Flight Centre refunds for cancelled flights

[MEL_Traveller]

I wonder if they were specifically instructed NOT to draw attention to those charges?

The charges for cancellation? They should be disclosing those at the time of booking. But in this case they were actually irrelevant as they only applied to the passenger cancelling, not the case where an airline/hotel/operator cancels. Cancellation by the supplier hadn't even been considered in drafting the cancellation rules.

 

[jarman_ah]

The charges for cancellation? They should be disclosing those at the time of booking. But in this case they were actually irrelevant as they only applied to the passenger cancelling, not the case where an airline/hotel/operator cancels. Cancellation by the supplier hadn't even been considered in drafting the cancellation rules.

Before I started doing it myself, on-line, I used Flight Centre several times. No one ever said anything about extra cancellation fees imposed by Flight Centre. They did, of course, point out the cancellation fees imposed by the suppliers, but I always believed that that is all there were. I'll bet there were a few other dummies like me out there!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Before I started doing it myself, on-line, I used Flight Centre several times. No one ever said anything about extra cancellation fees imposed by Flight Centre. They did, of course, point out the cancellation fees imposed by the suppliers, but I always believed that that is all there were. I'll bet there were a few other dummies like me out there!

They should be disclosing their fees and charges, don't they ask you to sign something saying you acknowledge the terms and conditions? On-line they get you to tick the box... not that many actually read those

In most cases I suppose travel insurance (which FC will also sell you ) would cover those canx fees, both levied by the supplier and FC. So the passenger wouldn't care.

 

[p--and--t]

The charges for cancellation? They should be disclosing those at the time of booking. But in this case they were actually irrelevant as they only applied to the passenger cancelling, not the case where an airline/hotel/operator cancels. Cancellation by the supplier hadn't even been considered in drafting the cancellation rules.

But it didn't take them 2 seconds for their management to "clarify" the rules to collect fees were extended to ensure they covered involuntary cancellations.

Good thing the ACCC were embarrassed by the media into stepping in to rectify.

 

[serfty]

That's not saying that there aren't some good operators within FC, but I also know a few current/past FC agents, and they're all just salespeople with very limited travel knowledge.

Many TA's cut their teeth working at FC - if they are any good at being a TA, they soon leave ...

 

[IrishPete]

My credit card reversed the charge, so I won't need Flight Centre to refund (BYOJET, not FC).

 

[SOPOOR]

10 years ago my gf at the time booked a 10 day trip overseas intreprid group tour with a intra flight,
you can imagine the shock and stress to find when we got to the airport midway through our trip, we were told that FC forgot to book the flight

years later, I enquired to FC about a price beat as per their price beat guarantee and they insisted on charging me a non refundable $50 price beat fee which they tried to justfiy with some BS

good riddance, hope they go out of business

 

[Mr H]

I know companies can get a bad reputation - but just occasionally a company gets a good reputation despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Flight Centre is one such company. Most people believe they offer the cheapest prices; they believe that Flight Centre will find the best deals, best packages and make everything simple; and they believe that if anything goes wrong, Flight Centre will sort it all out. So much so that we all know friends and relatives for whom we have found great deals and then they go away and book through Flight Centre anyway. Another travel example is Ryanair. Everyone believes they are incredibly cheap, even when they are not, and the worse the service they get the more they persuade themselves they must be getting a bargain.

 

[jakeseven7]

Had one experience with Flight Centre and never again.

I suppose they still exist for people who are not confident / able / can't be bothered to book direct themselves.

I'm always surprised by how many of them still exist given they are not price competitive.

 

[JWILLS]

Yeah but they still make a fortune out of their credit card fees - never cheap - staff get good commissions and free trips - would not use their travel insurance either bet they dont refund credit card fees - once bitten by this mob never use them again - book direct with airlines better service 24/7 - stuck overseas with FC have to ring OZ they say we ring you back you pay - have to fight to get your money back.

 

[Mr H]

The thing people don't understand with travel agents is that they are the customer, not you. They get to deal with airlines, they get to reserve seats, they get to stipulate conditions for hotels. If anything goes wrong, the provider will tell you to contact the agent. I have had a situation at work where they insist on using a travel agent where I have had a booking cancelled by a hotel and been chucked out onto the pavement to contact the agent. I was just told - sorry, we overbooked, please would you leave the foyer to make your phone calls. They charge fees for the simplest things and I have sometimes found that bookings through agents can't even qualify for FF points (especially with hotels).

 

[ben1989123]

I booked flights back in feb 2 with Aunt Betty a subsidiary of flight center I believe. on the 26th they started cancelling and changing my flights over 6 times (changin the dates of travel). I tried contacting them since for months now and no response. Their phone used to ring out now it just flat out doesnt connect.

Malaysia Airlines has since told me they have cancelled my flights and to contact my travel agent Aunt Betty. Which isnt possible.

Ive submitted a chargeback dispute though BankSA today. What do you guys rekon the chances are? Im hoping a real person looks at the chargeback claim, tries to call Aunt Betty and when it doesnt work just approves it.

 

[jarman_ah]

I booked flights back in feb 2 with Aunt Betty a subsidiary of flight center I believe. on the 26th they started cancelling and changing my flights over 6 times (changin the dates of travel). I tried contacting them since for months now and no response. Their phone used to ring out now it just flat out doesnt connect.

Malaysia Airlines has since told me they have cancelled my flights and to contact my travel agent Aunt Betty. Which isnt possible.

Ive submitted a chargeback dispute though BankSA today. What do you guys rekon the chances are? Im hoping a real person looks at the chargeback claim, tries to call Aunt Betty and when it doesnt work just approves it.

Since Aunt Betty is Flight Centre, and FC are bending over backwards at the moment to be seen to be doing the right thing, ring the head office of Flight Centre (I assure you this is a legitimate avenue... I had a "beef" once with Aunt Betty (I only dealt with them once), and a woman claiming to be a very senior officer in Flight Centre rang me). If they won't take your case on board, tell them your next call will be to the ACCC, and after that to one of the media outlets. There will never be a better time for you to do this! The cat is out of the bag at last!

 

[ben1989123]

Since Aunt Betty is Flight Centre, and FC are bending over backwards at the moment to be seen to be doing the right thing, ring the head office of Flight Centre (I assure you this is a legitimate avenue... I had a "beef" once with Aunt Betty (I only dealt with them once), and a woman claiming to be a very senior officer in Flight Centre rang me). If they won't take your case on board, tell them your next call will be to the ACCC, and after that to one of the media outlets. There will never be a better time for you to do this! The cat is out of the bag at last!

Thanks for the advice, wish I had thought of that before making the chargeback. I could have even tried going into my local flight center office which I noticed was still open last week. I think I will just let the chargeback play out now though.

 

[It’s Not You It’s Me]

I think one thing to remember, as with any industry/job in the world, there are people who are good at their job and some that are not. Get recommendations from people if you decided to use a travel agent - there are some great ones out there that go above and beyond. Unfortunately we tend to only hear about the bad or negative experiences rather than the positive.

 

[jarman_ah]

I think one thing to remember, as with any industry/job in the world, there are people who are good at their job and some that are not. Get recommendations from people if you decided to use a travel agent - there are some great ones out there that go above and beyond. Unfortunately we tend to only hear about the bad or negative experiences rather than the positive.

Since AFTA has recently gone public defending Flight Centre (see two pages back) and saying that it is right to charge both the customer and the airline, then maybe a good way to choose would be to find a travel agent who is NOT a member of AFTA. These did exist, as recently as five years ago, so unless the big conglomerates like Flight Centre have "acquired" them and changed their rules, you should be able to find one that is really and truly a travel AGENT in the sense we know the word, and not just an organisation that has corrupted the term. Good luck... and if enough people did this, and shunned any "agency" which was a member of AFTA and/or shared AFTA's point of view about taking a commission from both ends, then maybe one day AFTA would change its tune and actually do something which was in the interests of consumers, and not just its members!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the advice, wish I had thought of that before making the chargeback. I could have even tried going into my local flight center office which I noticed was still open last week. I think I will just let the chargeback play out now though.

i think a charge-back is justified here.

 

[ben1989123]

Im pretty confused by what people are saying in this thread. I work in ecommerce and have had lost chargebacks against customers with signed dhl tracking receipts. I dont know why people think travel agents should be able to not deliver goods or services and keep the money.

I know theres all this nonesense and legal stuff people are citing but at the end of the day people go to travel agents to buy tickets to travel and if they dont deliver they should refund peoples money

 

[p--and--t]

FYI of others, we rang Aunt Betty on Saturday (May 2nd) around lunchtime and answered within 2-3 minutes by someone with a very strong Filipino accent. (By comparison rang on a week day, a week ago, and no answer [other than recorded messages saying if your flight is not within 48hrs please hang up] after a couple hours.)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Im pretty confused by what people are saying in this thread. I work in ecommerce and have had lost chargebacks against customers with signed dhl tracking receipts. I dont know why people think travel agents should be able to not deliver goods or services and keep the money.

I know theres all this nonesense and legal stuff people are citing but at the end of the day people go to travel agents to buy tickets to travel and if they dont deliver they should refund peoples money

You should only be doing a chargeback if you are legally entitled to your money back. If there's been no breach of contract, a chargeback can be rightfully challenged by the merchant. That then brings you to the contract.

Where FC came undone is that their contract didn't provide for cancellation fees where the airline (or other supplier) cancelled services and fully refunded them.