Mis sold flight

lucyd23

Back in April I booked a flight using Expedia, the flight was from Maun at 14:30 to johannesburg landing at 16:00 then from johannesburg to Windhoek at 17:35. Tight but as our luggage would be transferred Expedia said this was enough time. We arrived at Maun airport in August for our flight, new takeoff time showing at the airport of 14:45, we spoke with the airline and they said we would be find. Plane was delayed and didn't take off until 15:10, with everyone at this point saying the flight was actually scheduled for 15:00 not 14:30 or 14:45, things are already tight for us but we keep getting told they will speak with the connecting flight. We then board only to be told at this point that the flight time is not the 1h 30m we have on our Expedia booking but 2h 10m. Obviously we miss out connection. We lose the hotel in Windhoek, have to pay for a hotel in johannesburg and contact the tour company to arrange connections the next day to catch us up with the tour we were mean to start in the morning. All very expensive. Expedia are saying its the airlines fault and so are basically ignoring us other than to say that, the airline are saying there was only a small delay and the details we booked were never the flight details. We have tried to get a refund through credit card but Expedia are pushing back and insurance won't let us claim as we need a valid delay reason, despite airline claiming no delay. We are a lot of money out of pocket and are now just stuck with what to do next. Any advice?

DullGreyGuy

So this was a through ticket or self transfer? If you didn't have to touch your baggage it'd suggest its a through ticket and in that case its for the airline to deal with the issues of a missed connection, they accept that liability when they allow you to buy the through ticket

Keep_pedalling

DullGreyGuy said:

So this was a through ticket or self transfer? If you didn't have to touch your baggage it'd suggest its a through ticket and in that case its for the airline to deal with the issues of a missed connection, they accept that liability when they allow you to buy the through ticket

Although these flight start and finish in Africa so are subject to African not UK / EU consumer protection rules.

eskbanker

Keep_pedalling said:

DullGreyGuy said:

So this was a through ticket or self transfer? If you didn't have to touch your baggage it'd suggest its a through ticket and in that case its for the airline to deal with the issues of a missed connection, they accept that liability when they allow you to buy the through ticket

Although these flight start and finish in Africa so are subject to African not UK / EU consumer protection rules.

I thought that airline liability for handling this situation was defined at global (IATA) level rather than EU/UK, even though the latter quantifies compensation obligations where applicable?

Angelica123

A quick google search shows flights being sold with the exact same itinerary you describe directly from the airline website. The airline staff confirmed to you at check-in that the connection was viable. So I don't think you have been missold flights by Expedia - although the issue with going through third parties such as Expedia is that they are no help if there is an issue. 

This is definitely an airline issue and it sounds like they are unwilling to accept responsibility. Did they offer you an alternative connection to Windhoek?