How to claim a refund plus expenses for a changed flight booked through a 3rd party agent [closed]

In June 2017, I flew with my family and mother in law from London Gatwick to Prague. I booked the flights through BudgetAir with the SmartWings airline.

When we arrived at Gatwick for departure, we found that the outbound flights were later than shown on our ticket. This was not a big problem and we waited then borded and flew to Prague. We didn't think anything more of this at the time.

When we arrived at Prague airport for the return flight, we found that that flight service had not run on that day (Sunday) for many months. The airline had rescheduled the flight and we were not notified. We were not notified by the SmatWings, or by BudgetAir.

It was a Sunday and my wife and I both had work the next day, so we could not wait for the next available SmartWings flight that week. We decided to buy alternative return flights, but our only option was to London Southend, so we got a taxi transfer to our car at Gatwick.

BudgetAir agreed to refund the cost of the original flights, but not the other expenses incurred that day. I declined stating that I wanted full compensation.

I attempted to make a claim for this through SkyCop and after around 2 years, they finally responded saying that it was unlikely that our claim would be successful.

The details of your case require it to be argued in a specific location. Previous attempts at this location were unsuccessful, and we strongly believe that is not likely to change in this case. We’re sorry we don’t have better news for you. Your claim will be closed at this point. You can always file a separate claim with the airline to get reimbursement for your fare or a refund of costs you paid due to the flight disruption. But from our side, we can’t move forward here.

I'm not sure what I should do here and what my legal position is. Should I contact BudgetAir again, or SmartWings? Do I have a chance of getting compensation for those extra expenses?

Best Answer

SkyCop make claims against airlines on your behalf based on the (EC) 261/2004 (Air Passenger rights EU) regulations. They are saying that your claim will probably not be successful because basically the airline are not at fault in this case.

Your contract was with the BudgetAir (3rd party) as they sold you the tickets, and they were the ones that provided the incorrect information to you, not the airline. So this is why a claim against the airline will not work and the claim against BudgetAir cannot be based on the EC 261/2004 regulation as that is not relevant in this case as the airline did not change the flights but the flights were effectively mis-sold to you by BudgetAir.

Therefore, I think you need to make a claim based another law maybe based on consumer rights and that you were mis-sold a service. For this you will probably need to contact a consumer rights organisation to help you or a lawyer.

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Can I get a refund if the airline changed my flight?

Schedule Change/Significant Delay - A consumer is entitled to a refund if the airline made a significant schedule change and/or significantly delays a flight and the consumer chooses not to travel.

What is my recourse if flight times changed after booking?

Once you've decided on a new flight, call the airline to get your itinerary switched. If the change is significant enough and there are no other flights that work with your schedule, you do have the option to request a cash refund (even with a normally non-refundable basic economy fare).

Do airlines have to give refunds due to Covid?

Airlines and ticket agents have a legal obligation to provide refunds to consumers if the airline cancels or significantly changes a consumer's flight. However, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines had difficulty processing the significant volume of refund requests that they received.

How do I get my money back from a Cancelled flight?

In the US, airlines have no obligations to refund or reroute you when your flight is cancelled. Just like they don't have to pay flight cancellation compensation. That being said, in practice, airlines will generally try to rebook you on an alternate flight at no additional cost when this happens.

HOW TO GET YOUR REFUND FOR A CANCELLED FLIGHT BOOKED VIA A THIRD PARTY BOOKING SITE LIKE OPODO

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