Booked a flight by mistake due to website crashing - rights?

harryhodges1989

Hello,

Does anyone know what your rights are if you book a flight and then the website crashes, taking you back to homepage meaning you think it has not been successful?

The story:
mt Etna erupted on 23/07/24 - flight was cancelled by Ryanair, chaos at airport...
Tried to book a flight with VUELING cost £900 once i confirmed via my credit card provider, the page went blank on their website. Me thinking there was an issue and no flights have been booked. i tried once o=more and the website aid 'due to high demand the seats are available'. This led me to book new flights with easyjet which we go on the following day.

Am i entitled to a refund via my Credit Card or the airline?

Thank you.

eskbanker

While I can understand the time pressure when trying to book in such circumstances, I don't believe that either the airline or your card provider is actually obliged to refund you if the purchase completed but failed to display that - having authorised the card payment, the expectation would be that you contact the airline to ascertain the status of the booking before making alternative arrangements.

No harm in asking Vueling nicely but I don't think they're actually under any legal or regulatory obligation to refund....

heatherw_01

I don't think they have to refund you for double bookings.

Have you contacted the airline yet and explained? They may refund you.
If not, then contact your credit card provider.

I have had similar happen and I checked my credit card to see if it had been billed, and there was an amount missing from the "amount available to spend" so I knew that it must have gone through (as transactions don't always appear straight away). 

eskbanker

heatherw_01 said:

I have had similar happen and I checked my credit card to see if it had been billed, and there was an amount missing from the "amount available to spend" so I knew that it must have gone through (as transactions don't always appear straight away). 

Just to be clear, an amount missing like that doesn't actually signify completion of the merchant booking as such, it just means that the card company has authorised that value being debited from your account.  In other words, if OP had spotted their available balance being reduced by £900, that wouldn't in itself have confirmed that Vueling had completed the booking.