Holiday Booking Nightmare

LyndseyJane

Sorry for the long post but here it goes; 

Booked a holiday to the Maldives with Destination2 in 2020 for travel in 2021. We had to change it due to work commitments and Covid and decided to travel in 2022 at an additional cost of £800 on top of an already very expensive £5,600.

Mid February, I asked them for our airline reference so I could look online for seating. We were travelling with Etihad. I was told that I couldn’t have it until the full balance was paid. The full balance was paid, we just had the additional change fees to sort out. 

At the beginning of March, we get a call from them and we’re told that Etihad had cancelled their flights. Something didn’t feel right so I made enquiries myself. Etihad have not cancelled their flights, they are still very much bookable. We were told that we now MUST travel with Turkish Airlines and had no other choice even though Qatar and Emirates fly the route. 

So, one of two things had happened here, either our flights were not even booked to begin with, or, they were booked but not ticketed so the fare expired and they don’t want to pay the additional to reconfirm our flights. 

Lots of phone calls and E-Mails were ignored but after some persisting we eventually got to speak with a manger. He informed us that there has been an error at their end with their flight consolidator. When we made the changes in June last year, the fares were not out, they were only on a request basis. No one told us this. The fares would have been available in October but they simply where not booked. I believe they have only realised this when I made the enquiry for the airline ref. Destination2 have blamed their flight consolidator and aren’t taking any sort of responsibility but have admitted a problem which they are looking into. 

We aren’t happy with the Turkish Airlines option or Destination2. They are not trustworthy so we wanted to cancel. We were told by the manager on Monday 7th March that we could do this, however, today 12th March after days of chasing him, he has now denied saying we can have a refund. He said because they have found us an alternative holiday and it’s not classed as a significant change then we are not entitled to a refund. He said we need to wait now until next week so they can listen to their call. We recorded the call thankfully and have sent it over to their customer services but it’ll get ignored like the rest of them.

So not only are they now refusing a refund they are still adamant that we still have to pay the £800 change fee for changes that they didn’t even make in the first place! 

Can anyone make light of this and provide advice on where we can go with this please? We are hitting a brick wall with this god awful tour operator. 

Ganga

Whats wrong with Turkish Airlines ?

Westin

The story of events given by Destination 2 does sound plausible.  Schedule airlines typically only release flights around 11 months out so moving an existing holiday from one year to the next could well disrupt the normal process. Operators may ‘ghost’ book outside of the GDS range, estimate the price, but should explain this to the passenger, especially when the new fare is not known. If D2 are using a flight consolidator then a mix up between parties. Not helpful to you but at least it sounds like D2 are being upfront and honest with the turn of events.

The £800 difference sounds like the figure you agreed to move the holiday from one year to the next. I appreciate it is not with Etihad as expected, but perhaps reasonable to expect a holiday price difference from one year to the next. 

The D2 booking terms and conditions will cover what is classed as a significant change and your rights if one is made.  I suspect however a change of airline carrier would not be classed as significant and on that basic not a reason for a full refund.

I would not discount Turkish Airlines. I think you would be pleasantly surprised. 

Given the mix up and alleged error between D2 and their flight seat supplier, perhaps room for a little negotiation on the £800 increase.

Hope you get things sorted.