Airline company wanting an extra payment

mogora

Hi, 
I booked a return flight from the UK to Turkey through TravelUp on 02/06. Paid for in full.
Got an email with the confirmation and itinerary etc. 
A few days later I got the flight info with the Booking ref and the e-tickets. 
I had some questions so I rang the agency. 
They told me to contact the airline directly. I did ring them, Sun Express. 
The man said he would call me back, he did twice over the following week. 
On the final call, he said I must make a payment, to complete the booking or the tickets maybe cancelled. I told him all was paid in full. 
He said I must contact the agency, and tell them to complete the payment on the Amadeus system. He would not give any further info. It is about £45.
I said if you want payment, you contact them. I do owe anyone anything. He did not have a phone number for them. 
He also said they have no contact email address for me or the agency. 
I thought he was trying it on. 
I rang the agency, who said all is in order, you do not owe a penny. They cannot cancel the ticket now. He said do not worry, and do not contact them again. 
So I checked on the Sun Express site, and my booking. 
It seems, they want to charge me for a Vegan meal. 
That was not mentioned at the booking time, and I have never been charged for a meal before. 
The man who wants the payment previously told me the meal was included and never asked for money before. 
It has been a while since I flew with a budget airline. Do they charge for a Vegan meal?
Has anyone experienced this with Sun Express or other airlines?
What should I do?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated

eskbanker

mogora said:

It has been a while since I flew with a budget airline. Do they charge for a Vegan meal?

Budget airlines will generally charge for anything and everything, so if you want food then you'll need to buy it, regardless of dietary constraints.

TadleyBaggie

Seems the vegan meal costs 14.99 euros. Sun Express charge for all food and drink.

la531983

Surely there is no obligation to actually buy a meal though, same as any budget airline.

TadleyBaggie

la531983 said:

Surely there is no obligation to actually buy a meal though, same as any budget airline.

Correct, but if the traveller makes a request (and it sounds like they did) for a meal, the airline will require payment.

400ixl

Pretty much all short haul budget airlines no longer provide meals free of charge. Some long haul budget airlines are the same. That is for any time of meal regardless of type.

Choice is either to cancel the request for a meal or to pay for it.

bagand96

What questions did you ask SunExpress when you called them?  Did you request a Vegan meal?  As others have said SunExpress charge for meals (like most airlines).  It may be worth double checking with them, but I'd assume if you don't pay for the meal then it shouldn't affect the status of the ticket, just that you won't get the meal.

Caz3121

Probably best to get Travelup to remove the meal requests from the booking (assuming you do not want to pay for them) and take your own snacks. Then the airline system will not show the payment due.

mogora

Thanks all, I've not flown with a budget airlines for years, easyjet and monarch did give us free food. 
I'll try to cancel the meals and take my own food. 
Just found what the agent said very odd and was starting to doubt them.

la531983

Always struck me as odd that airlines would en masse feed people on a 2 hour jaunt to Majorca, I havent eaten since noon today and I wont eat until around 7pm, not eating for two hours isnt going to kill the vast majority of people so the fact it was almost standard in the 70s through 90s is a bit of an oddity.

A very easy thing for them to cut to save money.