BA or lastminute - who should provide refund?

ugm5rja

Hi,
I recently purchased flights with British Airways through Lastminute.com. The flights were subsequently cancelled and we were offered no alternatives from either BA or lastminute. Eventually we asked lastminute for a refund and bought our own flights. We were not refunded the full amount (around £180 short) and have contacted both BA and lastminute.com separately but both say we have the contact the other (inevitably!). Which company should I be pursuing to resolve this?
Many thanks

Rachel

Westin

BA would return the money to Lastminute.com.

Once LM receive the money they will return it to you minus any administration fees. These will be within their T&C's.  At £180 assume this might be for two people.

To avoid these fee's you should in future book direct with the airline, a reputable travel agent - not an online ticket seller.

ugm5rja

Hi

Thanks for your quick response. I thought Lastminute.com were reputable... Maybe not!
Thanks again

Rachel

Sandtree

You claim from whoever you were in contract with... in your scenario LM. Its not uncommon in these setups that LM will blame BA and say you'll only get refunded when they themselves have been refunded and clearly this isn't something you'll ever know for certain if/when its happened.

Olinda99

Lastminute are  travel AGENT - this means that they are acting as your agent ie a middleman acting on your behalf.

For a fee, they will arrange bookings, and also send back refunds when / if they get them.

If you are not happy with the way people act on your behalf, book direct yourself with the airline.

born_again

Who actually debited your account?
As many of the likes of Lastminute.com do not actually debit for flights, the airline does.
Going to make a difference as to who refunds you.

Sandtree

Olinda99 said:

Lastminute are  travel AGENT - this means that they are acting as your agent ie a middleman acting on your behalf.

For a fee, they will arrange bookings, and also send back refunds when / if they get them.

If you are not happy with the way people act on your behalf, book direct yourself with the airline.

They are the agent of the airline etc not you hence they have pre-existing agency deals with accommodation providers etc and you enter into a contract with them if you decide to buy. 

Olinda99

Thanks for that - if the OP wants any more info there is a good article on Travel Agents here

https://www.travellawquarterly.co.uk/resources/tlq-online/what-is-the-law-of-travel-agency-and-what-do-you-need-to-know/#:~:text=In this context, the travel,booking service to the consumer.