OUR FLIGHT HELL DOWN BLUNDER
Pair fight for refund after Oz booking is cancelled
Additional reporting by Jane Barrie
Arthur and Cath Davren were 10,000 miles from home when their flight booking was cancelled without their knowledge.
They’d been visiting their daughter in Australia and turned up at Canberra Airport for the return journey only to be told they weren’t travelling.
They called me in when they were forced to fork out £ 2600 for alternative f lights, then couldn’t get a refund from online agent Opodo.
Arthur, 69, said: “We’ve done this trip many times. But we were basically left to fend for ourselves. It was horrendous.
“I was panicking as nobody seemed to care that we were going nowhere.”
The couple, of Glencoe, Argyll, had booked £ 3560.98 f lights with Opodo leaving Glasgow on December 18 and returning on January 12.
Their journey was in four stages – Glasgow to London, London to Singapore, Singapore to Sydney and then Sydney to Canberra.
The Davrens’ daughter Julie and her family live in Carwoola, south of the Australian capital.
Arthur, a retired plumber, said: “We were fine on the way out, although one of the flights was delayed. But when we got to the airport to come home, it
– it the flat asset – place, ownan awillin As you tohave s have sense your parent makes especi ally if toward s it. The uted sed the contrib purcha r who your behalf solicito ty on proper tohelp. beable should was a different story.” What the couple didn’t realise was that Opodo had cancelled their return booking without telling them.
Arthur said: “I got to the check-in desk and Qantas, who were operating the first flight to Sydney, said they had no record of our booking. They couldn’t put us on another flight and we were advised to contact Opodo.”
But Opodo was no help at all. Arthur, a dad of three, said: “I called but got nothing but abuse down the phone. The operator was adamant we were booked on the Sydney flight.
“The lady from Qantas spoke to him to try to sort things out.
“But after an hour-and-a-half, we gave up. She told us the best thing to do was rebook and claim the money back.”
Luckily, Arthur was able to organise flights for the following day at a cost of £2600.
He said: “We had to get home. The dog was in kennels. It was the worst journey but we were relieved to get back to Scotland.”
Arthur and Cath complained to Opodo and BA, who operated the f lights along with partner Qantas, but called me when there was no sign of a refund.
Arthur said: “Opodo said they were getting in touch with BA. But I phoned BA and they said they knew nothing about it. Someone is responsible and it’s not me. I don’t want anyone else to go through this. Please help.”
I discovered Qantas had rescheduled the f irst f light by two hours, informing BA of the change in November, who in turn informed Opodo.
Opodo claimed to have sent an email to Arthur confirming the change. But he didn’t receive it. Shockingly, as Opodo had no record of a response to that email, it cancelled his booking.
But the good news is Opodo refunded the couple’s £2600 after I intervened.
A spokesman said: “An emai l noti f y ing Mr Davren of a schedule change in November requested him to urgently make contact.
“This was unfortunately issued without the correct Opodo branding and may have caused him to disregard it, leading to the return f light being cancelled. As a gesture of goodwill, we have refunded the cost of the new flights and apologise for any upset.”
BA said: “We’re delighted that the matter has been resolved.” g w tw re d old one had broken down.
“It surely didn’t take that long to get a new machine out.”
But Sarah-Jane, of Whiteinch, Glasgow, soon had a new appliance.
Argos said: “We apologised and arranged to collect the machine so we could investigate with the manufacturer.
“We also replaced the machine and provided a refund.”