Booking.com

Tartanbud

Looking for help on try to claim compensation from booking.com. I booked a flight from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale through them. The night before the flight they sent me an email telling me online check in was open and a text message saying under 24 hours until you fly. When I turned up at the airport next day the flight had been cancelled and there was no airline staff at the airport.Turns out the airline had cancelled the flight the previous month but booking.com hadn't told me. I ended up paying over £600 with a different airline to get me to Miami as that was closest location I could get to them taxi from there to FL. Booking.com have refunded me for the cancelled flight but reckon I'm not due anything else. Surely they are liable as according to them within 24 hours of the scheduled flight, it was actually going.
Any advise please?

onashoestring

The EU flight compensation rules don’t apply to a flight between Toronto and Fort Lauderdale. 

Tartanbud

Yeh I get that but they surely can't just say not my fault when it so clearly is. They took the booking which means my contract is with them not the airline. Frustrating to say the least 

bagand96

Have Booking.com admitted they didn't notify you of the cancellation and do you have that in writing?  I would also want to claim the cost of the replacement flight from them as they have failed in their duties as your agent.

You could consider court action (although they're a Netherlands based company, not sure if they have UK offices where you could serve small claims papers?).  If you payed by credit card a Section 75 claim would be the easiest thing to try.

onashoestring

First It’s unlikely that you would be entitled to receive  both a refund and the additional cost of the flights that you had to book .

If you wish to try to claim the difference between the additional cost and the refund that you have already received from booking.com - I suggest that you will need to obtain something in writing  from the airline that confirms the date  that they notified booking.com of the cancellation. This will then prove that booking.com knew and should have informed you . 

Tartanbud

I have in writing both from booking.com that they didn't tell me and from the airline that they notified booking.com a month before the flight. Not familiar with section 75 I will look into this. Thanks for your help

bagand96

Tartanbud said:

I have in writing both from booking.com that they didn't tell me and from the airline that they notified booking.com a month before the flight. Not familiar with section 75 I will look into this. Thanks for your help

That's good as that's a decent amount of proof that Booking.com are at fault.  @onashoestring is right you need to claim the difference between the original flight and the new flights if Booking have already refunded the original flight.

An introduction to Section 75 here: Section 75 refunds: credit card protection’ - MSE (moneysavingexpert.com)  Note it is only for credit cards and not debit cards.  It's not too complex, although some bank customer services can make it so.  Basically you'd make a claim against the transaction with Booking.com for the difference in cost because Booking are in breach of contract causing your financial loss.  You'd need to submit all the evidence.

Westin

Was the flight arrangement actually with booking.com or via a third party? I think if booked in the U.K. at least any flight only arrangements are made via a company called Go To Gate. You flight confirmation paperwork should indicate.

Are you actually in the U.K. or paid via a U.K. credit card? That might have bearing on what others have mentioned around S75 claims. It will be difference if you are a Canadian or US citizen (given the routing).

When you had the notification that online checkin was open, did you not try at that point to checkin on the airline website?  That might have been the first indication of a flight change or cancellation and saved arriving to the airport to find no checkin counters open.

bagand96

Westin said:

Was the flight arrangement actually with booking.com or via a third party? I think if booked in the U.K. at least any flight only arrangements are made via a company called Go To Gate. You flight confirmation paperwork should indicate.

You're correct.  i just did a dummy booking for a flight Canada - USA on the UK Booking.com site and the following is shown at the checkout:

By making this booking, you'll enter into agreements with: (i) Gotogate International AB for the flight reservation service, and (ii) and Flair Airlines for the flight tickets and your travel on the aircrafts. Booking.com is not a party to either of these two agreements. Booking.com provides the platform on which travel companies make flight tickets for travel available with named airlines. Booking.com's role as a platform is more fully set out in its terms and conditions (link above).

So Booking.com is the platform and Gotogate is the provider of the reservation service.  Just to muddy the waters even further all flights they sell are ATOL protected and the ATOL number given is 11967 which is held by Booking.com at their head office in the Netherlands.  So they are not a party to any of the arrangements but are the entity providing the ATOL protection to a flight only booking (which is strange in itself)

I'm not sure how this complex arrangement affects the potential for a Section 75 claim.  Presumably Booking.com took the payment so that's where I'd still start.  But would be a convenient get out for the bank to say "ah yes, but Booking.com aren't actually the service provider"

Caz3121

although too late now but whether booking with a third party (and even booking direct with the airline) it is pretty essential these days, with many reschedules and cancellations, to check your booking regularly directly on the airline website. I have managed to catch cancellations before being contacted by the airline and for my future bookings I check every 2-3 days

Tartanbud

Thanks for all this great information. I've checked and Go to Gate are indeed involved so I've emailed them. I didn't check online check in the night before as I was at a concert. Lesson learned. Let's see what happens when I submit section 75. ..thanks again