TG/KQ MEL-KGL US$1074 Business class return

[yangry]

There is a flip slide - potentially.

Booking an error fare directly with an airline can mean swift cancellation (or agreement to honour). The airline simply searches the origin/destination and the fare, identifies the tickets, and voids them.

Booking through an (O)TA the process is not necessarily as simple and can take a bit longer. There have been some (rare) cases when an airline has cancelled direct bookings, but passengers have still managed to fly on a ticket issued by an (O)TA and not found in time by the airline.

But generally that’s for tickets like ‘buy today fly next day’ (or at least within a few days of buying the fare).

In any event, the TA is getting commission, so the commission is going to be low on an error fare. No real skin off the TA’s nose to lose that small commission, and make a larger one by selling the seat to another customer at the correct price.

That's what happened to us.

We booked through a smaller third-party OTA. Our tickets were never cancelled and we had the trip of a lifetime. We booked our flights 6 months out too, so plenty of time for them to cancel it if they wanted.

I understand everyone who booked through the airline directly had their booking cancelled. If I recall correctly bookings through some if not most OTAs were cancelled too, it was luck of the draw I guess.

 

[newmarket]

We booked directly with Kenya Airways and travelled about 10 months later. My thoughts were, that because we booked directly, they didn’t scrutinise the booking as closely as OTA bookings.

Good trip and not one I would have booked otherwise. Rwanda is an odd place - nice, perfectly safe just a little odd.

 

[Rayesfeg]

That's what happened to us.

We booked through a smaller third-party OTA. Our tickets were never cancelled and we had the trip of a lifetime. We booked our flights 6 months out too, so plenty of time for them to cancel it if they wanted.

I understand everyone who booked through the airline directly had their booking cancelled. If I recall correctly bookings through some if not most OTAs were cancelled too, it was luck of the draw I guess.

Well done and congratulations on your trip!

As someone who has never booked flights through a third-party OTA, do you mind if I ask, were you given a booking reference so you could log in to the manage booking section of the Kenya Airlines website to select seats etc, and if so, did you do this?
I wonder if you had not logged into the manage booking of the website to select seats, perhaps you got by 'under the radar' and that's why your tickets were not cancelled unlike others? Just a thought.

 

[yangry]

Well done and congratulations on your trip!

As someone who has never booked flights through a third-party OTA, do you mind if I ask, were you given a booking reference so you could log in to the manage booking section of the Kenya Airlines website to select seats etc, and if so, did you do this?
I wonder if you had not logged into the manage booking of the website to select seats, perhaps you got by 'under the radar' and that's why your tickets were not cancelled unlike others? Just a thought.

I did get an airline reference number and from memory I did log in to Thai/Kenya Airlines websites to select seats and meals!

I've booked flights regularly on reputable OTAs and without fail each booking I'll get an airline reference number that I can log into the airline's website to choose seats/meals etc.

We didn't book anything else until a month or so before the trip just in case our booking gets cancelled. I did check our travel insurance policy (as well as other travel insurance policies) and it was very unclear if such cancellation would have been covered.

At about a month out we decided to pull the trigger and were prepared to pay and fly economy in the event that our booking got cancelled (which luckily didn't).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I did get an airline reference number and from memory I did log in to Thai/Kenya Airlines websites to select seats and meals!

I've booked flights regularly on reputable OTAs and without fail each booking I'll get an airline reference number that I can log into the airline's website to choose seats/meals etc.

We didn't book anything else until a month or so before the trip just in case our booking gets cancelled. I did check our travel insurance policy (as well as other travel insurance policies) and it was very unclear if such cancellation would have been covered.

At about a month out we decided to pull the trigger and were prepared to pay and fly economy in the event that our booking got cancelled (which luckily didn't).

Unfortunately your travel insurance wouldn’t cover something like this

Almost all travel insurances require return tickets. If this was a mistake fare and cancelled, you wouldn’t have (valid) return tickets, so no cover.

If you were downgraded, you’d have had the choice to refund. Or proceed. Again, not covered by insurance.

Not even EU261 - the strictest and most favourable compensation scheme out there - would cover a downgrade in this scenario (or cancellation of the ticket.

This would be a contract matter, not consumer law or insurance.