Unsure if i have a claim.

zorber

About 3 weeks before my guided tour was set to depart i had a call from the travel agent, the turkish airline had cancelled the flight. The travel agent said there were alternative flights but would cost £50 more. I wasnt offered a refund but was pushed toward which flight i wanted to be booked on and to collect money. I recognised i could have cancelled for a refund. On the holiday a number of guest suggested we should be able to claim the difference back as the travel agent should have found us alternative flights.
I guess the question is whilst the travel agent had a full refund from the airline i was never offered one, so should i be able to claim back the difference in the flights? If so who do i submit this claim to 1) my insurance company 2) the turkish airline 3) the travel agent?

Any help here clarifying this would be amazing. thankx 

Alan_Bowen

If you had booked a package holiday, evidenced  by getting an ATOL Certificate with the magical words 'package holiday' in the bottom right hand corner, then it was the organiser of the package who was responsible to pay for the alternative flight, not you

zorber

Oh that’s great news I do have one of those.
do you happen to know where on line I can reference this info so I can send them an email to claim and back up my claim 
thankx

eskbanker

Regulation 10.2 of the Package Travel Regulations 2018 prohibits the package organiser from increasing the price of the package except in very specific circumstances, which don't include replacement of cancelled flights:

(2) The prices specified in a package travel contract must not be increased once the contract is concluded unless the contract—

(a) states expressly that such an increase may be made;

(b) states that price increases are to be made solely to allow for increases which are a direct consequence of changes in—

(i) the price of the carriage of passengers resulting from the cost of fuel or other power sources;

(ii) the level of taxes or fees on the travel services included in the contract imposed by third parties not directly involved in the performance of the package, including tourist taxes, landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports; and

(iii) the exchange rates relevant to the package;

(c) provides that the traveller has the right to a price reduction corresponding to any decrease in the costs referred to in sub-paragraph (b) that occurs before the start of the package once the contract is concluded; and

(d) provides how the revisions referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) are to be calculated.

MATTR5

That is very odd - Have they said when the refund from the other Airline comes through you will get that back

As a Customer id probably accept the extra £50 (though under ATOL rules they should have absorbed that - its a grey area though) but no way would i be paying for flights all over again - Id go back to the Company first 

eskbanker

MATTR5 said:

That is very odd - Have they said when the refund from the other Airline comes through you will get that back

As a Customer id probably accept the extra £50 (though under ATOL rules they should have absorbed that - its a grey area though) but no way would i be paying for flights all over again - Id go back to the Company first 

Out of curiosity, how does the process differ from the agent's perspective?

A consumer booking directly with an airline who cancels a flight (that's within scope of UK/EU261) unequivocally has the right to a replacement flight at no extra cost, even if with a different airline.

I'd have thought that the relationship between agent and airline would also allow a replacement flight to be funded by the cancelling airline, so am puzzled why in OP's case the agent is looking for more money from the customer?

MATTR5

eskbanker said:

MATTR5 said:

That is very odd - Have they said when the refund from the other Airline comes through you will get that back

As a Customer id probably accept the extra £50 (though under ATOL rules they should have absorbed that - its a grey area though) but no way would i be paying for flights all over again - Id go back to the Company first 

Out of curiosity, how does the process differ from the agent's perspective?

A consumer booking directly with an airline who cancels a flight (that's within scope of UK/EU261) unequivocally has the right to a replacement flight at no extra cost, even if with a different airline.

I'd have thought that the relationship between agent and airline would also allow a replacement flight to be funded by the cancelling airline, so am puzzled why in OP's case the agent is looking for more money from the customer?

Im only a frontline sales agent so I'll be honest i don't know the rules 100%

But where we have flight changes (when selling under our ATOL) we have to absorb a certain amount of the additional cost 
We then can go to the Customer and say "We can do this alternative flight but its eg £200pp more but you'll only have to pay £50pp more"
Bear in mind a lot of ATOL/CAA rules have been stretched under COVID - Refunds in 2 weeks - we all know its the rule but it doesn't happen 
But
We HAVE to offer a full refund as an option
Also the rules more than 14 days out are looser I'm sure 

Thats why I say its a grey area, as zorber says he wasn't offered this - that seems shady to me 
But my overriding thought is if its £50pp personally I would fire off an email to the company and threaten CAA but is it worth giving yourself stress over?  I say no - i pick my battles
I hope that makes sense