What to do if you've been affected by the XL collapse

GNL · 13 September 2008 at 9:59AM

If my travel agent cannot find me a suitable alternative (package holiday booked had XL flights), although it is stated that they will offer a refund, should that include the 2% credit card charge that was added?

honest_tom · 13 September 2008 at 10:00AM

I paid Travel City my deposit by debit card (£200) but the second part deposite and the balance I paid by cheque, approx £1750 in total. This was for fly-drive with no accom. Any ideas on how I should go? I may be able to claim on my travel insurance,but I have re-booked my trip using another airline.If my insurers were to cover my T/City losses, would I therefore have to take out a new insurance? On the other hand if I leave my claim until after my re-arranged holiday, would the insurers claim to have covered my second holiday and therefore my T/City loss would not be covered? I could accept this and would claim off my original insurance and take out a new cover for the re-arranged holiday. Offers please as my holiday is in four weeks so I dont have a lot of time to start my actions.

VirginHolidays · 13 September 2008 at 10:06AM

For anyone travelling on one of our routes...

http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/info/about/re_book_your_holiday/default.aspx

hollydays · 13 September 2008 at 10:07AM

babysaver wrote: »

I paid with a visa debit card - will I be covered?

The Kosmar site says you may be protected-and to contact your card issuer.

agosto · 13 September 2008 at 11:36AM

Listen up folks.

I was in exactly this position earlier in the year when Oasis airlines went into liquidation and our money for flights to Hong Kong went with them.

I had booked on-line with Visa but Visa told me I would have to wait to see the outcome of the liquidation which would be months away. But we needed to keep to our travel dates and go for a specific period which was within 2 months.

All other flights were much more expensive. Visa told me that even if they did refund anything, it would only be for the amount that we had paid.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

Under Section 75 (as other people have said) you are due not only your money back, but like for like.

So if you paid for flights with xl from say, Manchester to Tenerife, for two weeks which would obviously be for specific dates, that is what you are entitled to. No more or less. The credit card company are due to pay because they 'rubber stamped' the flight company as bona fida (which obviously they were at the time), and allowed you to pay them. That is why they are liable, not you.

You do not have to wait. It is your due. But don’t try and book better accom or gain from the situation, just be fair.

In our case, we were flying in from abroad to the UK to fly from Gatwick. There were no other flights at all from Gatwick, only from Heathrow, and Beneficial Visa (to give them their eventual due) not only paid for these more expensive flights, but also for the transfer between airports.

You may need to persist. I had to bring in some information from the ombudsman in the end (which was that I wanted a letter from Visa confirming that they would not pay), but once that was mentioned, it all fell swiftly into place. You will most certainly need to provide all the proof they ask for ie copies of booking, copies of new booking which is of course quite right.

And I am pretty sure you are equally covered by debit card.

If you like, I will fish that out from the multi-page thread which was created when Oasis went down.

GazzaT_3 · 13 September 2008 at 12:40PM

Hi All,

My wife & I have been advesely affected by the XL collapse and would appreciate some advice as we were due to travel soon.

We booked our holiday through travelrepublic.co.uk and they booked flights with Freedom Flights and Accomodation through Youtravel.com.

Of course our flights are now invalid but our accomodation still exists.

Our questions are:

Will our credit card company have to refund the flights and accomodation costs, they were booked together but Travelrepublic say they are seperate bookings?

If we book new flights, now costing over £400 each (originally £320 total) is the credit card company liable for the extra money spent?

Is the travel agent Travelrepublic liable in any way as they say the bookings are seperate (in their email replies and their terms) but we booked the items together with them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as we are tearing our hair out trying to save our holiday.

Kind regards,

Gary & Ann

mairi · 13 September 2008 at 1:46PM

I pose the same question as Gary as I have been fortunate enough to secure flights leaving on the same dates as originally planned but at an extra cost of £320 so I too would like to know if this can be claimed against our credit card company. The one drawback is that we now have to travel an extra 280 miles to get to the airport with an overnight stay and parking fees for the duration of our holiday which I just have to accept. Our losses would have been far greater had I not found alternative flights as we would have lost the cost of our accommodation (£450) and pre-booked car hire(£225) booked independently. Our insurance policy didn't cover us for the collapse of the airline or the knock on effect of it. At the end of the day I think myself fortunate as there are so many people out there in a much worse situation than me.

agosto · 13 September 2008 at 7:49PM

As I said in post number 46 above, you are covered like for like with regard to the flights.
The accommodation situation complicates it and I don't know where you stand with that.
Gary and Ann,
Travel Republic may or may not be right, so you may need to pursue that.
But if you have found flights at only 80 plus pounds more, the credit card company should pay for those flights and be very happy to do so at so little extra.

Mairi, is it not possible to get flights from your original airport, even if they are dearer. It sounds like an awful lot of extra money for the CCC to pay and you would need to absolutely convince them that this was your complete cheapest alternative.

mairi · 13 September 2008 at 10:29PM

Hi Agosto, thanks for clarifying this for me. I'll keep my fingers crossed that our CCC will look at my claim favourably. When looking for alternative flights the only ones I could get from our original departure airport (3hrs drive) was out of Glasgow with Thomas Cook 2 days later at a cost of £800. Flying back 2 days later at the other end didn't suit as my husband had to be back at work on the Friday. I only paid £221 for the original flights with XL so to then have to find another £800 at very short notice was pretty impossible. On top of that our bank account had been hacked into 2 days previously and £3,500 taken from our account, which was to cover expenses while we were on holiday. Unlucky I know, but our bank have assured us we will get our money back, but not for another 2-3 weeks once they've completed their investigation. It will be 10 days before they can get new bank cards sent to us. So, in panic I booked with our credit card what I thought was a comparable equivelant flying from the next cheapest airport which was Leeds/Bradford at £535. I researched thoroughly, looking at all options, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds and London airports but this seemed to be the cheapest all round and I wanted to keep costs to a minimum as I didn't really know what money we would get back at the end of the day. Part of me was glad I'd booked them as by 9am the prices for the same flights had gone up to £1030. Whether I get the difference back or not we'll still have a good holiday and just put it down to a learning experience, but if we get the extra costs back then we'll be very appreciative. I only intend to claim against the extra flight costs and no others, despite being further out of pocket for travel expenses, overnight accommodation and meals. We both work hard throughout the year and see our holiday as a reward for all our hard work. Like I said there are other people out there in a worse situation than us so we're thankful for what we have. Thanks again for your advice it really is much appreciated.

hayley11 · 13 September 2008 at 10:42PM

Well we went to thomsons today and they couldn't find anything for around the same price, we paid £250 each for a week in crete and they didn't have anything for less than £350 each, which we just can't afford.

If there's something on the thomsons website should it be available in the shop as well?

It looks like we're just getting a refund anyway, she said we should get it next week because we booked through them which is something I guess.

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What to do if you've been affected by the XL collapse

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