Change to flights

iananderson316 · 21 February 2019 at 8:53PM

I have booked flights from Edinburgh to Tokyo (via Brussels) for 6 people. The flight was found on skyscanner and I was redirected to a travel agent (mytrip.com) to complete the booking. My booking was completed using TSB visa debit card.

The outward flight was Edinburgh to Brussels (BMI/Brussels Airline) and Brussels to Tokyo (ANA). Return was from Tokyo to Dusseldorf (ANA) and Dusseldorf to Edinburgh (Eurowings). I have since had 3 emails informing me that there have been changes to my flights.

The outward BMI flight has been cancelled (due to airline going into administration) and I have been informed that the return flight from Dusseldorf to Edinburgh is now leaving 30 minutes before I arrive in Dusseldorf on the previous flight! These flights were booked as a package and not separately.

I have called mytrip.com who have informed me if I want them to look at this it will cost £83 administration per passenger. They say this is a schedule change charge, even although half my flights are now either cancelled or unusable. I have paid £800 per flight package. They are now no longer responding to me. The airlines are also informing me that due to booking it through a travel agent I need to deal with them.

Should I be made to pay the administration fee? Do i have the right to cancel for free when half of the package has gone or changed? Should there be a cancellation charge? What rights do I have? What if i am left with nothing... will my visa debit cover me for insurance?

I cannot afford to lose this money. Any help would be appreciated.

jpsartre · 21 February 2019 at 9:28PM

iananderson316 wrote: »

Should I be made to pay the administration fee?

Probably not as there should be no fee to pay to the airline (assuming the ticket wasn't issued by BMI). Unfortunately there are many complaints about mytrip.com and you will need to go through them to get any changes made. It's yet another case where you would have been in a much better position had you booked your flight directly from the airline.

bagand96 · 21 February 2019 at 10:04PM

It is standard practice that when booked via an agent then only an agent can deal with the airline. What exactly are you saying to mytrip when speaking to them? If you are asking for a change then maybe they think you're requesting a change and putting their own charge on. Make it clear that the airline have messed the reservation up and it needs resolving.

Agents quite often charge their own fees for booking changes, on top of any airline fees. However in this situation the airline won't be charging anything as it's their fault. I've never heard of even the most rogue agents charging their admin fee in a situation like this - that would be a new low.

EDIT: I've just done a dummy booking on mytrip.com and on the final page, the following is offered:

A new one on me! I'm taken aback at the:

This fee is also applicable if you request our customer support to handle airline imposed schedule changes.

I'm not sure where you can go from here, I guess you were probably offered the "support package" when you booked, and you would have agreed to their terms. What a complete joke. They want to charge to talk to the airline, even though you have no choice but to go via them.

I would get back on to them and make it clear the airline won't speak to you and see if you can somehow get them to change it without charging.

Likewise get on to the airline and say your agent are refusing to help and see if somehow they'll help you without agent involvement.

Brings rogue online agents to a new level!

Voyager2002 · 21 February 2019 at 11:20PM

One option would be to contact TSB and request a chargeback on the grounds that the product provided is not fit for purpose. Not sure I would trust TSB to handle this correctly, and the cost of making a completely new booking now might be too high for this to be an option.

iananderson316 · 21 February 2019 at 11:26PM

To: Bagand96
Thank you for your reply and thoughts on this matter. I also think this situation is a joke and unless I pay £83 for every change that is made between now and the flight leaving in September then I'm pretty stuck it would appear. I'll try talking to the airline again but they keep putting me back to the travel agent.

EveryWhere · 22 February 2019 at 2:49AM

I want to thank the OP for bringing this matter to our attention. No more bookings with Mytrip.com. That's disgusting.

comeandgo · 22 February 2019 at 8:37AM

iananderson316 wrote: »

To: Bagand96
Thank you for your reply and thoughts on this matter. I also think this situation is a joke and unless I pay £83 for every change that is made between now and the flight leaving in September then I'm pretty stuck it would appear. I'll try talking to the airline again but they keep putting me back to the travel agent.

It's the travel agent that you need to deal with. This is why you should book flight directly with airlines. Definitely look At skyscanner for the cheap flights then go to the airlines site and book direct. I know this is not going to help you but may help others reading your post. I hope you get things sorted.

Nick_C · 22 February 2019 at 8:49AM

... And use a credit card instead of a debit card in future so you have S75 protection for the transaction and any consequential loss.

EveryWhere · 22 February 2019 at 9:31AM

comeandgo wrote: »

It's the travel agent that you need to deal with. This is why you should book flight directly with airlines. Definitely look At skyscanner for the cheap flights then go to the airlines site and book direct. I know this is not going to help you but may help others reading your post. I hope you get things sorted.

To be fair, not all agents are as poor as the above and not all itineraries are bookable directly with the airline.. £83 for the whole booking would have been bad enough, but £83 per person?

On the other hand, the charge is shown during the booking process, so the OP did have the opportunity to cancel and book with someone else.
At least with a U.K based agent. Mytrip.com is based in Greece AFAIK.

bagand96 · 22 February 2019 at 10:02AM

And use a credit card instead of a debit card in future so you have S75 protection for the transaction and any consequential loss.

I’m not sure if section 75 would help here, as nobody is in breach of contract? The airline need to sort a re-route, which they are saying they will do but only with the help of the agent.

The agent will do this, but want to charge for it. However that charge is within their T&Cs that the OP agreed too.

One other thought is trying to pursue them for unfair contract terms? I’m not sure how you would go about that as I’m certainly no expert.

Voyager2002 · 22 February 2019 at 10:51AM

EveryWhere wrote: »

On the other hand, the charge is shown during the booking process, so the OP did have the opportunity to cancel and book with someone else.

That charge would probably be classed as an unfair term, and so is illegal in a consumer contract.

In textbook terms, the OP's next move should be either to go legal or request a chargeback, since the tickets are not "fit for purpose" and the agent cannot legally charge for correcting an inherent defect. However, I would worry whether TSB could do this correctly, and how much it would now cost to make a completely new booking.

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