Flight gift card

Does anyone have any experience dealing with this company? I bought my son a £100 flight voucher but when he tried to book Jet2.com flights he found out the price was 40% higher on the flight gift portal! Naturally they are blaming "a glitch" but refusing to refund me.
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
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  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,351
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    I had never heard of them, first result on googling was a report by Simon Calder in the independent saying what poor value they are and about the mark ups going through their site.

    Not sure why they would refund you though, best to research before purchase
  • bagand96
    bagand96 Posts: 6,055
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    Essentially they are just a travel agent. So will always need to make some sort of markup from the airline's direct price.

    I searched random dates for flights to Palma in April as an experiment. Below are the prices direct with the airline, then via flightgiftcard:

    Ryanair: £34 / £40
    Thomas Cook £84 / £95
    Jet2 £114 / £206

    The markup for Ryanair and Thomas Cook is 15-20%, although the markup for Jet2 is huge. Perhaps they don't have access to the cheapest fare classes with Jet2. They also markup the added extras like luggage by around 10% if you follow the booking through.

    I haven't looked at their T&Cs but I imagine the vouchers are non-refundable. Perhaps see if your son can look at alternative airlines/routes to try and get better value from the voucher...
  • flyer
    flyer Posts: 2,206
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    They have e mailed to say they typically mark up by 2 to 10 %, but haven't explained why 40% in this instance. The reason I enquired about a refund was because I never expected in my wildest dreams a 40% mark up!
    Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
  • bagand96
    bagand96 Posts: 6,055
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    Another couple of random searches show that there seem to be huge markups on all Jet2 flights. As I said before, it may be that they don't have access to the cheapest fare classes for Jet2, but it seems they are not competitive at all with that airline.

    You could perhaps ask them why, but as I said before, if they stick to their no refund T&Cs then the best bet may be to look at a different airline.
  • flyer
    flyer Posts: 2,206
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    Their arguement for non refund is actually quite pathetic.

    Unfortunately that's not possible as the value codes are bearer instruments. As Flightgiftcard value codes can be duplicated or shared with third parties after the sale, and hence be redeemed by any third party, order cancellation is not possible
    Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
  • Alan_Bowen
    Alan_Bowen Posts: 4,842
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    I had never heard of them, it turns out they started trading a year ago but they are based in the Netherlands. They do make it clear in the FAQ that you cannot get a refund or convert it into cash. As others have commented, it doesn't seem to be good value for Jet2 and possibly for other airlines that do not have operations out of their home territory, Ryanair and TC are major European players, Jet2 is not. The only way around not losing 40% of the value is to see if other airlines operate similar routes.
  • flyer
    flyer Posts: 2,206
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    Well, after pushing them to clarify how they operate, and particularly their claim that they work on a 2 - 10% margin, they have finally agreed to refund me!
    Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
  • Flightgiftcard ..... These people are scammers, please be warned don't use them as you won't get flights and will lose your money! They do not respond to emails, they have no phone number just an email address. The web booking system reports errors which prevent any booking taking place. They are not helpful and inflate cost of airline tickets in my case by up to 35% on top of web fares. Horrendous experience that has wasted many hours of my time
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,534
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    https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/flightgiftcard-review-website-voucher-scheme-bad-deals-uk-travellers-flights-warning-a8296326.html
    even a MSE comment in the article - Money Saving Expert advises: “You may not like giving cash, but it carries less risk, is more flexible and guarantees the recipient will be able to buy something.”
  • flyer wrote: »
    Does anyone have any experience dealing with this company? I bought my son a £100 flight voucher but when he tried to book Jet2.com flights he found out the price was 40% higher on the flight gift portal! Naturally they are blaming "a glitch" but refusing to refund me.
    I've just found the a similar mark up of 47% on BA flights. On checking the BA website a return flight from London Gatwick to Salzburg comes in at £88 and on Flightgift the same flight & times was £130. Seems way too excessive to me. I can understand anything up to 10% but 47% is way too high. This does not seem to be a glitch given the number of people seeing similar increases.
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