Pensioner loses £1k after ‘airline swindle’
A PENSIONER has been left more than £1,000 out of pocket after falling victim to what he fears is an airline ticket scam.
Michael Wood had been saving all year for his annual holiday to Goa with wife Sheila, and scoured the internet looking for good flight deals.
But after forking out £1,120 with one website for flights from Manchester next year, the 73-year-old said he was sent tickets with the wrong date on them.
He contacted the airline involved, who told him that they had never heard of him and that the flights he had tried to book did not exist.
And after repeated attempts to get his money back from the company he booked with, he said they eventually changed their number and email address.
Retired coach driver Michael, from Wideopen, came across the website in March while booking his eagerly awaited holiday to India next year.
“I was just wandering through websites for cheap flights from Manchester to Goa and I found this one.
“I tried to pay it with my debit card but they said they couldn’t accept it and they gave me a number to ring.”
Michael said he rang the number and spoke to a man, who gave him bank account details for a transfer.
He paid a deposit of £200 and then the remaining balance of £920 several days later.
But when his ‘tickets’ were emailed to him, he was stunned to find that they had this year’s dates on them rather than next year.
“That’s when I knew something was wrong and I phoned Qatar Airways and told them all the details.
“They said they were sorry but they’d never heard of us and there was no such flight as the one we’d tried to book – the dates didn’t match up.”
Horrified, Michael said he rang the man who had sold him the tickets back and was told he would be sent “fresh tickets”.
But several days later he was still waiting.
Michael said: “He then phoned me 10 times saying that he was going to transfer my money back but nothing happened.
“During one call he stated that the tickets were wrong and would be cancelled, but at the same time telling me my money would be refunded. Now his original phone number has been changed, but the new one is unobtainable.
“I’ve been unable to get anything from the bank. They said it’s not classified as a fraud as I transferred the money direct to his account.”
Michael has since reported the company to Action Fraud, who say they are still assessing the details.