Non refundable - not disclosed

mousemind

My apologies as this may be a long one...

My wife and I both worked overseas for many years, I relocated back to the UK 2 years ago to buy a house and get things set up here while my wife and daughter remain overseas so my wife can continue with her business and my daughter can finish her primary school so we're all having to deal with only seeing each other twice a year. It'll been 7 months since we last saw each other... We have finally bought a house, it's taken 2 years to find something in this market So to surprise me my wife booked a plane ticket through Checknfly.com to come over and see the house and help choose furniture. When she got the confirmation email she realised she had got the departure and destination the wrong way around (English isn't her first language). She immediately tried to call them but no answer, so emailed them then called me and asked me to see if I could get the ticket changed. So I called them (less than 3 hours after purchasing the ticket, as it was 5:30am nobody answered until 7am) to see what could be done. They told us to change it we would need to pay and additional £150 (the airline website says it can be changed for £80) and £150 rebooking fee and additional £394 for the new ticket taking the total from £786 to £1462. As we hadn't budgeted for that we decided that we should cancel the ticket and wait until the summer when she would be coming over anyway. So I told the agent that we would like to cancel the ticket, she told us that they would refund the airport tax of approx £250 as it was a non-refundable ticket. 

When my wife first paid for the ticket she received an email which stated that the ticket was non-refundable so I asked her if at any point prior to buying the ticket did she read anything indicating such, she said no. So i asked the agent if anywhere on the website it states that the ticket is non-refundable and she said there was and that my wife should have seen it. So I went to the website and went through the booking process for the same flight, same day etc. all the way up to putting my debit card details (I didn't go any further). At no point anywhere, even in any small print did it mention about being non-refundable, It did have all of my travel details, even had a travel advisory regarding COVID-19 restrictions... I informed the agent of this and pointed out that she had had told me that the website does specifically state that the ticket is non-refundable. she went quiet then said she would pass me over to the Customer Care team. 

Customer Care called and I went though it all with  him, he seem unconcerned with the fact that we were never informed that it was non-refundable prior to purchase and suggested that it is the industry standard. I asked him if he bought a car or a house, would he expect all pertinent information regarding  money transfer to  be included in the agreement before buying, he also went quiet... I asked him if I cancel the ticket  (£768) of which they will only refund the airport tax (£250) where does the other £518 go, does the airline keep it (They can re-sell the seat as the ticked was booked 3 weeks in advance) and my wife called the airline directly and was told that this ticket was refundable, so I asked the agent what happens when they cancel the ticket, does the airline just keep all of the money or if it (or a portion of it) is returned to them, if that be the case then it means the agent gets the full price of the ticket from us the gets any money returned from the airline on top of that. Rather than explain that it doesn't work that way he went on a weird victim thing telling me how they are just the middle men and the big bad airlines always make the agents look mean...

He then started loosing his train of thought and told me he need to talk to his team to discuss what they can do to 'help' and is going to call me back.

I was hoping that anyone may be able to give some advice or thoughts (don't say check your flight details next time, I said that to my wife and it didn't end well ) so I'm more informed when he calls back... 

Thanks in advance.

mouse...

TheSpectator

You could have made it easier to read, and give advice, if you got rid of the mass of irrelevant information.

Where are checknfly.com based?

DullGreyGuy

Non-refundable is the default option on every airline and website I've ever seen, with checknfly.co.uk after inputting your details it takes you to a list of options and top right you've got it showing the default "No Flexibility", having the ability to cancel is a form of flexibility. 

On the next page you have to agree to the T&Cs which if you read it, rather than just ticking to state you do, it states that flights are typically non-refundable any time after booking. 

Flexible tickets are vastly more expensive, just looking at random return ticket its £750 for "lowest price" or £2,100 for "flexible"

Hoenir

mousemind said:

He then started loosing his train of thought and told me he need to talk to his team to discuss what they can do to 'help' and is going to call me back.

It's difficult to talk to someone when they believe vehemently that they are in the right but in fact aren't. Ultimately terminatating the call is the only option. 

eDicky

It sounds to me as if the customer service agents are unusually communicative for an online booking site, and actually trying to be helpful, despite your bombarding them with irrelevant theories about 'what happens when they cancel the ticket' etc.

In the distant past air tickets were in general totally flexible and flight sectors could even be booked as 'open', to be flown wherever one wished as long as a seat was available. Those days are long gone and any kind of flexibility comes at an extra cost, as explained above.

If you remain polite and reasonable in any further communication you may be given something additional to the tax refund, but the terms agreed at the time of the booking, whether they were read or not, stated any actual entitlement.

Voyager2002

Please ask your wife not to attempt any bookings on English-language web sites in future.

heatherw_01

They DO disclose it is non-refundable.
Right here on the faq it says "Most of our fares, taxes and deals are non-refundable".
And here on the terms it says "Also, please note that all flight tickets supplied are non-refundable, non-changeable and non-transferable unless otherwise stated."

All flights are non-refundable unless you pay more for a flexible ticket.
I have flown thousands of times over 20+years and this has always been the case.
Flexi tickets cost more as they allow you to do more such as change flight or just cancel it.

Also regarding the difference in fees on that site vs the airlines, that's why you should book direct. Fees can vary on third party sites.

But this is clearly your wife's mistake and they are correct in what they said.
Always read things before just paying. And if English isn't her first language, use a translator or you could book perhaps?

As a side note, personally I wouldn't touch that site with a bargepole. I book direct OR use a well known third party site if you really have to.