dugg1989

Hi all,

I booked round trip flights BKK - KBV some time ago with Thai Air Asia.

They rescheduled my inbound flight to four hours later, enough of a change that meant it would no longer connect with an onward flight I had (separate booking/airline) from BKK.

I didn’t book with Air Asia directly so they’ve refused to deal with me (tried their ‘Ask Bo’ chat). I was directed to my travel agent, Booking.com

Booking.com assured me for a change of more than 3 hours I was entitled to a cancellation/refund of my flight. I checked it wasn’t just a refund of the affected sector, but they were adamant the whole booking can be cancelled/refunded as a result. On that basis I asked them to go ahead and request the refund.

Some months and lots of chasing later, I still don’t have any money back so I’ve opened a credit card dispute with my bank. Usually they’ve been very good at refunding me in these instances but this time they’re being a bit more awkward.

They want me to provide the T&Cs of my booking showing the cancellation policy but I can’t find anything relevant anywhere in my booking, email confirmation, Air Asia MMB etc.

I did find something buried in the Air Asia website that does say for a reschedule of more than 3 hours you or your travel agent can request a refund, but it’s a general set of terms, nothing specific to my booking.

Can anyone help with this? Either where I’d find more comprehensive ticket conditions for an Air Asia booking, or anything more explicit they publish around your rights in event of an involuntary reschedule?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

dugg1989

Should add - this is where I found the reference to a refund for reschedule of >3 hours:

https://support.airasia.com/s/articl...language=en_GB

YVR Cockroach

You have to deal with Booking.com's T&C too, and the sub-contractor used, which is reportedly GoToGate. And the refund for 3 hr change is Air Asia's CoC. Can try that first but expect GTG/Booking.com to take their pound of flesh.

blandy62

In general book with the airlines directly, makes that sort of issue much easier to deal with. Air Asia can be rather slow to refund sometimes...

About finding T&C for refunds, I never found anything specific beside as you mentioned some general conditions. So probably going to be hard with your card company

moondog

Why are you focusing on that avenue instead of the company that sold you the ticket?

plunet

Yep, follow the money. You gave your money to booking.com so it's their T&C's you need to focus on.

dugg1989

Thanks all. I’ll see what Booking.com say again…so far they’ve just said it “depends on the airline ticket T&Cs”, but nobody can actually give me a copy of those!

I got a few refunds very easily from my card company on flights booked via agents during Covid so was hoping for similar this time.

So in essence, only way I will find airline ticket policy in relation to involuntary reschedule is from Booking.com / Gotogate?

YVR Cockroach

Even if Air Asia refunded in full. The funds would go to (presumably GTG) and then to Booking.com. You;ll have to deal with the T&Cs of these. I believe they charge a fee for any refunds.

Rami Tamimi

A few points from an AK/FD regular, some are more and some are less relevant to the OP's case but might be useful for others:

1) AirAsia is generally very flexible when it comes to their cancellations. They give you the option of a full refund, or to move your flight +-30 days from the original date. I don't know what the threshold, but I remember they gave me the option to rebook when the original flight was rescheduled by an hour or so and it often worked to my advantage. All this is done online and without the need to call.

2) BKK-KBV is a high-frequency route, and I see like 8 flights on a random date. Would none of those flights be suitable for you? If so you can try asking FD to move you to that flight citing that your OTA asked you to contact the airline. You will need to play a bit with Bo to get switched to an operator, but it is doable.

3) I believe GTG used to charge a fee for involuntary cancellations but does not seem to do so anymore (they still do if you want to ask them to change a flight after the cancellation) https://www.gotogate.com/rf/travel-conditions

4) If I was submitting anything to the card company, I would submit the original FD email about the cancellation, their T&C you posted above and the GTG T&C in this post as well as your communications with GTG/Booking.

dugg1989

Thanks for this, appreciated.

Yes there were plenty of flights on that route but the only one that would work for me following the schedule change was a Bangkok Airways flight so I booked that, after the assurances from Booking.com that my Air Asia flight would be refunded. This is all a few weeks ago now, the flight was 21/01.

I’ll try again with the G2G T&Cs and see what happens, will report back for the benefit of any others. As much as anything it’s another reminder to me to always book direct with the airline, sounds like this would have been easily resolved if I had.

moondog

While there are definitely a number of OTAs that I avoid, I disagree with the common (on FT) notion that maintains we should, under no circumstances, avail of agents. In many cases, agencies are far easier to work with (e g. picking up the phone) than airlines.

Rami Tamimi

Agree. It should be pragmatic. Ocasionally OTAs can be like 20-30% cheaper and if your plans are more or less firm, that it can make sense to give it a try.