xenole

No idea which forum this should go in as it covers 3 airlines and there is a BA codeshare in there.
Probably more knowledgeable people here as well.

Situation:

Last weekend, there was a post on another forum about lastminute.com doing fares to Australia out of Belfast for £300+ in Y.

Had a look and saw a nutty enough fare that suited me.

18th FEB BHD-LHR Aer Lingus metal
19th FEB LHR-MEL QF metal
22nd FEB MEL-LHR QF metal
23rd FEB LHR-BHD Aer Lingus / BA codeshare.

Paid for it and received an email with 2 booking reference numbers and an e-ticket number.
Went to the Qantas website, entered one of the PNRs and was able to select seats on the QF flight but not the Aer Lingus flights. Entered my BAEC number as well and later the booking appeared on the BA App with another PNR (tier points and Avios earned etc shown on BA.com).

Do tend to check my bookings every day or two, especially when BA neglect to inform you of things, AA re-schedule a lot etc. and yesterday afternoon, all was fine.
Checked again this morning and my booking has changed. Now all it shows is BHD-LHR and LHR-BDH with no sign of the QF flights.
I've checked the app, BA.com, Qantas, Finnair and checkmytrip and all show no QF flights. The AY website does show the e-ticket number from the original email.

I've had no phonecalls or emails or notes telling me otherwise so unless there's a glitch somewhere (others have the same for flights later in the year), I'm assuming Qantas have cancelled the flights.

Now it's under 2 weeks to the start of my trip or just the first QF flight so would I have any comeback on this?

I'm not sure if EU261 comes into play here due to flights originating in an EU country or if "it was a mistake fare beyond our control" can be claimed.
Would I have any other rights due to the short timeframe or just a case of "tough luck".

gms

I don't use lastminute.com for any travel related bookings. I have experienced major screwups with them before. Their customer service was terrible. I had to escalate to senior management and threaten legal action to get any sort of response and compensation for their mistake.

pauldb

I assume the QF flights you are booked on are still operating. EU261 really deals with flight cancellations, not booking complications, so it doesn't seem to offer you much. If you aren't notified and turned up for the flight it might, but then you probably have a lot of hassle/uncertainty and a complicated question of whether you have a valid booking with which to pressurise QF.

Ultimately you'll need to find out from lastminute.com what has happened. Have they decided it was a mistake or have QF unilaterally cancelled your booking?

xenole

QF10 and QF9 are both still operating.

Not sure if it is classed as a booking complication or a cancellation.
Not sure why the Aer Lingus flights weren't cancelled as well as they were part of the booking and without the QF flights, they're a pointless part that stops my trip dead in it's tracks.

Not sure whether to wait a day in case there's some sort of BA website style "we can't find any of your bookings" sort of thing or just to ring up.

Sure I'm supposed to be given options between 7-14 days of the flight(s) of re-routing etc. at the very least.

Tobias-UK

If the contract is cancelled on the grounds of a mistake it will be void ab initio which effectively means there was never a contract and accordingly there is no EC261 protection.

FrancisA

If I am reading this correctly, you were fully aware that this was a mistake fare and therefore liable to cancellation and it would seem that the only reason that you booked it was because it was a mistake fare.

How could you answer these questions?

Do you live in Northern Ireland or normally fly to Australia or other long haul destinations from Belfast?

Do you use lastminute.com regularly for flight only bookings?

If the answer is no to those, then the obvious question will be how did you find this fare and why did you book it? If the answer to that is because you read it was a mistake fare and thought you would take advantage of it, I imagine your leverage over QF evapourates and with it your chances of any ex gratis compensation. I think it is already clear that the contract was legally void.

To my mind this is a mistake fare, the airline spotted it and cancellled the tickets and those who booked knowing full well that it was a mistake fare should just seek a refund of any money paid.

Very much a case of move along, please, nothing to see here.

xenole

I've used lastminute for hotel bookings before but as with some others here, have been looking elsewhere for flights etc. as loyalty doesn't always pay.
Few here do use lastminute with problems and sometimes you can get good deals there when pairing with hotels.

Well, I've had bargain / cheap Y, J and F flights out of JER, OSL, DUB, ARN, GOT and there's also been various European cities such as INV, FRA, MUC, FCO, PRG etc. that have all had decent fares in recent months or so.

Didn't think £315 was overly a mistake. Have had fares from to OSL-LHR-LAX for £250 in the last year and a half that were flown without a problem even booked weeks / months out and have seen fares on a few occasions around the £400 point in Y to Australia.
Could well have been a bit competition on the route or just a flash sale.

pauldb

I have more sympathy for your argument than FrancisA but you'll still have to find out who has cancelled this, QF or lastminute, and if they done so on the basis of a claimed "obvious" mistake. Clearly you can challenge the basis of that decision but you might have no option but to take it to court, which isn't going to resolve itself in a couple of weeks.

Maybe go back to the forum where you found the fare and look for the experiences of others. FWIW I've never tried to use such a "mistake" fare but it appears to me that most people don't bother fighting when bookings are cancelled.

xenole

Well, from the forum where the post appeared, someone called BA who said Qantas had cancelled their flights. Qantas told him to go to lastminute and lastminute checked the Flybe website where the full booking was listed.
I've just visited the Aer Lingus website and my booking is fully there except there are no QF seat selections any more.

Looks as if it probably is being treated as a mistake and a game of "pass the buck" is being played.

Tobias-UK

I suppose it prudent to firmly establish if the booking is confirmed and properly ticketed and that you will be allowed to travel the reserved itinerary.

The fact that others who booked the same fare are having similar difficulties suggests there is something amiss with the reservations. It does not excuse lastminute.com from advisng you that the booking has been cancelled (if it has) and why it has been camcelled.

joequimby

2 other threads on this, maybe a mod can merge all 3?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qanta...l#post27834287
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...234-369-a.html

Checked my booking and QF9/10 still showing on checkmytrip. My dates are in May so perhaps the axe is coming.

xenole

No-one seems to have bothered too much with those other threads. Possibly not willing to fly to Australia in Y for any price!

Originally, most prices found were in the £315-£380 range with some dates yielding the slightly better fares (just like it might be cheaper travelling mid-week than on a Friday). Not that unrealistic.
Never did find anything near the prices that were mentioned.

It's when the Scotland-Australia fares hit the lower £200s that something seemed wrong, at least for them.

If it does turn out to be a mistake, fine. I'll live with it.
More bothered by the fact it's 12 days to go and they've possibly cancelled it and whilst the Aer Lingus flights are still there, no idea what the full situation is.
Would have expected the entire PNR to be cancelled.

navylad

what was the marketing carrier?

and presumably, your bothered by it being so close, but you don't want to call up and find out and 'play your hand?'

xenole

The closeness is bothering me.
Don't want to get into a game of passing the buck with lastminute telling me to turn up to the airport as all is well and then find I've no flight(s).
Or miss the first flight thinking there's nothing and get the whole intinerary cancelled so no chance of a refund.

Can't make plans until I know either way.
Have rung lastminute and they said they haven't been informed of any flight cancellations and will try to find out what's happening.

No idea who the marketing carrier is. Mixture of Aer Lingus, Qantas and BA. Only the Qantas flights on Qantas metal have gone.
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Tobias-UK

Which airline has issued the ticket?