Booked air tickets out of TH, cancelled hours later

[Dellamorte]

Today I booked air tickets out of Thailand (Bangkok - Vienna) with Austrian Airlines (via Gotogate.com) on Sunday 27th. Just hours later I received a mail from the travel agency with the following message:

 

"Your flight(s) has unfortunately been affected by the situation with Covid-19.
 
Due to the airline's changes you can no longer travel as planned on your original itinerary."

 

In the email I only get one choice: to ask for a refund. Which means money back in some months, or maybe never. USD 1200 (2 pax) out the window. Now I need more time to sort out what to do to get out of the country. Any advice what to do in this situation?

[FlyingThai]

First of all why did you book with some obscure OTA website and not directly with the airline?

 

I suggest to call the provider and ask them to rebook you on Lufthansa (their mother company) unless you can afford to just wait for a refund on these tickets.

 

Lufthansa flights depart 4x per week.

[Dellamorte]

Yes, normally I always book directly through the airline's website. In this case there some (technical?) issues on Austrian Airlines' website which made the flight unavailable for online booking. On Austrian's website I was prompted to call them to book the tickets, but when calling I could not get through, even after long waiting on the line. So then I decided to do it through the travel agency listed on Google Flights.

 

Gotogate has been around for many years, so I didn't expect any trouble, but I obviously regret it now. I see on different webpages that a lot of people have recently had similar experiences with Gotogate.com. They cancel your ticket short time after they've been booked, blaming it on Covid, and then just hold on to the money, not answering mails, phone, etc.

 

 

There is unfortunately no way to rebook to another flight. They only provided one option: to ask for a refund. Seems very dubious, more like a scam really. But pretty f****d up in this already difficult situation.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Dellamorte

[FlyingThai]

2 minutes ago, Dellamorte said:

Yes, normally I always book directly through the airline's website. In this case there some (technical?) issues on Austrian Airlines' website which made the flight unavailable for online booking. On Austrian's website I was prompted to call them to book the tickets, but when calling I could not get through, even after long waiting on the line. So then I decided to do it through the travel agency listed on Google Flights.

 

Gotogate has been around for many years, so I didn't expect any trouble, but I obviously regret it now. I see on different webpages that a lot of people have recently had similar experiences with Gotogate.com. They cancel your ticket short time after they've been booked, blaming it on Covid, and then just hold on to the money, not answering mails, phone, etc.

 

 

There is unfortunately no way to rebook to another flight. They only provided one option: to ask for a refund. Seems very dubious, more like a scam really. But pretty f****d up in this already difficult situation.

And you didn't think that error on the OS website was suspicious? It emulated because these OS flights don't exist.

 

Did you actually get ticket numbers or just a reservation code? Without ticket numbers no payment has been taken yet, just an authorization.

 

Try it for a long time to reach the OTA (G2G) or call the Austrian Airlines hotline, asking them for irregular operations handling and the Lufthansa rebooking. What date is your flight?

[userabcd]

Show your docs and explain your predicament to your countries embassy to get them to issue an embassy letter for immigration.

 

With the letter, head on down to immigration and apply to get an extension before the 26th?

 

Or, book another flight out directly with the airline after consulting directly with them on their reliability for departure

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by userabcd

[Sambotte]

Personally yes i always book directly with airlines. Had a head heck with expedia a few years ago, never got my refund. They never saw me again of course. Sorry for you. You may try to insist for a rebooking (if not more expensive), or a immediate refund. You will see then if it's a steal.

[Sambotte]

You may ask your credit card company too, if it's possible to cancel. 

[userabcd]

1 minute ago, Sambotte said:

Personally yes i always book directly with airlines. Had a head heck with expedia a few years ago, never got my refund. They never saw me again of course. Sorry for you. You may try to insist for a rebooking (if not more expensive), or a immediate refund. You will see then if it's a steal.

Exactly, I always book directly with the airlines.

[sammieuk1]

Do a credit card chargeback used it a couple of times so far with 100% success Finair was one ???? 

[Dellamorte]

I've already tried with my credit card company. They are on the case, but they told me that a chargeback would probably take around 15 days.

 

According to Google Flights the flights existed, also on Austrian's website, but at the Austrian website it said that the tickets could only be booked via phone. I thought that was some technical issue, so that's why I used Gotogate. Never again.

[Maestro]

55 minutes ago, Dellamorte said:

Today I booked air tickets out of Thailand (Bangkok - Vienna) with Austrian Airlines (via Gotogate.com) on Sunday 27th. Just hours later I received a mail from the travel agency with the following message:

 

"Your flight(s) has unfortunately been affected by the situation with Covid-19.
 
Due to the airline's changes you can no longer travel as planned on your original itinerary."...

 

Take immediate action to block the card issuer's payment to Gotogate. The credit card company probably has on online form for this.

[FlyingThai]

1 minute ago, Dellamorte said:

I've already tried with my credit card company. They are on the case, but they told me that a chargeback would probably take around 15 days.

 

According to Google Flights the flights existed, also on Austrian's website, but at the Austrian website it said that the tickets could only be booked via phone. I thought that was some technical issue, so that's why I used Gotogate. Never again.

Good luck! Hopefully they'll find a solution. Austrian has a reservation office in Bangkok as well, you could call there tomorrow if you can get through. Or email: [email protected]

 

A chargeback will always take up to three months for final resolution because the merchant has several weeks to reply to the case. Ideally they'd auto cancel before it even tickets and the authorization would just drop off.

[Maestro]

Even when you book a flight through a travel agent, is it not usually the airline that informs the traveller directly changes or cancellations of a flight?

[FlyingThai]

3 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

Take immediate action to block the card issuer's payment to Gotogate. The credit card company probably has on online form for this.

You can't "block" a payment that has already been authorized and processed. Your only course of action if a payment has posted is a chargeback pending investigation by the bank and merchant.

[Sambotte]

And better check too if a flight actually fly regularely !

flyaware for example.

[FlyingThai]

Just now, Maestro said:

Even when you book a flight through a travel agent, is it not usually the airline that informs the traveller directly changes or cancellations of a flight?

No the airline will send a system message to the issuing agent who then informs the customer.

 

More often than not the airline doesn't even have proper or current contact information for the passenger when booked via OTA unless the frequent flyer number is in the system.

 

Interestingly enough I just tried a dummy booking on OS website and they would sell flights for the 25th SEP.

[impulse]

1 minute ago, FlyingThai said:

Interestingly enough I just tried a dummy booking on OS website and they would sell flights for the 25th SEP.

 

You figure they're making money on the float?

 

[Maestro]

I am not sure how it is with flights from Thailand, but I believe an EU law or decree compels airlines to rebook you on a new flight with its own or with another airline for any cancelled flight terminating in an EU country. Perhaps somebody knowledgeable with this legislation will come and post a link to it.

[FlyingThai]

11 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

You figure they're making money on the float?

 

They're tracking demand this way. The entire Lufthansa Group does this and there have already been police reports and lawsuits in Germany against this practice. Lufthansa just ignores it and continues, this way they get a free loan for several weeks.

[Maestro]

A quick web search brought up this link with helpful information about a person's rights with regard to the cancellation of a flight of an EU airline departing from or arriving in an EU country.

[FlyingThai]

12 minutes ago, Maestro said:

I am not sure how it is with flights from Thailand, but I believe an EU law or decree compels airlines to rebook you on a new flight with its own or with another airline for any cancelled flight terminating in an EU country. Perhaps somebody knowledgeable with this legislation will come and post a link to it.

EC261/2004 has in part been paused during the pandemic but the airlines still have duty of care. Since we're within a week of departure the airline is responsible for providing a rebooking. The OP should contact the Austrian Airlines reservation office demanding the change. But by the book he has to contact the travel agent and they have to do it.

[impulse]

Just now, FlyingThai said:

They're tracking demand this way. The entire Lufthansa Group does this and there have already been police reports and lawsuits in Germany against this practice. Lufthansa just ignores it and continues, this way they get a free loan for several weeks.

 

That's "the float"...  Free loans for several weeks.  On an individual basis, it's not much money.  But if you can hold a few million $$$ from tens of thousands of people while delaying their refunds, you can make some decent coin.

 

[FlyingThai]

2 minutes ago, Maestro said:

A quick web search brought up this link with helpful information about a person's rights with regard to the cancellation of a flight of an EU airline departing from or arriving in an EU country.

Having rights and enforcing them are unfortunately two different things. Most airlines are simply ignoring legitimate passenger requests at the moment. If you incur damages you have to sue them or file an official complaint with the national regulator. The courts already have tens of thousands of cases and will be busy for years.

[Maestro]

1 minute ago, FlyingThai said:

EC261/2004 has in part been paused during the pandemic but the airlines still have duty of care. Since we're within a week of departure the airline is responsible for providing a rebooking. The OP should contact the Austrian Airlines reservation office demanding the change. But by the book he has to contact the travel agent and they have to do it.

 

Thank you for posting this information. I was confident that somebody would have it but, wow, you were super fast.

[Maestro]

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

That's "the float"...  Free loans for several weeks.  On an individual basis, it's not much money.  But if you can hold a few million $$$ from tens of thousands of people while delaying their refunds, you can make some decent coin.

 

 

Bank interest rates are near zero. Hopefully, they don't go and gamble with the money in casinos or the stock market.

[edwardandtubs]

31 minutes ago, Sambotte said:

And better check too if a flight actually fly regularely !

flyaware for example.

Absolutely. People saying they're stuck in Thailand because all flights to Europe have been cancelled are obviously wrong but you do have to be very cautious when booking a ticket. Fortunately, you can check which flights are actually taking off and landing regularly and then book direct with the airline. I wouldn't go anywhere near travel agents or flight aggregator websites for now.

[FlyingThai]

9 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

Bank interest rates are near zero. Hopefully, they don't go and gamble with the money in casinos or the stock market.

Bank interest rates are zero but that won't help you if you can't find bank to lend you money. And no bank will lend money to airlines right now, only governments do in form of bailouts. Some airlines like IAG have raised cash by issuing more stock.

 

Lufthansa Group was totally on it's ass a few months ago having exhausted all avenues. Banks wouldn't lend them any more money and they were short of going into administration before the German/Austrian/Swiss and Belgian government provided bailouts.

[Jack Hna]

Unbelievably quick responses here. Top work everyone has useful info on this. Unbelievable.

[impulse]

21 minutes ago, Maestro said:

Bank interest rates are near zero. Hopefully, they don't go and gamble with the money in casinos or the stock market.

 

It's actually more of an accounting and bonus thing.  Having a debt on the books reduces the "Net Capital Employed" (NCE).  If your bonus depends on Return on NCE, your bonus is bigger if you delay paying the debt. 

 

That's why so many companies are paying their vendors with 90+ day terms nowadays.  Someone at the company gets $0.50 added to their bonus while their suppliers (and the guys like the OP needing ticket refunds) eat peanut butter sandwiches for months because they can't afford better.

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by impulse

[steven100]

I have said a dozen times ... If you buy an air ticket at this time you risk losing your initial costs.

Chances are the flight will be cancelled and trying to get any refund is a nightmare. 

 

Some flights do eventuate but not all. It's a risk to buy any ticket at this time. imo