Cancellation by airline after ticketing but before collection. Do compensation rules apply?

IanWorthington

I bought a ticket for my sister-in-law last month.  When she went to check in she discovered the carrier had cancelled the reservation even though payment had been 3DS authorized and ticketed (status OK).  Credit card company confirmed payment not rejected, simply not collected within the 7 days allow. We assumed a !!!!!! up, and rebooked with the same result.  I saw, and can still see, the second booking in pending status on my cc. On neither occasion did the carrier advise us of any problem, or even notify us of cancellation.

I am out of pocket as a result of having to book at the last minute on another carrier.

Given a ticket was issued, do the cancellation compensation rules apply even though no payment was collected from my cc?

onashoestring

The flight delay / cancellation compensation rules apply only to a flight that is cancelled/ delayed-  not a cancelled transaction. 

Section 75 and chargeback also won’t apply in this case as your card hasn’t been debited for the transaction.

This doesn’t stop you from raising a complaint with the airline . 

Caz3121

Was this booking made directly with the airline or through a third party?
which airline?
it would be unusual for a ticket to be issued until full payment taken. Did you have a I ticket number or was this a reservation that was automatically cancelled as no ticket issued?

onashoestring

Did you have a reservation or a ticket - with a ticket number ? 

Sandtree

When is the flight? Compensation for cancellation only comes in when the flight is cancelled within 14 days of scheduled departure. 

IanWorthington

Many thanks for all the responses.  

Answers to your questions:

Bookings were made with Avianca, on the Avianca uk web site.  (I see that Avianca is now registered as UK company.)

Proper tickets were issued with a proper ticket number.  Charges were in pending status on my c/c, which is normal for a newly issued ticket.

Not sure when the first ticket got cancelled, but the second was only booked a few days before departure -- and is still pending on my c/c.

I've already raised complaints with the airline.  The first email was ignored, the second I only sent yesterday to a different address.

I'm happy to proceed to small claims if they carry on not responding and I have any grounds for compensation.

onashoestring

Do you have confirmation in writing that it was not the credit card company that blacked the transaction? 

You will need this going forward as airline is likely to blame CC . 

There are some U.K. banks whose algorithms automatically block transactions to Colombia even when these are legitimate transactions . 

IanWorthington

onashoestring said:

Do you have confirmation in writing that it was not the credit card company that blacked the transaction? 

You will need this going forward as airline is likely to blame CC . 

There are some U.K. banks whose algorithms automatically block transactions to Colombia even when these are legitimate transactions . 

I do.  Well, the transcript of a chat.  But I also have a screenshot of the second pending charge so they can't try that one on.