Lastminute cancelled flight without looking into rebooking and not compensating for increase

rodnanpaul

Hi

First of all, sorry about the novel

We booked flights in June 2022 for me and my wife and our kids to travel to New Zealand in March 2023 to see my wife’s family. These were booked through Lastminute, travelling Swiss air out, and Lufthansa back. We got an email from Singapore Airlines on 19/12/2022 (guess they’re a partner airline) saying one of our return flights (one of three) had been cancelled, so need to contact the travel agent to rebook. 

I contacted LM initially who did not know the flight had been cancelled. LM then emailed me on 20/12/2022 to say our whole trip had been cancelled by the airline so we were getting a refund.

I spoke to Swiss air and Lufthansa who confirmed there were flights available, but as we booked through LM they need to make the amendment. In the meantime I went on live chat and told LM not to cancel any remaining part of the trip, as I would rather have to re-book one flight, than the whole trip.

I then spent the day on hold to LM and the airlines on the phone and live chat. I spoke to someone at Swiss who confirmed there was alternative flights, but they could not book them with me, as it had to be the agent, but they gave me the dates, times and route of the flight and said LM need to call on the trade service line and do this.

I told LM and they said they would email - i reiterated that they needed a phone call. 

I checked the price to rebook on the same dates and the price had increased from £3200 that we paid initially to £6300 if we had to rebook it.

I then got an email saying ‘your flights have been cancelled’ by LM on 05/01/23.

There was a lot of going back and forth with LM between 20/12/22 and 05/01/23, but with getting the cancellation email, I then emailed 2 people I found on LinkedIn who had titles of UK head of LM, on 05/01/23. This then led to a call from LM on 06/01/23, who said they would look into my email and call me back. No one did. 

I then re-emailed the two people at LM on 12/01/23, which again prompted a call on 13/01/23. On this call the person said they would look into what had happened and asked my preferred outcome. I explained my preferred outcome would be to have my flights booked, but direct with the airline, without Lastminute, in case this happened again - i wanted to be in control, but to be compensated for the extra it would cost me to rebook. Ultimately, LM did not act in line with how i told them to and this lead to our flight being cancelled - I literally wrote down what they needed to do, the flight route, times etc, so had done their job for them. 

After emailing another 2 times to the head of LM uk, We have been refunded our initial booking and they are saying they won’t pay compensation. Someone in a complaint team emailed and said LM contacted the airline on 19/12/22 and 20/12/22 and there were no alternatives available. As they tried they said they cannot pay compensation. 

I know this is a lie, as they did not know the flight was cancelled on 19/12/22 and I got the re-routed flight info for them on 20/01/23. 

Because of this we have now had to rebook to go in July, as it was £4500 Vs £6300 in March, meaning my kids don’t see their maternal family for longer. 

My main issue is that the inaction of Lastminute (backed up with screen prints of my live chats and emails explaining what they need to do) has led to my flight being cancelled and costing me 50% more - if they did what I explained they had to do on 20/12/22 then I would not be in this position. 

Has anyone had this sort of situation before, or know a way to speak to someone in LM to get an answer other than ‘computer says no’, and ultimately get compensated, or am I wasting my time?

I would leave it if i hadn’t done all the running round for them and literally supplied them the information on a plate. 

Thanks for reading if you got this far…

eskbanker

You might be able to persuade LM to offer some sort of goodwill gesture if they caused you additional cost, but it would be best not to be under the impression that they were under any obligation to follow instructions you were dishing out - they'll have their own processes and timescales so won't be swayed by a customer telling them to phone a supplier rather than emailing, etc.  Likewise, advising that you wanted them to cut themselves out of the loop ("my preferred outcome would be to have my flights booked, but direct with the airline, without Lastminute") seems unlikely to be something they'd be able and willing to go along with, so there does seem to have been a mismatch of expectations here....

rodnanpaul

Hi Eskbanker, thanks for your reply. I think i may not have explained myself. My understanding from LMs website is that if this situation arises their first action is to re-route (ensure we can travel as planned, albeit maybe not the original route,) and then failing that they refund. It seems they haven’t tried to re route, as that is what the airlines told me. I wasn’t giving instructions of what to do - merely making their job easier by supplying the re-routed journey, given by the airlines - the same one that didn’t have an available re-routed journey according to LM. With regards to me saying to call, I wasn’t dishing out instructions - both Lufthansa and Swiss said their only way of changing was to be called on their service line. I agree LM will have their own processes, however, so does the airline. One would hope LM would understand the airline’s processes and not need an uneducated customer to point that out, but i feel like we’re getting off my issue.

I gave them my preference - and to be fair to the person i spoke with, he agreed with the hassle they have given us that it would have been easier for LM to not be involved. My mentioning that was me stating my best outcome - that if the flights had to be cancelled and rebooked, then I didn’t want to be in the same position if this happened again. It wasn’t to take them off the original booking - again, i may not have been clear enough at first. 

Thanks for your reply though…

eskbanker

One key issue is the extent to which your itinerary is protected by the UK or EU flight regulations, which are where the rerouting obligations tend to stem from - these will typically apply to flights from the UK/EU or operated by UK/EU airlines, so it's possible that, for example, a Singapore Airlines leg on a return journey from New Zealand may not be within the scope of those.  This will depend on exactly how the itinerary was constructed - have they given any indication as to whether they consider your return journey to be within the scope of these regulations?

Or is there something specific within LM's Ts & Cs that suggest they'd reroute at no extra cost regardless of whether or not the affected leg was in scope?

daveyjp

Unfortunately its just another example of why using a middle company is all well and good until things go wrong.

When the likes of LM first arrived they were ahead of the game, disrupted the system and provided great service. We are now 20 years on and it makes little sense to use a third party when direct booking with airlines is so easy, especially for a multi leg long haul.

The likes of LM are now operating in a very competitive market and on very tight margins.  Sorting out every issue properly as they suggest on their website probably isn't financially viable, so cancelling is a quick and easy solution.

There is also the question with some sites as to whether they are actually selling something which exists, or whether securing your booking is the point at which they try and honour the deal, knowing they will merely cancel if not.

Ayr_Rage

Tickets purchased through third parties are often a special fare class and available to the agent in limited numbers.

It may well be the case that there were no alternative seats available at that price even though there was capacity as advised by the airline.

As you have had a full refund I think it is unlikely anything more will be offered.

Westin

Ayr_Rage said:

Tickets purchased through third parties are often a special fare class and available to the agent in limited numbers.

It may well be the case that there were no alternative seats available at that price even though there was capacity as advised by the airline.

As you have had a full refund I think it is unlikely anything more will be offered.

Unfortunately I tend to agree. It is the easiest option for them particularly as you are a non-profit earning ‘customer’ for them. 

Many of these online, overseas based ticket sellers, will be working on wafer thin margins.  They are not full service travel agents. Any service or actions you require post sale will either be at a charge, or simply not done.

Lastminute.com is part of Bravofly SA.  Spanish based I believe. 

Hard lesson but buying ‘cheap’ from these outfits will often cause heartache later if things go wrong or plans changed.

bagand96

Ayr_Rage said:

Tickets purchased through third parties are often a special fare class and available to the agent in limited numbers.

It may well be the case that there were no alternative seats available at that price even though there was capacity as advised by the airline.

As you have had a full refund I think it is unlikely anything more will be offered.

Assuming that this was an entire UK-NZ-UK itinerary issued on the same booking reference by Lufthansa/Swiss then usually it doesn't matter what fare class was originally booked in the event of schedule changes.  The network airlines are used to this and if there's a cancellation in your itinerary they will look to re-route you via alternative with them or there codeshare partners.

It would appear in this event that's exactly what the airline were prepared to  when talking to the OP.  However being an agent issued ticket only the agent could action it, and this is where it all fell down due to LM.com

Unfortunately though I've got no other suggestions and think it may have to be chalked up to an expensive lesson.  If it was a UK based company you could think about Small Claims Court (I say this without any idea what the chance of success might be).  however as @Westin says, a Spanish company based legally in Switzerland will scupper this.  I'm sure I read a thread here some time ago where someone had tried to find a UK address to serve papers to without success.

rodnanpaul

Thanks for everyone’s replies. I think you’re right, that it may need to be an expensive lesson - one ive certainly learnt since this happened - book direct. I’ve read a lot of other stories, involving LM that have had a similar outcome and no customer service from them as a company

Will pursue the emails I’ve had from their executive complaints team, but feel i may be wasting my time…