SkyTeam - Is the 24 hour free cancellation period allowed by alll Skyteam members?

I rarely book my trips on a third party site. NWA.COM offered KLM flights too under NWA fare bases.

After reading Booking mistake Air France/KLM please help. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/skyteam/1285057-booking-mistake-air-france-klm-please-help.html) I wondered if KLM/Air France or other Skyteam members have the free 24 hour period?

I booked a trip last night om KLM.COM and made the same mistake, which I discovered as soon as I received the confirmation. Went back and forth between the KLM handler (Delta, as the KLM guys were closed) and the DM line, ending up finally with the KLM handler. To complicate things, by this time, the fare had changed. It took a while, but the agent was able to make the changes. The agent was very much on top of things. Every couple of minutes she came back to apologise for the delay and finally offered to call me back when it was done, which she did.

I appreciated the fact that KLM handler made the change. DM line could not without the fare going up nearly an order of magnitude.

What is the official policy of KLM/Air France as far as the 24 hour rile is concerned?

The interesting thing is that the ticket initially carried KLM number, but when it was reissued, it carried DL number.

KLM 'handlers' in the US are actually Delta employees, so that might explain the change of ticket number.

As for the 24 hour period, I believe this usually is done by travel agents only. They can create a booking, which gets confirmed by the airline, after which they have 24 hours to pay for the booking and issue the ticket. If that is not done, the booking will expire.

I have not heard of a regular booking made on klm.com to have such 'grace period' after the ticket has been issued (Which happens pretty much instantly). However they do offer various (paid) 'time to think' options that allow you to hold a booking for a few days.

As for the 'all members' part - this probably differs from member to member.

This is all very interesting... because, in theory at least, ANY contract made at a distance (such as by phone, or over the Internet) should come under The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 which give consumers SEVEN DAYS to cancel.

Is there an exemption for the aviation industry, or have airlines decided to quietly ignore the law?

(It's an EU regulation so should apply everywhere in the EU)

This is all very interesting... because, in theory at least, ANY contract made at a distance (such as by phone, or over the Internet) should come under The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 which give consumers SEVEN DAYS to cancel.

Is there an exemption for the aviation industry

There is:

"(2) Regulations 7 to 19(1) shall not apply to—
[..]
(b) contracts for the provision of accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services, where the supplier undertakes, when the contract is concluded, to provide these services on a specific date or within a specific period."

http://www.Legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/2334/made