Iberia/BA - Flights cancelled - but the actually Flights are not!

uu_26

Hi all,

Looking for some advice here and something doesn't add up and would like to know where I stand. 

We booked 4 flights from Heathrow to Barcelona on the 16th March with Lastminute.com. The flights were with Iberia on a flight operated by British Airways and to travel at the end of May and return begining of June.

I had an email on the 24th March to say the flights had been cancelled, and alternative flights aren't available and a refund is the only option. I managed to get hold of someone at Lastminute.com and they said they'd appeal to Iberia to see if alternative flights could be sorted.

Fastforward a week, and no news, so I called Lastminute and they said the only option was a refund. I was suspicious as our booked flights are still available to purchase, so I called Iberia, and they said they would be happy to offer alternative flights, but would need to be requested via Lastminute, so I called Lastminute and they said this is not the case and alternative flights not available. 

I also spoke with British Airways, and they managed to look up my details with the PNR booking code we had, and could see the flights on their system, and they confirmed that the flights hadn't been cancelled, but said there was an internal issue with Iberia and BA's systems preventing them from booking onto their flights, and he also said he could re-allocated onto their flight code, but the barrier again was they they were booked via Travel agent, he said I should speak to Lastminute to sort out, I called Lastminute and relayed this information, yet they are still saying the flights are cancelled and a refund is the only option. 

Lastminute have promised a call back from a "Manager" within 24hrs twice, yet no call back as yet. My suspisions are that when we booked these flights the prices were reasonable (£500) and now when book the exact same flight number, day and times on BA, Iberia and even on Lastminute.com's webstie the price is £3,400+ so I'm starting to feel that our tickets have been cancelled, rather than the flight being cancelled. 

Regardless, any advice on where to go with this, or do I just have to take it on the chin and book new flights? 

Many thanks

Richard

Caz3121

were tickets actually issued?  third parties like Lastminute don't have live pricing or availability so you are making a booking request which they can either fulfil or they cannot. Did you get 2 confirmations - One with the confirmation of your request and a second confirmation of ticket issued? That is a significant jump in price in a short space of time which makes me think the £500 was an old fare and not available (was it significantly cheaper than the airline direct?) they make the reservation in the airline system but can't pay for it with the funds you gave them so it gets cancelled.
You have found the challenges of choosing to book with a poor third party rather than direct with the airline (if tempted by a third party it is worth spending a few minutes researching them...majority I would not give any business/money to)

uu_26

Hi Caz,

I'm not sure, I got provided an Iberia booking code, and links to check in and add baggage etc, so I believe it was booked/allocated, however what you describe sounds very plausible, however there was 10 days between my confirmaiton from Lastminute with my PNR code and check in details, and the email saying the lflight was cancelled. If this is the case, I'd rather they were honest and said this, rather than using the excuse that the flight has been cancelled by Iberia, which it hasn't. 

I've read on MSE that I should have the right to either a refund or and alternative, can I insist on an alternative? 

Many thanks

Richard

uu_26

I've just check on my booking reference and each passenger has been issued an e-ticket number, again don't know if this means it's actually been booked or just reserved on their system.

Caz3121

uu_26 said:

I've read on MSE that I should have the right to either a refund or and alternative, can I insist on an alternative? 

that will depend if you had a confirmed and ticketed flight (Lastminute having fully paid Iberia for the ticket) An airline PNR can be made without payment but will usually auto-cancel if not paid in full and ticketed within a certain timescale. Do you have any record of a ticket number? - it would be 13 digits starting with 075

uu_26

Caz3121 said:

uu_26 said:

I've read on MSE that I should have the right to either a refund or and alternative, can I insist on an alternative? 

that will depend if you had a confirmed and ticketed flight (Lastminute having fully paid Iberia for the ticket) An airline PNR can be made without payment but will usually auto-cancel if not paid in full and ticketed within a certain timescale. Do you have any record of a ticket number? - it would be 13 digits starting with 075

Thank you so much, yes I've got 4 e-tickets with 0753988288*** all with individial codes. 

Alan_Bowen

E ticket numbers are evidence that the tickets have been issued so unless the agency has accidentally cancelled the booking, you have a valid booking. All you need now is for the airline not to cancel the flight. BA has had a nightmare for the last 2 months with two IT meltdowns resulting in hundreds of cancellations and as the summer timetable began 10 days ago, they have discovered they have insufficient staff to operate the timetable, hence the crazy prices on sale at the moment, an attempt to stop bookings being made and reduce the number of people who need to be rebooked with cancellations happen

uu_26

Alan_Bowen said:

E ticket numbers are evidence that the tickets have been issued so unless the agency has accidentally cancelled the booking, you have a valid booking. All you need now is for the airline not to cancel the flight. BA has had a nightmare for the last 2 months with two IT meltdowns resulting in hundreds of cancellations and as the summer timetable began 10 days ago, they have discovered they have insufficient staff to operate the timetable, hence the crazy prices on sale at the moment, an attempt to stop bookings being made and reduce the number of people who need to be rebooked with cancellations happen

Thanks Alan, Lastminute are saying Iberia have cancelled the flight, and are trying to issue a refund, so just wanted to know my rights, I've requested an alternative but this has been refused, so interested to know if I can legally insist on an alternative, also I gather the legislation is aimed at the Flight Operator, so should I be petitioning directly to BA?

bagand96

Usually we'd all point to Lastminute.com being completely useless and at fault, but as Alan has said given BA's "World's favourite IT failures" I suspect that some of the issue could lie there.

You are correct that you are entitled to a replacement flight in the event your flight gets cancelled. You're also correct that the legislation regulates the airline not the travel agent. 

However the problem you have is that because you've booked via an agent, then they "own" the booking. Although BA/Iberia might speak to you (and already have done) it needs to be LM who actually make the changes. So it's a bit of a catch 22 if LM won't do it for you. Even though you've indicated BA think they could resolve it - LM need to do it via Iberia if it was an Iberia ticketed booking. 

uu_26

bagand96 said:

Usually we'd all point to Lastminute.com being completely useless and at fault, but as Alan has said given BA's "World's favourite IT failures" I suspect that some of the issue could lie there.

You are correct that you are entitled to a replacement flight in the event your flight gets cancelled. You're also correct that the legislation regulates the airline not the travel agent. 

However the problem you have is that beceuaw you've booked via an agent, then they "own" the booking. Alfhoigj BA/Iberia might speak to you (and already have done) it needs to be LM who actually make the changes. So it's a bit of a catch 22 if LM won't do it for you. Even though you've indicated BA think they could resolve it - LM need to do it via Iberia if it was an Iberia ticketed booking. 

Thank you, I'll have another few goes at trying to progress via Lastminute and see what can be done, thank you for taking the time to reply, and thank you to everyone else who's commented, I'll let you know how I get on! 

uu_26

I've just spoken with Lastminute.com customer services, didn't get so speak to anyone senior, but I pitched the e-ticket agrument and was placed on hold for longer than usual so hoping that was a good sign, anyway they said they will put in an urgent request to replace the flights but they would need to wait to hear back from the airline. I did mention that the prior two times this had been requested it had been refused, and that they need to highlight that an e-ticket had been issued, but not sure this was taken on board. 

Worryingly, he also suggested that if a refund was issue, it would be minus Lastminute.com fees and flight taxes, I said that didn't sound right, and he then backtracked and said he wasn't sure, I asked him to confirm the flights hadn't been cancelled on their system as then my chances of getting alternative flights are non-existant, and he confirmed the booking was still live on their system.