Thai Airways and Ticket Refunds

[edwinchester]

We booked tickets early 2020 for flights in May Bkk-Lhr return, through one of wifeys friends, a sub-agent for a major travel agency. We received an email from Thai in March 2020 informing us flights had been cancelled and to contact our travel agent. Through our agent we arranged a refund and were told 4-6 weeks.

The refund never arrived and we were told it was held up because of Thais bankruptcy.

Through my wife's friend we learned that Thai Airways had in fact paid out the refund early last year but the travel agency she is a sub-agent for had held onto the money because of cash flow problems of their own.

Not happy we contacted the agency ourselves and asked for our money back, this was early this year not sure of the date, and were promised a refund at the end of July.

Since then calls to their phones have gone unanswered as have emails.

Yesterday my wife's friend gave her the personal number of a staffer in the big agency who has knowledge of what is happening with the refund process.

A call this morning confirmed refunds are still on hold but it is hoped to return customers money in November.

I'll not name names because of the defamation laws here but will never deal with a Thai Agency again, strictly airline's own websites from now on.

A call to the Thai Consumer Protection Board elicited the response that they are aware of the agency in question and that there is an ongoing investigation into the obvious shenanigans going on.

I should add that my wife's friend is owed a substantial amount of commission money from the main agency and has also been promised that in November.

Time will tell.

[blackcab]

54 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

...but will never deal with a Thai Agency again, strictly airline's own websites from now on.

 

It's not just Thailand, but almost every country in the world.

 

If you have the slightest problem and you use an agency, the airline's response will be to ask you to contact the agency, which is easier said than done in many cases, especially if you need to rebook quickly.

 

For me, it's direct bookings only.

 

The same with car hire.

[wprime]

The agency sounds like they're insolvent. An external administrator should be appointed.

 

The assets of the company will be sold off and the funds will be used to pay the administrators and any associated legal fees.

 

In my experience in Thailand there's not going to be anything left after that.

 

If, through a stroke of luck, something is left after that, it will be distributed among creditors such as yourself proportionately to how much your debt is a fraction of the total owing.

 

[Whale]

2 hours ago, edwinchester said:

I'll not name names because of the defamation laws

Just give us a slightly cryptic hint so none of us make the same mistake.

[edwinchester]

1 hour ago, wprime said:

The agency sounds like they're insolvent. An external administrator should be appointed.

 

The assets of the company will be sold off and the funds will be used to pay the administrators and any associated legal fees.

 

In my experience in Thailand there's not going to be anything left after that.

 

If, through a stroke of luck, something is left after that, it will be distributed among creditors such as yourself proportionately to how much your debt is a fraction of the total owing.

 

It would appear they are not actually insolvent, money is certainly moving around anyway, as the person my wife spoke with is actually authorised to make small transactions but unfortunately as we are owed for 3 tickets it falls outside of amounts being okayed at the moment.

[BKKBike09]

You can look up the agency's posted financials (2020 should have been filed by now) via the Min of Commerce Dept of Business Development web site: https://datawarehouse.dbd.go.th

 

Do you actually have proof that THAI paid the agency (other than that's what your wife's friend has said)? There are many agencies in the same boat, owed large sums by THAI. The agent my company used for more than 10 years is owed millions; the owner now is selling chicken rice to get by. 

 

Dealing with an agency has its risks but the convenience is considerable. Our agent could make provisional bookings on TG, get back ROP miles if plans changed etc. I have two outstanding tickets on TG - last time I tried to re-book them direct (May) I spent an hour on hold, twice, with TG. If I can't use those tickets I'm owed around THB 75,000 and a shed load of ROP miles for the upgrade. 

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

[edwinchester]

4 minutes ago, BKKBike09 said:

You can look up the agency's posted financials (2020 should have been filed by now) via the Min of Commerce Dept of Business Development web site: https://datawarehouse.dbd.go.th

 

Do you actually have proof that THAI paid the agency (other than that's what your wife's friend has said)? There are many agencies in the same boat, owed large sums by THAI. The agent my company used for more than 10 years is owed millions; the owner now is selling chicken rice to get by. 

 

Dealing with an agency has its risks but the convenience is considerable. Our agent could make provisional bookings on TG, get back ROP miles if plans changed etc. I have two outstanding tickets on TG - last time I tried to re-book them direct (May) I spent an hour on hold, twice, with TG. If I can't use those tickets I'm owed around THB 75,000 and a shed load of ROP miles for the upgrade. 

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply.

The contact my wife spoke with in the main agency let on that Thai had paid back the money early last year.

Entirely agree that using an agent can be very convenient. My wife's friends arranged some varied travel plans for us that would have been impossible online.

[jomtienisgood]

19 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

It's not just Thailand, but almost every country in the world.

 

If you have the slightest problem and you use an agency, the airline's response will be to ask you to contact the agency, which is easier said than done in many cases, especially if you need to rebook quickly.

 

For me, it's direct bookings only.

 

The same with car hire.

Same here, always booked directly with Airline.... 

[jomtienisgood]

17 hours ago, Whale said:

Just give us a slightly cryptic hint so none of us make the same mistake.

At least the City....

[edwinchester]

3 minutes ago, jomtienisgood said:

At least the City....

Bangkok.....sorry.

[Sydebolle]

Write-off the amount and eventually run a big party, should the cash still arrive. 

My word of advice is to book and pay on short(est) notice to avoid such incidents in the future. A little costlier than all those "early bird" special offers but considerably safer ....... 

[Sticky Rice Balls]

And this is why Im very skeptical of doing any ASQ or sandbox,a as ive learned in over a decade in LOS, things dont usually go as planned there...

 

And have yet to see a thai apologize and happily offer a refund, even have to pull teeth to exchange thai baht back to USD when i leave--an "exchange"!

[238917_1469957665]

44 minutes ago, jomtienisgood said:

Same here, always booked directly with Airline.... 

 I lost 20.000 Thb. Get directly from ThaiAirways but the flight was Covid cancel and I never got my money back, voucher or even a response. Total ignore me. I also have a Covid cancellation Ticket from Airasia and Qatar but no problems to get a voucher refund. ThaiAirways is no more and if no money same same I think.

 

[SomchaiCNX]

One can ask the job description of the TAT, fake figures or checking bad agents? An agency in CNX was know to do the same with fake tickets, it was run (on paper) by................ the wife of a POLICE officer.

[Pinot]

I got 40k credit that's good through 2022. I'd rather have the money but you know...TIT

[jomtienisgood]

53 minutes ago, 238917_1469957665 said:

 I lost 20.000 Thb. Get directly from ThaiAirways but the flight was Covid cancel and I never got my money back, voucher or even a response. Total ignore me. I also have a Covid cancellation Ticket from Airasia and Qatar but no problems to get a voucher refund. ThaiAirways is no more and if no money same same I think.

 

I think you should insist as a lot of my friends in the same situation got vouchers from TGA valid until 12/2022.. ( not 21 )

[dutchweller]

Even Dealing Direct with Thai Airways will not save you from this problem.
We are owed refunds from 2020 that Thai Airways have not paid and by now do not expect to get it back as Thai airways used Bankruptcy to avoid paying refunds. 
 

The Irony is  I received an Email from Thai Airways marketing promoting flights.
All I can say is NEVER again THAI AIRWAYS
I will even take Non direct routs with a  more reputable airline over THAIAIRWAYS  from now on.

And All flights will now be booked direct through Airline with AMEX CC.

 

That way if flights are cancelled you can just call AMEX explain you were charged for services not rendered and get the refund through them and leave  AMEX and the Airline to argue..

It worked with another Ticket that was in the same situation called Amex had the funds credited to Account within 2 days..

 

 

[Mises]

Always pay by credit card then you simply demand a refund from your credit card company.

[Scouse123]

4 hours ago, 238917_1469957665 said:

 I lost 20.000 Thb. Get directly from ThaiAirways but the flight was Covid cancel and I never got my money back, voucher or even a response. Total ignore me. I also have a Covid cancellation Ticket from Airasia and Qatar but no problems to get a voucher refund. ThaiAirways is no more and if no money same same I think.

 

I got cash refund from Qatar and credit refund Air Asia.

 

I won't deal with THAI

[oldhand]

It is not just the Thai agents. I bought a ticket in UK on Thai for November 2020 through a well known international agent starting with X and only got the refund in August 2021. They gave me the 4-6 weeks message 3 times!

[jomtienisgood]

9 hours ago, oldhand said:

It is not just the Thai agents. I bought a ticket in UK on Thai for November 2020 through a well known international agent starting with X and only got the refund in August 2021. They gave me the 4-6 weeks message 3 times!

X-Rated????????????????