pippo82ve

Hi all, i'm having a big issue with an OJ ticket brought in August on condor website.
The first leg is CUN- MAN (Thomas cook flight), the second one is MAN - MPX (flybe) / return ticket is VCE - MUC (airdolomiti) - MUC - CUN (condor) on tthe 16th December.
After hours of waiting to reach condor call center they told me i can rebook my original flight from Cancun, but i have to pay tyhe price difference. Is that correct? on my reservation is clearly state that my reservation has been made trough condor, aren't they supposed to reprotect me on another flight? I also asked if i can cancel my reservation and get a refund but they told me i'll be rembuirsed only for the airport taxes. I also asked if i can skip the first leg and just use (hopefully) the return ticket, but they told me that if i skip the first leg (that is not going to exist, cause it's thomas cook), they will cancel my reservation applying the no show rule. How should i move in this case? it sounds me crazy to pay the flight difference, especially cause i don't even know how long they will keep flying. Unfortunatelly the ticket has been paid by debit card, and the travel insurance doesn't cover the airline bankrupcy.

MY FLIGHT ON CONDOR IS STILL CONFIRMED, AND I HAVEN'T RECEIVED ANY EMAIL OR CALL TO ADVISE ME THAT THE THOMAS COOK FLIGHT WON'T FLIGHT

I'm open to any suggestion

Fabo.sk

You haven't stated when the outbound flight is, but if you are flying back in December, presumably it is not in the next few days.

Leave some time for the system to catch up. Presumably the CUN-MAN flight wasn't officially cancelled yet, and Condor can still count with the chance that TCX will be bought out.

Sooner or later they will have to cancell officially, at that point, you'll have the normal options.

Often1

Condor is offering a refund and that may be the best course. Condor does not have an obligation to rebook you. That falls to the operating carrier, e.g. Thomas Cook. That carrier is insolvent and, as it will not rebook, you may have a valid EC 261/2004 claim, against TC but it will never be paid, or, if it is, will be miniscule amount.

At the same time, Condor is on shaky ground. Whether it survives until December is anyone's guess.

Look to your travel insurance for the excess of rebooking this on solvent carriers.

pippo82ve

I hope so. If i can cancel and get the reimbursment that would be tthe best option and rebook it with another carrier. The crazy thing is that they assure me that the flight will be canceled but i'm forced to rebook with them paying a crazy amount of money in order to be able to use the second leg.

MSPeconomist

Condor is the OP's travel agent and should rebook for free as soon as the Thomas Cook flight is officially cancelled.

OP seems to be in Cancun now and doesn't have travel insurance. The current offer is to return only taxes (probably after a service fee) if OP cancels the ticket. Unless the taxes are a huge portion of the total cost of the ticket, to me it seems better to wait than to take a very small refund and get nothing in return.

AFAIK the repatriation flights are only being offered to Thomas Cook customers who have flown the outbound portion of RT tickets or packages and need to return to the UK, but IMO there's a chance that the OP might be put onto such a flight from CAN to MAN around September 30th, so he/she should watch for any schedule changes or other information about the status of the flight.

However, at some point OP will need to decide whether to risk the return portion of this open jaw ticket being cancelled if Condor goes out of business by December. In that case, how would the OP return to CAN if that is home? Does the OP have funds (or a credit card line) to purchase a ticket home if needed, including some additional hotel nights if necessary?

Often1

it's not clear to me that OP has flown any segment yet.

Condor is not a TA, it is the ticketing carrier (possibly). That does not make it a TA.

EU rules impose the rebooking obligation on the operating carrier. While that would generally be handled by the ticketing carrier and be sorted behind the scenes, that can't happen here because TC is insolvent. This either leaves Condor accepting the cost or doing what it has done.

Perhaps this will all straighten out in the next few days, but, if the TC repatriation effort is anything like the Monarch operation, it was short-lived, e.g. people caught somewhere were returned in short order if they wished or could fly back on their own at some other point and recover what they could from a credit card.

As an side, while the protections for debit cards are not the same as for credit cards, depending on where OP's banking relationship is, he may have some recourse through the bank associated with the card he used.

irishguy28

Except that when they sell tickets like this on their website, then they are, for all intents and purposes, a TA

Often1

As a practical, but not legal matter.

Here, what matters is the latter.

irishguy28

Then perhaps you could clarify who is "legally" the agent involved in this case, if not Condor as you imply?

iflyjetz

It sounds to me like your only choice is to cancel the entire trip and get a refund. And that's probably your best option because Condor, being a subsidiary of Thomas Cook, could be out of business any day.

MSPeconomist

OP was told (apparently by Condor) that if he/she cancels the ticket, he/she will *only* get a refund for the airport taxes. Unless taxes are a huge portion of the ticket cost, that's not a very attractive option.

iflyjetz

Ah, thanks. I missed that vital piece of information. Sounds like a no-win situation for the OP. He's forced to rebook the first leg if he wants to take the chance of Condor being in business when he travels.