Kayak mislead me into buying a low-cost European carrier ... help!
 

Looking for flights between ATH-JMK, Kayak showed the best times through a booking site called OneTravel. Both Kayak and OneTravel displayed ANA as the operating carrier (confirmation shows Operated by All Nipon Airlines). I assumed it was either a 5th freedom rule, ANA had taken over Aegean on these flights or it was a charter plane.

After booking, I couldn't find the reservation with ANA & contacted OneTravel, which provided me with a 6-digit PNR. I went to CheckMyTrip and the operating airline is listed as EllinAir, which is a Greek airline founded in 2013. The route I booked starts operating less than two weeks before I am scheduled to fly.

I know very little about this airline & believe it's very misleading what they've done. I've got proof that the reservation was sold to me as ANA segments.

What options do I have? The company refuses to cancel my trip free of charge. I paid with AMEX Gold Biz Card.

Assuming ANA to operate European flights? :confused: :rolleyes:

what is the problem?/ why should the TA cancel your ticket FOC? Your flights are confirmed and you will get from A to B exactly as booked.

Anyway, if there is a schedule change, you may have the option to cancel and receive a full refund.

What is that routing?

Without OP's exact dates I can't quickly replicate their Kayak search with OneTravel but did find the error occurring with Tripsta so readily believe it happened as OP says.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7650/...c310852b_z.jpg

When I clicked the "Select" button however it walked me through to a Tripsta booking screen where it clearly identified the airline as Ellinair.

While perhaps a little more due diligence may have been in order to ask why a Japanese airline would be operating flights from Athens to one of the Greek islands if you were sent an e-ticket receipt and confirmation with itinerary showing NH flight numbers I'd say you had a case to dispute the charge as erroneous with AMEX and initiate a chargeback.

If however after Kayak redirected you to OneTravel the flights displayed as Ellinair and this fact was overlooked then would say the onus was on you and you'd either have to accept the tickets as is or opt to buy other tickets at whatever price on another airline like Aegean. That is merely MHO since OP asked for input but wish them luck regardless.

Kayak mislead me into buying a low-cost European carrier ... help!
 

I apologize for the delayed response. The itinerary is June 27 - July 4 from ATH to JMK.

The confirmation email shows the following flights:

Air Nippon
Flight 826

Air Nippon
Flight 827

I thought ANA offering such route was strange, but I thought one of two things were possible:

a) ANA & Aegean are part of Star Alliance & ANA had taken over some of the flights as partners.

b) It was a ANA charter plane that targeted Japanese tourists

Then I think if you definitely do not want to travel on EllinAir you have enough grounds to dispute this with your CC as misrepresentation but luckily still are well in advance and can buy another low priced ticket on a very reputable carrier that flies the route such as Aegean Airlines who actually are a Star Alliance member airline.

Aha, I've found the answer!

Ellinair (which operates these flights) has IATA code EL.

There was a regional carrier called Air Nippon (regional subsidiary of All Nippon=ANA), which also had IATA code EL. Air Nippon closed in 2012 (merged back into ANA).

So, it looks like Kayak's database is seeing a flight by an airline with IATA code EL, and attaching the outdated Air Nippon name to it.

Ah, you thought ANA is operating to Mykonos.
Are you kidding me?

To the OP's defense, this could have been a code share with also an ANA flight number attached to, maybe operated by Aegean.

I'm just about to fly from BSL to AMS in a small Fokker 70, but it nevertheless also has a Delta flight number.