Flight bookings - a cautionary tale

[cowpatz]

My daughter has been living in the UK for the last 3 years. She recently booked a return flight online through the Booking.com website. It was a LHR/AKL/LHR trip via SIN and then back through DXB with Emirates. The day after arriving in AKL (23 March) she was advised that the return Emirates flight was cancelled due the Iran conflict. This is where the peril of booking via these websites is not well known. It was challenging getting through to Booking.com and when she did, they couldn't do anything other than offer a refund, to be paid at some point. Emirates didn't want to know as it wasn't booked through them, even though it was their actions that led to the dilemma in the first place. Unless she paid over $6000NZ there were no flights available until a week after her planned NZ departure date of 7th April. Trying to book flights to Europe online was a nightmare. Going back via the US was not advised due to the TSA funding issue and massive delays meaning catching connections could not be guaranteed. In the end I suggested that she go through a travel agent, as they have better access and experience with airlines/routes etc and they also take responsibility for rebooking flights/accommodation if there are any issues. Even then it was not straight forward. She ended up departing this morning (12th April) with QF AKL - PER - SIN and then SQ from SIN to LHR. 35 hrs and 25 min of torture and a payment of $3500NZ for that pleasure. That's more than a normal return flight to the UK.
Still no refund yet from Booking.com.
If you book yourself, and it goes wrong, then be prepared to fork out some serious coin. With no refund yet, she has had to pay out over NZ$6500 and take an extra week off work from her new job.
On a positive note, at least she got to meet her recently born nieces and nephews and to be at my birthday celebrations yesterday. A win for moi at least!

[Charl]

Happy birthday, CP.
Yes the travel industry is more fraught than even the hotel industry.
For exactly the same service, you can pay almost anything, depending...

We always use a travel agent, who knows the inside tracks.
One excellent bargain we picked up was a Special later this year on the "#1 rated airline in the world": Qatar Airways.
Yes, fully paid up front and with a couple of sightseeing days bracketing an overnight stay in... Doha.

[emfrat]

Intrepid grand-daughter Meg is in Spain at the moment, after a week or so in France. She got there after a fortnight or so in Canada. In the last few years she has clocked up more flight hours than I have in fifty.

Booking.com is in my black list. Too many red flags - the last being in my cancelled trip to Omaka last year. I usually find suitable accommodation and then contact them direct for a quote. Apparently there were some contractual reasons my choice could not go along with that, so it had to go through Booking.com. Next thing I know, my CC was charged for some junk insurance on my car rental, which I had booked on line myself as I always pay the CDW at the airport when I collect the car. That was done by Booking.com, with no consultation or permission from me. I only became aware of it when checking my CC transactions. I did get a fairly prompt refund, probly because it was a Visa CC.

ATB,
Mike

[emfrat]

"#1 rated airline in the world": Qatar Airways.

The year before last, I suggested to Darling Daughter that it might be a good idea to visit the extended family in Scotland, since the grandkids are all in their 20s now and may soon want to go their own ways.
They went with Qatar and were very happy with them. I prefer Emirates, because they can now get an A380 into Glasgow, and BNE-GLA with a 90 min layover at DXB is purty good.

[Charl]

I am just wondering who it is I should ask, not to blow up Doha while we are in transit there.
There is no travel insurance covering cancellation due to war.