Speakers' Corner

My fight for a refund after snow cancelled my flights

 

An unfortunate travel experience over the Christmas break showed just how hard it can be for holidaymakers to fight for their rights when things go wrong.

I used online travel agent Expedia.co.uk to book British Airways flights to Mexico and then used other websites to separately book an organised tour and various nights in hotels. However, a series of mistakes by my travel companies meant I failed to get any farther than Gatwick. Freelance journalist, Emma Lunn tells Confused.com all.

Travellers’ rights when flights are cancelled

My travel plans came unstuck when my original flight was cancelled due to snow. Under EU rules, if a flight is cancelled the airline is still responsible for getting passengers to their destination – whether it’s by a different route or airline. Alternatively you can re-book your trip or claim a refund. If you booked your flight through a travel agent you’ll need to contact them regarding a refund.

After my flight was cancelled, I spent eight-and-a-half hours in a queue for the BA desk at Gatwick to re-book my flight. During this time, I regularly tried to call Expedia, only to find it was impossible to get through. The phone number BA gave out was just the same: the queue was my only option.

While delayed, passengers should be given meals and overnight accommodation if necessary. EU rules also state the airlines should give delayed passengers two free phone calls or emails if they are delayed for more than two hours. None of this was forthcoming for me at Gatwick, however.

Customer service issues

Eventually BA staff re-booked me to fly with Virgin and American Airlines to Mexico, via New York, three days later but made an error on the booking.

Essentially my seat on my new flight was cancelled by mistake. A quick call to Expedia should have rectified this, but staff there failed to look into the situation or help me, leaving me stranded in the UK with just the promise of a refund in “two to 12 weeks”. So basically my holiday was cancelled, and my travel agent apparently planned to hang on to my money for three months for good measure.

My problem with Expedia was that it took me hours to speak to anyone and when I did they did not understand the problem, refused to help and gave me misleading information about whether flights were taking off or not.

What about travel insurance?

If you have booked the components of your holiday separately rather than a package deal then travel insurance should step in and cover the rest of your losses. So hopefully my travel insurance will pay up for the tour I couldn’t go on and the hotel nights I was too late to cancel.

However, some travel insurance policies have an exclusion for “adverse weather”, so it’s a good idea to look out for this when buying a policy.

Am I entitled to compensation?

Legally, no. EU rules allow you claim as much as €600 (£510) for flight delays, but only if it is a result of the specific fault of the airline – such as technical issues with the plane. If the problem was caused by events outside the control of the airline – such as snow – then there is no compensation payable.

What happened next

Confused.com spoke to Expedia to hear its side of the story, and to find out how it planned to deal with the matter.

A spokeswoman told us that when BA mistakenly generated a booking for Emma to St Lucia, her Virgin flights were cancelled as a result, and could not be rebooked.

But, she added, “It is possible that there were other airlines that may have been able to get Emma to Cancun and our agent should have offered this as an alternative. We sincerely apologise for this.
“We are currently in the process of issuing Emma a full refund for both her BA flight and hotels, booked via Hotels.com. She will receive all moneys owed within the week.”

Emma Lunn is a freelance journalist, and can be found blogging regularly at emmalunn.com
Have you been affected by travel disruptions during the severe weather or suffered any other travel dilemma? Comment below or email: editor@confused.com to share.

 

Money Advice Trust’s 10 tips for dealing with debt

Joanna Elson OBE, chief executive of charity Money Advice Trust, explains how you can soften the blow of excessive spending over the Christmas period.
So Christmas is done for another year, decorations packed up, drinks cabinets dry and family and friends headed home – time to survey the damage.

December can be an expensive month, and certainly one we should budget carefully for. The reality is that some will have found it difficult to stick to their budgets and others won’t budget at all – preferring to wait until January before facing their finances.

The Money Advice Trust runs National Debtline, and each year we see a significant jump in the number of calls between December and January. A good number of those calling at the start of the year are concerned they have built up too much debt over the Christmas period, or indeed over the entirety of the previous year. Other debt advice agencies report similar experiences.

While everyone’s circumstances are unique, there are a few things you can do to help deal with your debt. With this in mind we have developed 10 tips for people with debt concerns at the start of the New Year:

1. Don’t ignore the problem – the sooner you get advice about your debts, the easier it will be to deal with the situation.

2. Get some free advice – think carefully before going to a fee-charging adviser when free, independent help is available.

3. Don’t borrow money to pay off your debts without thinking carefully – always take advice before making this step.

4. If you have lost your job, or are off work because of illness, check whether your payments are covered by payment protection insurance – and always read the small print of these policies.

5. Check that you are claiming all the benefits you can – go to direct.gov.uk and look at the money, tax and benefits section. Also visit turn2us.org.uk – a charity dedicated to helping you claim everything you are eligible for.

6. Work out a budget to help decide how much you can put towards repaying debts – a money adviser can help construct a budget, or you can visit a site such as mymoneysteps.org.

7. Decide on your best option for dealing with your debts – a money adviser can identify the range of options you have and their various implications.

8. Make sure you tackle priority debts first – some debts are more important than others – for example if you fall behind on mortgage payments you could lose your home.

9. Take action – after you have decided your route back to financial health, don’t delay.

10. Remember, you don’t have to struggle on your own – free, independent advice is available from a range of charitable organisations. You can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau, call National Debtline on 0808 808 400, or go online and visit mymoneysteps.org.

Recent research suggested that 2.3 million UK adults were still paying off credit card debts from last Christmas, demonstrating why it is so vital to pay attention to our ten tips above. You don’t wanting to be paying for this year’s presents when the tree goes up again for 2011, so make sure you take action now to reduce your debt burden.