Fly365 questions swirling

QUESTIONS about the final weeks and months of operation of OTA Fly365.com continue to mount, with the company seeming to have allegedly taken advantage of extended ticketing time limits on higher class fares to delay payment to airlines.

Posts overnight on a Facebook group established to support the thousands of people who are currently out of pocket have highlighted the unusual practice, which saw Fly365.com make bookings in Y class - the most expensive Economy tickets - even though customers were paying the prices of significantly less expensive Q class fares.

Y class tickets can be held for up to 30 days without payment, meaning customers with these bookings were able to check their reservation online even though Fly365 had allegedly not actually passed the money on.

Moreover Y class bookings can be rebooked each month to keep them live, “so Fly365 could have been doing this for months!” according to one commenter.

The group, which now has more than 2,500 members, is providing mutual advice on accessing credit card chargebacks, which are expected to resolve the majority of consumer claims.

However experiences related by Fly365 customers also confirm what appears to be a clear pattern of strange conduct, with many online bookings not even actually confirmed with airlines and clients only holding Fly365 invoices rather than any airline confirmations.

The collapsed company is now in the hands of Nic Raja from Rogers & Carson, who noted that the Liquidator has not cancelled any flights “and is actively taking steps to minimise the risk of agencies and/or airlines cancelling or causing disruptions to flights of those customers”.