COVID-19 Prepaid Airline, Accomodation & Tour Refunds, Rebookings

Travel
102

don’t know what lessons to take away from all this. Booking.com still provide a very good service but would one do better just to use them in future to identify preferred accommodation and then contact providers direct? That’s already been the lesson in regard to operators like CheapOair in rather better times when the issue was getting a better flight deal approaching the airlines direct.

Whatever happens, most of us who were planning overseas trips this year will have to accept large losses on flights and accommodation and a further problem I am now encountering is that we won’t get much back on our travel insurance either because we will have difficulty documenting the efforts we’ve made to mitigate our losses on flights and accommodation thru providers like CheapOair and Booking.com. Have others been having the same experiences?

103

Welcome to the community @JandM,

I had an award ticket booked (miles + fees) and the refund process was not crisp but it worked. The numbers of tickets in play is huge so it would not be surprising if it takes a while to get a refund or credit. With much of QF stood down they are also working with reduced staff so patience is necessary.

It seems like you have done some research; I was not previously familiar with CheapOAir, apparently a US travel company, but have you read this page at CheapOAir? It suggests you might be able to get a refund or credit. Their page states each airline’s policies. If you are familiar the link might be helpful for others having booked on now-impossible flights, European or otherwise.

If you feel CheapOAir is not doing the right thing you could lodge a complaint with the US Better Business Bureau of which they are a member according to their website.

They are quite specific about their fees but you might ask since the airlines may be offering refunds or vouchers even for non-refundable tickets, if CheapOAir would waive cancellation fees if you kept refunds on account for future use.

Unfortunately that sometimes is the case, and it is good you noted it since other readers might not have considered that as a viable option.

If the provider can supply proof it is a bona fide charge the amount gets reinstated. A booking with terms and conditions suffices IME although nothing ventured is a self fulfilling prophesy.

If you peruse this topic travelers’ experiences have been across the spectrum. A consistent message is that one has to keep abreast of the agents/providers/suppliers COVID-19 policies as they evolve and claim or negotiate accordingly. For example if an airline waives cancellation fees one must be atop it if a travel agent tries to charge them anyway atop their own.

As for travel insurance, their pandemic or force majeur clauses are salient. If your policy might cover your loses you should have an email trail (or screen shots of web forms, or personal notes bout voice calls with time, date, names, outcomes) as well as documented government imposed travel restrictions and airline shutdowns to use as evidence.

I expect more will post on this topic, but to answer your question start from the top and read through for the varied experiences if you have not already done so.

It has to be difficult for a travel business because many, especially small operators, neither have the cash for refunds nor the inclination to jeopardise themselves for customers who individually account for very small amounts of their P/L.

If you manage to get credit or refunds please post so others will know who is taking care of customers and who is taking care of themselves.

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104

Yep that is correct with Flight Centre.
My 9 k trip has been canceled.
Nz ,Hawaii, Las Vaegus, Fiji.
I am getting a refund from the first leg 5,800
But Fiji airlines will only offer a credit of 2,500 which I have accepted as I would go to Fiji in a later Date but not the States.
Yes I have to pay my 300 x 2 to flight centre, but it does say this in the contract.
I am fairly happy about this situation.
But will not be going out of NZ for months even possibly not staying in motels for a month as well.
Things will slow down and the money will have to stay in my account for at least 6 months.

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105

A local+UK company has set a new low bar, probably not by choice (no pun intended), but

They may not have the cash to honour their previous commitment, but only our illustrious governments seem able to do anything retrospectively to save their sorry sad selves. Will Topdeck Australia end in administration, find the cash, or ? Will the directors get into the firing line? Many questions …

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106

From the linked article.

'A spokeswoman said the ACCC’s guidance also stated that customers ought to be provided a “remedy” for any cancellation, which could be in the form of “a credit note or voucher”.

The company has also waived cancellation fees and provided an additional $100 in credit to affected customers, she said, and believed it was offering a response that was “reasonable in the current circumstances, and is in line with the ACCC’s guidelines”.’

All very well as long as the company does go under or the consumer is still alive and well.

107

Hey @NayA I’m an AirBnB host myself and I have had guests cancel in June and receive full refunds. There seems to be an option where they can cancel and cite covid19 as the reason then it comes to me to authorise the full refund. Maybe see if you can find that? Failing that I’ve also had a couple of guests where Airbnb has held back 50% per my cancellation policy but when I’ve contacted Airbnb as the host and asked them to refund the guest 100% they have done so. Hope this helps
Nicola

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108

Hey team
There’s a lot on here around Flight Centre but not much on Expedia who are copping it on other platforms. I’ve booked through them but not flying until June so was going to hang on for the moment as the flights are technically not cancelled yet. However to process a credit card recharge I have to do something by the 3rd May. So two questions:-

  1. Choices advice is to be persistent and keep escalating. Good advice but how do you do that if there is no email address for Expedia and they won’t even take a call. It’s hanging up before you can even sit on hold:)

  2. Do we think it might be possible to dispute the card transaction even though the flights aren’t cancelled yet on the basis that they are not providing a service as I cannot get hold of them, the fare rules are contradictory (they’ve changed them since I booked but I have screenshots) and they’ve also lost half my itinerary (the return leg has disappeared from my itinerary on their website and Virgin can’t see it in their system either).

Thanks for all your help for everyone suffering similar issues!!
Nicola

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109

Reviews for Expedia on Product Review.

A scathing 1,135 1-star reviews from some 1,401 reviews.

What more needs to be said?

110

Left on my bucket list was to attend a Willy Nelson concert in the USA scheduled April 29 2020 in Milwaukee, and arranged a flight through my agent to fly Qantas in First (expensive). Now that everything’s gone pear shaped, Qantas will refund the fare less $1,650.00 cancellation fee, which is about what a full fare in Economy would be. This is a great way to treat a Gold Frequent Flyer spending more than $60K a year in premium cabins. The fee in no way represents the cost to Qantas of the cancellation, and in 1990 I could cancel a flight at a moments notice and get a full refund.

The concert promoters in Milwaukee WI are acting in bad faith as well. Rather than “cancelling” the “concert”, they’ve craftily postponed it to avoid refunding the ticket cost.

I have an overwhelming feeling of helplessness where once the provider has your money, you’ll need to fight tooth and nail to get a refund.

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111

You could try, but whether you are successful is unlikely as the flights haven’t been cancelled and if they are, they could provide a remedy under the booking t&cs agreed to when the booking was made.

EDIT: Westpac website has some detailed information about chargebacks and the daje would apply for other banks. The website worth reading is…

The non receipt of goods and services is clearliy defined.

One consideration expected in relation to cancelled travel and chargeback opportunity is what the service T&Cs say in relation to how such will be handled. If the cancellation is handled consistent with these T&Cs, it is likely that a chargeback may not be successful.

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112

Thanks @phb. I think I’m going to give it a go anyway as my first course of action as that expires on the 3rd May. I think it’s eligible under the a) terms and conditions not clearly supplied/ and are contradictory and b) services have not been delivered as expected as they have lost the return leg of my itinerary despite full payment being made and an original itinerary to that effect and have not been able to deal with it promptly.
Thanks for your help!!
Nicola

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113

Thanks. This was my first ever booking using AirBnB and I now have my money back thanks to your advice. :grin:

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114

Flight Centre hits the headlines, no comment. The headline is only part of the story so please read it prior to making any comments. The issue is recompense between vouchers and refunds and the impossibility of the family to use vouchers in the time required. Not the first to be in this predicament.

115

Update today on this. Bank west has advised me this afternoon that due to the Federal Government travel restrictions, this supersedes any rights we/ credit card companies have to dispute the supply of goods and services. Therefore whilst these restrictions remain in place they cannot process any transaction disputes. I get it but it also means that consumers lose any route they have to dispute transactions where suppliers are not doing the right thing or complying with terms and conditions.

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116

Thanks for providing an update and passing it onto the community. It isn’t really surprising in this ‘once in a lifetime’ event.

In relation to businesses not adhering to terms and conditions, if they are Australian one has the opportunity to dispute decisions in a number of ways, through one’s local office of fair trading and if necessary, though legal avenues. Due to the current business environment and unusual decisions of government/ACCC, success while unknown may shift slightly towards the business if there is a liability/solvency issue with decisions being made.

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117

It only get’s worse as you read it!

Is FC being reasonable per the ACCC recommendations?
At which point does the stress on a business outweigh public reputation?

118

Hi,
We booked and paid for our holiday in full last November and received our hotel vouchers and flight tickets. Then excite Travel, who our travel agent used to book one of the hotels went bust but I got it in writing from our agent that our hotel had been paid in full by Excite before they went bust. Now with the covid 19 all our trip is having to be cancelled and this is when we have found out that the travel agent we booked through got sold in December When you look at flight and hotel booking refunds they all tell you to go through your travel agent if you booked with one, but the new agent is is being evasive and I feel is not helping us at all. She said we would have to sort the hotel that was booked through Excite ourselves, so I have been in contact with the hotel and they have said they never received payment. She is supposedly helping with our flight cancellation but she is saying that the old owner of the agency is responsible for our hotel bookings. How do I go through someone to get help with a refund that isn’t even a travel agent anymore?
When you use a travel agent to book a holiday you give them your money for them to book hotels and flights, you don’t expect them to use Excite or Expedia third parties to book them, which is what ours did so if Excite went bust, shouldn’t it be up to the travel agent to refund us the money as I didn’t ask them to use Excite, and if someone buys a travel agent,shouldn’t they be responsible for any bookings made by the previous owners? If I had known when we booked they were going to use third parties to book I wouldn’t have used them and done it myself. We also never received any terms and conditions when we booked. Can anyone advise me what to do as my insurance is saying to go through our agent but our agent is being very evasive. Thanks.

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119

Welcome to the community @Richtheblade,

I presume ‘excite Travel’ means Excite Holidays (Australia)?

It is amazing they still have a web site showing they are operating as a wholesale provider to travel agents.

If it did not go pear shaped as it did would you be similarly displeased? Perhaps those were the best prices at the time, perhaps your agent was ‘small time’ and did not subscribe to the ‘commercial’ booking systems, or since the agency was being sold many less savoury possibilities could come to the imagination.

The fees travel agents charge is for their (hopefully) research and location expertise as well as time spent, not about the booking platforms they use. Some agents are much better than others at this or that, or sometimes everything.

Not necessarily. It is like buying any business. Sometimes it comes with liabilities and sometimes not, however when the same trading name is carried forward that is a reasonable expectation although whether it has any force in law? If the travel agency you used was and remains a member of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents , you might seek help from them, however their COVID-19 banner suggests you may be on your own totally or at least in a practical sense, but nothing ventured…

Your scenario is unusual so I will call Choice’s travel expert @JodiBird’s attention to your post.

Please let us know if you find a way through this as it might help others in similar circumstances.

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120

A cross link to Choice’s most recent advice. It summarises many industries, travel being at the end.

121

Virgin Australia is reportedly going into administration. Nothing in the press about if or how they will take care of their ticket holders.

From Ben Butler at The Guardian; no verification from other sources while I type.

edit: also now appearing on Australian Financial Review (subscription walled).

Deloitte understood to be appointed administrator for Virgin Australia

It is understood big four accounting firm Deloitte will be appointed as Virgin Australia’s administrators.

The move comes after the federal government rebuffed the airline’s request for a $1.4bn emergency loan as part of a wider industry bailout package and despite duelling aid offers from NSW and Queensland, each of which wanted to host Virgin Australia’s HQ.

It is not clear what will happen to the approximately 10,000 people who work for Virgin Australia if it goes into administration.

Also unclear is what will happen to its fleet of 130 planes, many of which are heavily mortgaged.

The company has been crushed by a $4.8bn mountain of debt and has been burning cash while the fleet is grounded.

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