A significant change?

[sailor1962]

We booked (last January) a fly/cruise package using British Airways and Hurtigruten for Dec 2016. This week our agent told us that BA had rescheduled the return flights from Bergen to a take off time only 30 minutes after the ship docks. Though we have been offered a B&B hotel at the airport we have been refused the cost of any further refreshments (drinks, evening meal etc) whilst waiting for our flight the following afternoon, or indeed further car parking costs as compensation. Another option offered has been an indirect return flight to Heathrow via Amsterdam taking 7 hours and in economy not business class as booked on BA. Any further compensation to cover these costs ( and an extra day holiday from work) have been refused as the agent doesn't consider the changes to itinerary offered as being "significant".

Any views or comments would be welcomed.

[cherylandtk]

While I realize UK travel protections, and thus expectations, are different here in the US I have to say that I would be very happy with the paid hotel for the night.

 

My only other option would be to reject the changed flight, at which point all the airline has to do is refund the money I paid and I am then on my own to find new flights, which at this later date are undoubtedly more expensive than what I would have originally paid.

 

I know this is not how the UK travel guarantees work, but it is what we are used to. I am expecting to pay for my own food the moment I leave the ship, so that is a minor issue and an extra day at the airport parking lot costs me only $3.

 

I hope someone with more specific experience can assist you with appropriate ways to handle travel changes of this sort for UK bookings.

[sailor1962]

While I realize UK travel protections, and thus expectations, are different here in the US I have to say that I would be very happy with the paid hotel for the night.

 

My only other option would be to reject the changed flight, at which point all the airline has to do is refund the money I paid and I am then on my own to find new flights, which at this later date are undoubtedly more expensive than what I would have originally paid.

 

I know this is not how the UK travel guarantees work, but it is what we are used to. I am expecting to pay for my own food the moment I leave the ship, so that is a minor issue and an extra day at the airport parking lot costs me only $3.

 

I hope someone with more specific experience can assist you with appropriate ways to handle travel changes of this sort for UK bookings.

 

 

Thanks for your reply but to get a simple evening meal of burger and fries with a 33cl beer would be around, at the airport hotel offered, $170 for 2 and $20 for a days parking at London Heathrow. ADD on a lost day of holiday at $200 and the disruption to family plans on the 30th of December and it soon becomes a "significant" change to the booked itinerary.

Edited August 13, 2016 by sailor1962

[jocap]

Oh, the price of anything in Norway is enormous!

Was this a Hurtigruten package?

Neighbours here in Cumbria were going with them, and had to take flights from Aberdeen, a few weeks ago- is that an option, to change the flights? They stayed at a park and fly hotel- perhaps a Premier- in Aberdeen. It's drivable from your area... but I don't know what time the flight back was...

[LHT28]

Can you call BA directly or is the agent you are talking about that refused further compensation??

When flights are delayed they offer meal voucher why not in your case offer something for meals

[Shmoo here]

We booked (last January) a fly/cruise package using British Airways and Hurtigruten for Dec 2016. This week our agent told us that BA had rescheduled the return flights from Bergen to a take off time only 30 minutes after the ship docks. Though we have been offered a B&B hotel at the airport we have been refused the cost of any further refreshments (drinks, evening meal etc) whilst waiting for our flight the following afternoon, or indeed further car parking costs as compensation. Another option offered has been an indirect return flight to Heathrow via Amsterdam taking 7 hours and in economy not business class as booked on BA. Any further compensation to cover these costs ( and an extra day holiday from work) have been refused as the agent doesn't consider the changes to itinerary offered as being "significant".

Any views or comments would be welcomed.

 

Hmmm... any flight change that requires you to be on a flight more than 24 hours away from the original one seems like a "significant" change to me. But, of course, I'm not the person making the decisions in this.

 

You say it's a B&B, do they not have breakfast? That would be included, right?

[sailor1962]

Yes, hotel with Bed and breakfast but no other out of pocket expenses, at an airport hotel in an horrendously expensive country, for the 20 hrs delay in providing a flight with the original class of booking and to our original destination

[Ex techie]

I think a 20 hour delay, with only B&B provided is a significant change IMO.

 

Is there someone at the agency you can escalate this to?

 

ex techie

Edited August 14, 2016 by Ex techie

[martincath]

Unfortunately, while UK rules are stringent they basically only guarantee you getting a refund in these circumstances. This page on Which? is a very solid, Plain English explanation of what the rules are for package vacations - changing return flights from bus class to economy definitely falls under the right to withdraw, clause 13, on your side due to being a change of an 'essential term of the contract. '

 

However your options are very limited - a full refund, a different package of equivalent or greater cost, or take what they are offering with a discount to reflect the change. They DO NOT have to give you anything else, meals or even a hotel let alone lost wages, as they are informing you BEFORE you leave so you have the chance to withdraw from the contract. The stringent European flight delay rules about accommodating and feeding you do not apply as this is not a delay by those terms.

 

Anything more than this is basically down to how well your agency/BA/Hurtigruten treat their customers - if you're a senior employee on a good salary, paying your lost wages for a day could wipe out all their profits and then some so unless they think you'll come back for many more vacations, that level of compensation is basically a pipe dream. That said, it's always worth asking for fair treatment that exceeds the legal minima...

 

We had a somewhat-similar issue many moons ago when still based in the UK - vacation company (Titan) screwed up the date on our return flights from Malaysia; when they realised the problem and tried to resolve it there were no seats available at all on the connecting flights to KL.

 

They gave us two options - cut the vacation a day short, with a discount of 10% (it was an 18 day package) or come home two days late, with one night B&B in a very nice resort in Sandakan, another in a 5* at KL airport at their expense. We really, really did not want to cut the vacation short - it would have meant missing Turtle Island - but the extra time meant us having to blow and extra day's vacation (a Saturday arrival became a Monday evening).

 

I knew that they didn't have to compensate us, but I figured what the heck and wrote a polite-but-firm letter to the CEO expressing our disappointment in their error, that the Turtle Island visit was a true highlight for all of us so we were inclined to take the free hotel stay but that it was a significant financial burden for us to lose that day's work. I listed the amount concerned for the lost day's wage for each of us and also inquired about unanticipated meal costs for two extra days.

 

We got a cheque within two weeks for the full lost wages and an extra GBP200 for food and as a token toward the inconvenience. I think the two lunches and dinners for four we had to buy only cost us about GBP50 in total so we felt it more than fair!

 

We were all young, on modest salaries, and on a very exotic and expensive vacation by typical UK package standards - with a lifetime of potential customer loyalty ahead they obviously decided that what we were asking for was an affordable risk for them and said yes. I didn't even have to pull out the 'the press will have a field day with this' card or anything else, just asked them to think about how they were impacting us and do the right thing.

 

I've done the same thing with two other companies when they have screwed up and badly impacted our vacation plans, and both times been offered significantly more than what was required by law (approx 25% and 50% of the total package cost respectively - the latter was a total FUBAR on their part that almost completely ruined the vacation). The keys I've found are to write a physical letter not just send an email, be specific about actual and verifiable costs you have or will incur due to their errors, and refer to any preexisting and your potential future relationship with them. Unless they offer a truly unique experience, there are always other companies you can give your future business to and they will be well aware of that fact.

[NLH Arizona]

Thanks for your reply but to get a simple evening meal of burger and fries with a 33cl beer would be around, at the airport hotel offered, $170 for 2 and $20 for a days parking at London Heathrow. ADD on a lost day of holiday at $200 and the disruption to family plans on the 30th of December and it soon becomes a "significant" change to the booked itinerary.

I'm guessing you did purchase travel insurance?

 

Did you see if they will put you on another airline, where you wouldn't have the long delay. Here in the states, if a plane is delayed for a long length of time, we can request being put on another airline if available.

[sailor1962]

Thanks Martincath. These are the actions we have largely taken already. The cruise line say they have altered nothing so nothing to do with them. The agents blame British Airways, they say it's in their terms and conditions to change flights and so pass it on to our insurance company who say the agents should claim against the airline. Circles which will leave us, through no fault of our own, drastically out of pocket!

[sailor1962]

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

I'm guessing you did purchase travel insurance?

 

 

 

Did you see if they will put you on another airline, where you wouldn't have the long delay. Here in the states, if a plane is delayed for a long length of time, we can request being put on another airline if available.

 

Yes but we have a £75 pp excess - more than we are asking to be provided.

 

We booked direct business class return flights (1hr 30 mins) to take 2x32kg baggage........essential for all our winter gear travelling way North of the Arctic Circle in December.

They offered the same return flights a day later with just bed and breakfast OR 2 indirect flights on the same date but with only one 20kg bag and taking a total of 7 hours to a different London Airport, 50 miles from where our car was left! ....both options costing us dearly. All we have asked for is a reasonable evening meal but this has been denied as the offered options are not a "significant" change to our original booked itinerary.

Edited August 14, 2016 by sailor1962

[LHT28]

Did you speak to a BA supervisor to see if they can do more for you ??

 

Option 2

can you get off the day before & get to Bergen to catch the original flight ?

[davecttr]

Did you book this 'package' as a true package through a Travel Agent? If you did it is their responsibility to sort out any problems. Re scheduling a flight so you only have 30 minutes to get from the ship to the plane is IMO a significant change. Put pressure on the Travel agents.

[dsrdsrdsr]

Are there no other direct flights from Bergen with any other line? If there are, your package provider should be able to get you on one as part of their package. If there aren't, that's just tough.

 

As for arguing whether it's a significant change, the only way to get a definitive answer is to insist on cancelling and asking for a full refund. I'd have thought you'd struggle. Getting back a day late might count as significant, but getting back on a longer flight in second class wouldn't.