Flight Cancellation - Refund, less travel agent admin fee

HYBRIDMAN

Be grateful for some clarity.
Booked flights to Mumbai from London with Air Canada.
1 ticket with one travel agent, they are charging £75 admin fee (total)
5 tickets booked with another travel agent, & they are charging £24 admin fee (total)
Are admin fee deductions legal in the UK?
Should I just agree to the refunds, so that I get the majority of the money refunded & then dispute the refund, or should I put the whole transaction into dispute, if the deductions are not legal?
Thanks.

DullGreyGuy

Deductions are legal

Ayr_Rage

Travel agents, like most people, don't work for free and administration charges are part of your deal with them and perfectly legal.

eskbanker

As above, there's no law against it, although such fees should be spelt out in the Ts & Cs so might be challenged if not, but if you don't want to pay someone to administer flight bookings for you then you can always book directly with the airline.

Mark_d

Travel agents are entitled to charge admin fees as per their terms and conditions.  I'd be surprised if there were any no-cost changes which you could make to your flights.

HYBRIDMAN

One travel agent has agreed to refund within 5 business days.
The other is saying "You understand that if you are entitled to any refund, we will liaise with the airline or the consolidator to receive the amounts due. Usually, this process takes a minimum duration of 6-8 weeks. Only when the airline or the consolidator return the due amounts to us, we could return the sums to you after deducting our administrative fees and other charges if applicable".
Just reading around, I thought they had to refund within 7 days? 

eskbanker

HYBRIDMAN said:

One travel agent has agreed to refund within 5 business days.
The other is saying "You understand that if you are entitled to any refund, we will liaise with the airline or the consolidator to receive the amounts due. Usually, this process takes a minimum duration of 6-8 weeks. Only when the airline or the consolidator return the due amounts to us, we could return the sums to you after deducting our administrative fees and other charges if applicable".
Just reading around, I thought they had to refund within 7 days? 

The airline is obliged to refund its customer within seven days if the flights fall within the scope of the UK261 regulations, but they don't cover timescales for refunds from agent to purchaser.

DullGreyGuy

eskbanker said:

HYBRIDMAN said:

One travel agent has agreed to refund within 5 business days.
The other is saying "You understand that if you are entitled to any refund, we will liaise with the airline or the consolidator to receive the amounts due. Usually, this process takes a minimum duration of 6-8 weeks. Only when the airline or the consolidator return the due amounts to us, we could return the sums to you after deducting our administrative fees and other charges if applicable".
Just reading around, I thought they had to refund within 7 days? 

The airline is obliged to refund its customer within seven days if the flights fall within the scope of the UK261 regulations, but they don't cover timescales for refunds from agent to purchaser.

And especially if there is a chain to get from airline to the agent that the OP purchased from. Whilst there is a 7 day requirement a number of airlines are known to frequently breach this timescale. 

Caz3121

I am assuming that the airline has cancelled a flight and you have opted for refund instead of rerouting (was this a codeshare or were you travelling via Toronto?)
The service fees should be listed in the agents terms and conditions for the work they need to do on your behalf to process the refund with the airline(s)
note: if voluntary cancellation (not cancelled by airline) the fee will be deducted from the airline refund and the airline will refund the agent as per the fare rules of the ticket...eg if non-refundable ticket it may only be some taxes that are refunded

HYBRIDMAN

Yes, airline cancelled, & we opted for a refund. Just 4-6 weeks seems a long time to wait for a refund.