Raising a complaint against last.minute.com

R7779

I need some advice. In July 2025 i booked a package holiday via Lastminute.com ( flights with easyjet and a hotel). Within 2 hours of the booking i realised the flight date was incorrect. I immediately contacted lastminute.com via their customer support to request the change. My request was acknowledged but they did not process the request until much later. I was charged £700 by last minute.com to amend the booking.I learned afterwards through my own research that easyjet allows cancellations within 24 hours without any penalty. So the penalty lastmiinute.com charged me could have been avoided. However lastminute.com did not advise me of this option and their delay in handling my resulted in these charges. I have disputed lastminute.com failure in their duty of care and charging me unfairly. They have not taken any responsibility for this. I am unable to raise a dispute against them via ABTA as they are not members. I have tried to raise a dispute under section 75 with my bank ( i had to pay via my credit card) but because lastminute.com acted as a third party i am unable to follow this route. What can i do to get my money refunded and get this resolved?

Alan_Bowen

I am not sure you can. When you book on line, you become your own travel agent and if you make a mistake, you are subject to the tour operators booking conditions, not those of the component parts. If the flights had been booked, then the cancellation charge would include the full cost of the flights plus Last minutes booking fees, you need to read the conditions and see whether the £700 is similar to those costs

Exodi

While I can appreciate it would have been nice, I just don't think it's reasonable to expect Lastminute to drop everything and prioritize your mistake - realistically they probably have to handle numerous similar issues every day.

Secondly "through my own research that easyjet allows cancellations within 24 hours without any penalty" - it only takes a quick google search to verify this as not true:

https://www.easyjet.com/en/terms-and-conditions/key-terms

3. Cancelling your easyJet flight

If you cancel within 24 hours of booking, we will give you a full refund minus the Cancellation Fee (as listed in Fees and Charges).

Cancellation fee would have been at least £49.

And you're also assuming that easyJet's consumer terms are identical to the terms agreed with booking agents and don't seem to have acknowledged that the cost charged by Lastminute isn't intended to be just passing on easyJet's costs on them - they will likely want to charge for their time and the administration actioning the change too.

R7779 said:

their delay in handling my [case] resulted in these charges.

I'd suggest you may be shifting blame here. Some might suggest these charges resulted from inputting the incorrect flight date.

Unfortunately I can't see you having much luck complaining to everyone. At best I'd try to wrangle some concession on goodwill with Lastminute (though you may have already burned your bridges with them).

MyRealNameToo

R7779 said:

I have tried to raise a dispute under section 75 with my bank ( i had to pay via my credit card) but because lastminute.com acted as a third party i am unable to follow this route. What can i do to get my money refunded and get this resolved?

I'd challenge this... normally middlemen do break S75 as you can't claim for a breach in contract by the airline because you didnt pay the airline direct. Here however you are saying the middleman is the cause of the problem and you did pay the middleman so I think there are grounds to challenge and they've probably just given a default answer because most the time it won't apply 

That said, the terms of your agreement with them may mean they arent liable for their slow reaction causing you a loss and therefore the bank wouldnt be liable either.