever book the flights - it was the 3rd time rebooking with them due to Covid, and we battled  with them back then as they tried to charge us extra for use of a voucher which we took after our earlier 2 bookings were cancelled due to Covid.  We have the invoice and all booking the details confirming our holiday for 7th April.

Have you spoken with BA? What did they say about your booking and the flights in question?

In case you end up with the refund: (a) I can think of many destinations that are more attractive and affordable than Dubai; (b) there are cheap (albeit uncomfortable) ways to get to Dubai since Wizz Air fly there from most main European cities. You could take Ryanair to somewhere like Krakow; spend a night there and relax; then take Wizz non-stop to Dubai. The cost would not break the bank and while you would be cramped you would still get there.