As previously posted for a customer cancelled international booking from FC’s T&C
Cancellations to International bookings (excluding Trans-Tasman bookings) will incur a fee of $300 per passenger per booking in addition to supplier fees. and Cancelled bookings may also incur supplier fees, which can be up to 100% of the cost of the booking
As stated in those FAQs you can choose to keep credit toward a future trip booked with FC valid until 1 July 2021 (being reviewed as events unfold) or to wear the myriad fees.
This is all very good information I will arm myself when replying to what Flight Centre will offer me. I just do not want to go to the United States for a number of years. They have handled this terribly so many Cases and Deaths all over that country it is a discrase. I will be after refunds for that part of my trip and vouchers for the Pacific to book by the end of this year and hopefully travel safely by April next year as I will be my 50th. I mostly wanted to voice my situation now and then report back so more people will know what to expect back from my $9,000 transferred months ago for a trip of a lifetime. The sooner people are aware of what to expect the less stress we will be under in these uncertain times.
I was on a tour in Argentina when it was cancelled due to government restrictions and the virus. The tour was booked and paid through Two’s a Crowd in Australia but they employ/outsource to Peregrine for the tour. I have been told I will be offered a credit on the remainder of the tour to use to use in the future, rather than any cash refund and that they will reschedule the rest of the tour for next year. I have not been told the value of this credit. Am I able to request a cash refund given it will cost me to return to South America and I already have another holiday booked for that time next year?
Their policy may not be the last word. Since you have already made future plans you should minimally expect your credit to be made available on alternative dates.
Scan this topic as many others are in similar situations. Check the Choice and ACCC advices linked to prior posts for further details regarding your rights and what you might expect.
I hope it works out for you and an alternative arrangement might be possible. A pre-existing pre-paid tour for this time next year seems a reason to ask for an alternative arrangement. The rub may be that Peregrine has the money. They have their own COVID-19 policy that appears flexible - 110% of the value for another Peregrine Tour before March 2022; one the more flexible policies I have seen on this topic to date. Note that Peregrine has global tours so may be able to get another more amenable to your needs rather than just accept a reschedule of that which has been cancelled.
Your negotiating position should be based on what the tour operator is offering, and that should flow back through the agent you are dealing with.
Considering the numbers of tours cancelled and the global uncertainty when things will return to normalcy they might not be able to provide quick or crisp answers in the near term
Good luck getting it sorted to satisfaction, but a refund may be a long shot to expect so consider your backup options (alternative Peregrine Tours) up front.
We had a return trip to Europe booked through Flight Centre, Sydney to Barcelona 31 May, Rome to Sydney 23 June. In mid March Singapore Airlines cancelled the Singapore to Barcelona sector and although our Flight Centre TA has twice contacted Singapore Air about a refund, only a credit was being offered (with the stipulation the new trip had to be taken by 31 March 2021).
We decided to give it a while and see if things changed. There are several reasons why we don’t want a credit; we want a refund. As of yesterday it seems we are in the category of passengers for whom Singapore Air will now process refunds as their COVID-19 terms and conditions were changed.
Relief on that account; it’s been really stressful thinking the money we paid for Premium Economy tickets was not being refunded. However, now it looks as though Flight Centre will be charging $300 per person for cancellation, even though it was the airline who cancelled. Is this actually legal? I can understand a cancellation fee if the passenger cancels, but when the supplier has cancelled, and what’s more isn’t charging fees, it simply sounds like profiteering.
Considering the numbers of their customers left out of pocket and the related press, one might reasonably question whether Flight Centre will recover its business after the global shut down is over.
Plz scan this topic for Flight Centre issues, Choice advice, ACCC advice, and force majeur clauses, linked to various prior posts. You can find the relevant posts quickly by using the forum search function and ticking the ‘search this topic’ box.
It is worth reading the Singapore Airlines COVID-19 webpage to see if you qualify for a refund. It appears that if you meet the requirements outlined on their website, even when the ticket has been purchased through a travel agency, you may be able to request a refund.
I would be raising this with Flight Centre as the information provided by Flight Centre may be based on their approach to COVID-19, rather than that of the airline. I would also be requesting from them proof from Singapore Airlines that the credit/voucher from Singapore Airlines is the only option.
Thanks for your comment phb. I know that our circumstances now qualify us for a refund; we have to apply for that refund via our TA and yes, it seems we will get it. After the last few weeks of coming up against a brick wall with them, I might believe it when it actually happens. The credit voucher is no longer the only option as of yesterday. I’ve been monitoring the airlines terms and conditions constantly so picked up on it yesterday, and also was emailed by my TA notifying me.
It’s an issue I need to take up with Flight Centre, for sure. Their online terms and conditions include: Cancellations to International bookings (excluding Trans-Tasman bookings) will incur a fee of $300 per passenger per booking in addition to supplier fees. (The supplier, S.Airlines, has waived fees.)
It doesn’t spell out whether the intent is cancellations made by customers or includes cancellations made by the supplier. I’d be interested to know how they’d handle a cancellation made by an airline in non-coronavirus times, whether they’d actually charge $300pp for a cancellation not instigated by the customer. I feel they’re definitely profiteering.
As previously linked, Flight Centre deems they are due their fees for services provided regardless of who cancels a booking.
When a supplier provides a credit voucher or refund it appears FC ‘graciously’ (!) waives their own cancellation fees when the value is left with FC for a future booking, from which they will derive some income.
When the customer wants the voucher or refund in their own pocket FC appears to want their fee since they will be out of pocket. As they see it their agent spent time making the booking and spent more time ‘cleaning it up’, and will eventually spend time making the new booking, all ‘valuable services’.
If anyone can confirm or correct that is how it has worked for them it would be appreciated.
TheBBG:
I’d say you’re right. From my end of things, I did the research for the flight as my daughter is the TA there that I dealt with. I simply wanted to throw a booking her way. IF I ever book via her I don’t want to waste her time so I know ahead of time exactly what I want - when, where, category, even cabin number if it’s a cruise - and she just books it, commission free. I’m a big researcher, flights, cruises, tours, accommodation, everything, I actually prefer to book things myself. That’s worked against me now.
It just occurred to me… I wonder if Flight Centre would be agreeable to holding that cancellation fee as a credit against a booking I’ll make (with them) for travel later in 2021, provided the world is okay in regards to COVID-19. I’ve found the 2 Europe/Adriatic cruises we want to take B2B, and we’ll need to fly there. I need to check this out after Easter.
I will post how it goes, but it might not be for a while. I’m thinking I might hold off for a bit in case policies change to a more favourable outcome. But I’ll ask my daughter on Tuesday if she can just make a query re holding the cancellation fee as a credit but she might not truly know until the whole refund request is instigated.
I have fully paid to go to NY - what happens to my money if COVID-19 is still around in March 2021. Is there any gov’t policy that says I can get my money back or defer to another time?
Since it is a year away we all might be fortunate and while a vaccine might be a long shot by then, efficacious medicines may be identified that will mitigate the virus in the interim and life may be back to normal or close to it.
To get to your question, plz scan this topic for Choice advice, ACCC advice, and force majeur clauses, linked to various prior posts. You can find the relevant posts quickly by using the forum search function and ticking the ‘search this topic’ box.
The TripADeal formal statement is
which appears to be somewhat less than many other travel companies are offering but it remains early days. It is also possible in a worst case that many tour operators (TripA Deal itself as an agent, or those companies who are their providers) will cease operating because of a prolonged shutdown, and if that impacted your trip, your travel insurance may cover it, policy and situation dependent and Choice’s Guide may be helpful. You did buy travel insurance, didn’t you?
If you choose to cancel the trip check the T&C in your contract as they will be those that are applicable re refunds, reschedules, and so on.
Your question may be best answered by Tripadeal. I suspect that if travel restrictions last longer than the voucher expiry date, they will be automatically extended. As @PhilT as indicated, whether a service provider or agent can survive extended periods, ia another (unknown) matter.
That’s my experience. I have a substantial mount of money sitting with FC.
From my last email with my agent, ‘…the credit is just a generic credit with the airline and can be used for any travel on their network for up to 760 days from the date of ticketing. This means you can travel anywhere on the Emirates network up [until the 18th of February 2022]. So plenty of time to travel.”
When you use FC you are getting a service and it is made quite clear that if you cancel and require cash back there are the fees. I opted to leave the money as credit for a future trip.
My guy worked his tail off getting the flights and classes of flight I wanted. He has now been working almost nonstop getting clients back from overseas and sorting out cancelled trips for those of us with upcoming trips. On top of this there is job uncertainties for those employed by FC.
We can’t expect to get full refunds and travel agents not make money for using their services.
I think we’ve all slowly realised that overseas travel restrictions were going to last much longer than just one year, which make credit notes and deferred travel options that much less attractive.
We’re a retired couple who had tickets booked to the UK with Qantas in May, returning in Sep. We had booked with Qantas direct and that is it’s own continuing drama to get refunded.
What is more irritating still is the loss on CheapOair tickets booked within Europe as seniors that each had such hefty CheapOair cancellation fees on top of any partial refund that only some airlines might actually allow. That means that, on balance, it is cheaper and better for your sanity to be a ‘no show’ than to try pursuing cancellation thru CheapOair’s arcane cancellation processes, which are ill-equipped for the task and and probably designed to frustrate it. To cancel you always need to speak to agent, and to speak to an agent you always have to join horrendous chat-line queues. Things may get better but there was no alternative at the time I was dealing with them.
More to follow on accommodation.
Accommodation booked thru an accommodation provider like Booking.com did come with clear cancellation provisions so, in fairness, no complaints there but the sudden onset of coronavirus travel restrictions and closed borders, and the need to cancel giving so much notice and for no fault of our own, made it hard not to resent the unwillingness of some accommodation providers especially in Germany and Austria to continue to charge the full prepaid accommodation rate for cancelling, even after borders had been closed. If providers are going to charge you what you’ve already prepaid in full and give you no benefit for cancelling, why even bother cancelling?
Trying to recover monies paid thru credit card chargebacks when the bookings had been made thru an intermediary like Booking.com is proving especially difficult. As a case in point, there’s the accommodation provider in Vienna (we are indeed repeat guests) who has finally just responded to our request for remission of his cancellation rate after one month and to whom we had prepaid some $700: he regrets he can’t give us any money back but if we hang on to our booking till September, who knows, he says, circumstances and polices might change and we might get something back then. So, does that equip us to cancel now and claim a chargeback? Do we hang on to the booking and remember to check the lie of the land in September before trying to cancel then? In what way will anything have really changed by then? We just want our money back now for a service that’s not going to be delivered. It looks as if chargeback isn’t even going to be able to help us here either. So do we just mark it up as another loss?
