Travel agent at fault, compensation?

OliG

Hi all,

I booked flights with the airline Scoot through lastminute.com from London Gatwick to Bangkok. The return trip was originally booked to be from the 12th to the 26th of May, but we were informed in advance that the return flight was cancelled and rescheduled to the 29th.

On the day of the outbound flight we arrived at the airport but were told that it was cancelled, and ended up leaving on the 15th. We missed a hotel and a connecting flight, and had to rebook them both.

Since returning from our holiday, Lastminute have admitted that they were informed of the cancellation at the same time as the one they told us about, but did not let us know of this schedule change.

As Scoot gave Lastminute the required amount of advanced notice, they have no liability in providing compensation. However I'm writing this to ask what rights I have when trying to claim compensation from Lastminute, with whom we entered into a contract and who should have given us notice of the cancellation.

Lastminute have offered us reimbursement for our expenses during the wait between flights, as well as the cost of the missed and replacement flights and hotels, and a £30 voucher. However we both missed two full days of pay from our employers due to unnecessary annual leave taken and under normal circumstances would also be entitled to about £500, though this is when the airline is at fault and not the travel agent.

Thanks in advance for any info and advice!

Caz3121

when you book a poor third party to book with it is really important that you check your booking regularly on the airline website as details of flight changes are often not passed on. Had you checked your booking on the Scoot website I expect you would have spotted these changes and saved some grief and expense.
It is good to see that Lastminute are reimbursing expenses but fear you may have a fight on your hand to get them to give you anything on top of this.

OliG

Thanks for the response, one thing I cut from the original post for brevity was that Lastminute used a proxy email address to make the booking that we were not told about until the day after the original flight. So we had no way of checking ourselves, otherwise I definitely would have. 

Since they've admitted fault is there a case to be had there?

Upsidedownandaround

A case for what?

Poor customer service from a company well known for poor service won't put you in a better position to get anything more than they have offered from them.

Caz3121

OliG said:

 So we had no way of checking ourselves, otherwise I definitely would have. 

on the Scoot website you can check the booking with the booking reference plus your name and origin/destination (in place of email address) 

bagand96

OliG said:

Thanks for the response, one thing I cut from the original post for brevity was that Lastminute used a proxy email address to make the booking that we were not told about until the day after the original flight. So we had no way of checking ourselves, otherwise I definitely would have. 

Since they've admitted fault is there a case to be had there?

That's what happens when you use an agent, any communications from the airline will go to the agent who are then responsible for passing it on to the passenger.  Unfortunately not the first time we've heard of shoddy agents failing to do that.  Assuming LM provided you with your Scoot booking reference? then you'd have been able to check the itinerary on their own website - always a good idea when you book via an agent.

The flight cancelaltion legislation (EC/UK261) applies to airlines only, it doesn't cover travel agents, and there's no comparable legislation.  The fact that they've offered to cover all of your expenses is a positive step (especially for LM.com!) and they obviously consider the £30 voucher acceptable compensation.  If you don't agree you could ask them for more but if they don't budge I'm not sure there's much more you could do. 

I feel for you sounds like a nightmare situation, a steep learning curve on the pitfalls of using some online travel agents.

Westin

Caz3121 said:

when you book a poor third party to book with it is really important that you check your booking regularly on the airline website as details of flight changes are often not passed on. Had you checked your booking on the Scoot website I expect you would have spotted these changes and saved some grief and expense.
It is good to see that Lastminute are reimbursing expenses but fear you may have a fight on your hand to get them to give you anything on top of this.

I would echo that.

I actually think the offer from LM is a fair one and I think the best you will get.

Upsidedownandaround

Good offer from Lastminute.com.
Offering things and giving things are different though.
Probably best focusing your energy on actually getting that money they are offering. 

They aren’t exactly known for paying money they legally owe to people never mind expenses and compensation.