Cancelled Flight-bad Refund

[traveller57]

long post,please bear with me,here goes.

3 of us booked on aug 2 at the flight centre manchester,no travel insurance!(we were going to do it later).anyway,it turns out my mate erm BOB has been diagnosed with testicular cancer and at the moment is in christies cancer hospital manchester.

unknown to me, he phoned the flight centre and cancelled his trip without submitting a sick note.(he was flying on from BKK to manilla when i return to uk feb 15)

we booked KLM from MAN- SCHIPLPOL-BKK.i have the reply from flight centre in my hand. it says...

airfare paid inc tax £617

cancellation fee £365 per person.

refunds can take up to 12 weeks!

so,he lays out £617,they take £365 leaving him £252. sounds a bit steep to me.who decides the stoppages,KLM or the flight centre and may things have turned out different if he had put a proper sick note in?

the other 2 of us are arriving jan17BKK and going to pattaya.the other guy (who i havent met yet!)is only staying 2 wks while im staying til feb15.anyone got any thoughts on this?BOB is still in hospital on chemotherapy at the moment,when he gets home,ill drop everything and get him to manilla (cebu)ive been meaning to post this for a while ,hope you understand.regards all,dave

[thaiflyer1]

Seems a bit steep.......just checked the KLM website and this is what it says for the "terms and conditions"

Fare Conditions

PENALTIES

FOR K- TYPE FARES OUTBOUND - CHANGES CHANGES NOT PERMITTED. INBOUND - CHANGES ANY TIME CHARGE GBP 75.00. NOTE - ALL RESERVATION CHANGES MUST BE MADE PRIOR TO DEPARTURE OF ORIGININAL FLIGHT DATE ON TICKET CANCELLATIONS BEFORE DEPARTURE CHARGE GBP 75.00. NOTE - AFTER DEPARTURE NON REFUNDABLE

The above conditions were for a fare Manchester to Bangkok on Economy Flexible basis ticket was around 600 pound.............if you were to pay for Full Flexible Economy (another 275 pound) then cancellations are free.

There is also a 15 pound Admin charge..............even so the penalty for your ticket i thought should of been 90 pound,....................sounds like the agent has added the rest on.

I/d give them a ring and ask for a breakdown..............no doubt it/ll be in the small print though.

Edited December 18, 2005 by thaiflyer1

[traveller57]

thanks for the reply Thaiflyer1,i think the best thing to do would be to e mail KLM direct explaining the full situation.take note everyone else though that its better to take out travel insurance at the time of booking.regards dave

[Rinrada]

Sorry to hear about your mate but would only suggest that you have another go at Flightcentre and suggest extenuating circumstances.

Might be worth trying to send them a copy of the Hospital admin.cert (or something)since most of even the biggest companies have a bit of a reputation tp maintain and need all of the good will they can get as well as showing themselves as user friendly and "customer focused" Nothing more to lose..

Re insurance ....Dont buy the Travel insurance from the agents .....right good rip off.

I have a yearly policy from think someone like Norwich Union (bank deal) for believe (must recheck)about £72-00 a year for both wife and me and that includes visits to the US -Canada (usually a lot extra)and covers trips of up to 60 days at a time.

Its the only thing I have ever bought and Hope that I never use but would never travel without it ......only takes one small.......

[evadgib]

cancellation fee £365 per person.

refunds can take up to 12 weeks!

....why not issue a summons through the small claims court? the last time I did so it cost 115 quid and had the desired effect:)

(& you can do it online these days)

[mrbojangles]

Hi Traveller, a fellow Mancunian

Don't know how you paid for the flight but if by credit card, your mate could be insured on that (due to the unfortunate circumstances). I'm not sure if all credit card companies offer this service but i know some do. Worth checking out anyway.

All the best to your friend.

[traveller57]

hey MRbojangles, i was supposed to meet you on the manchester pissup but got full of <deleted> at work so couldnt turn up looking like a HOBO .bad news im afraid,we paid cash so no joy there.i think the best thing i can do is to e mail the flight centre and explain the situation to them.its worth a try for my mates sake.i was going to PM you and me and mate were going to come up to say hi in the dog?(i think)anyway,im in pattaya 17 jan,maybe bump into you .im going to try to get the e mail together now so ill let you know if/when i get a reply.cheers all,dave

[traveller57]

well, i e mailed the flight centreand had this reply from mark who took our booking.

"David

thanks for the email which you forwarded through our Customer service

team. They have subsequently forwarded onto myself as it was me that made

the initial booking, for yourself Sean, and Ray. I have tried calling

(20dec 10.00am) however there was no answer and it did not go through to

voice mail, therefore as I am not in the office after today I thought

sensible to explain over email

The actual tickets that Sean, and yourselves booked where entirely non

refundable tickets as set out in the remarks on your itineraries. I know

Ray and Sean where aware of this as we discussed this in the shop when we

spoke originally about the refund. On non refundable tickets the only

monies we are able to recoup from the airlines is the unused airport

taxes. However on this particular case I spoke to KLM and due to the

circumstances they where willing to give a proportional ticket refund of

which we received a amount of £275. We have passed this onto Ray, whom I

believe has since spoke with Sean and is more than happy with what we were

able to recoup on his behalf. This refund is by far not the norm from

airlines and they did make a special exception for us.

Unfortunately Airlines will only ever waive there cancellation fees in

situations where the passenger has actually passed away. On non

refundable tickets we always highly recommend passengers take out travel

insurance, which I am aware non of you purchased at time of booking.

All I can do is convey my apologies that there is no more that I can do

for you in this situation.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you not be happy with the

above explanation

Kind Regards

Mark McCormick"

i think it was kind of mark to reply so quickly,my mate who is ill is sean.so ill pass the letter on .the only Question now is .<deleted> is ray? the other guy who's coming with me is called joe so <deleted> is ray!

ill probably just leave the matter as it is now,shame i couldnt get sean a better refund but at least i tried.thanks for your comments and <deleted> is ray?

[mrbojangles]

i was going to PM you and me and mate were going to come up to say hi in the dog?(i think)anyway,im in pattaya 17 jan,maybe bump into you .

Hi Dave,

We will no doubt bump into you during January. We are going over to LOS very soon for about 4 - 6 weeks, travelling around and meeting some friends in Bangers, Krabi, Hua Hin and Patters. I'll PM you when we know we'll be in Patters and we can meet up for a beer. In the meantime you can always pop into the Dog if you fancy a pint

[traveller57]

cheers mr bo jangles,will pm you if im coming up to the dog or pm you when im in pattaya.(it will make a change from Bury as its 'peesin darn') cheers, dave