This is not a nice situation to be in, and I get the feeling that they are holding all the cards so to speak. However I do wonder if they are bluffing ...........................

Why not contact Ros Fernihough, a very helpful travel solicitor, whose details can be found in a sticky on the top of this page. This should show you the way you might like to proceed!

Hi Burnsey,

An unusal situation i must say. Have they told you what the extra charge is for, if it is an increase of governement tax or airline fuel duty then i believe they are within the rights to ask for the extra as per below.

3. The price of your transport arrangements

Custom Flights reserves the right to raise or lower its advertised prices and such prices do not constitute an offer. If prices do alter you will be advised of the revised price prior to you making a booking. We have the right to correct any obvious errors in advertised or confirmed prices.

The price includes:
(a) Return flights to your destination. We reserve the right to levy a fee for in-flight catering. This will be indicated at the time of booking and any catering will be appropriate to the destination and cultural tradition of airlines country or the destination.
(b) All airport taxes and passenger charges (Except for Ticket on Departure charge of £12.00 and Fuel charge of £35).
(c) Free baggage allowance on European charter flights of 20Kgs* per person and one piece of hand luggage weighing under 5kgs and being an appropriate size to fit into the onboard lockers (*some airlines restrict baggage to 15kgs)

Additional costs:
(a) A Ticket on Departure Charge if tickets are collected at the airport.
(b) For overseas originating/inbound to the UK seat sales our overseas representative may levy a local ticketing charge.
(c) Holiday Insurance. You must take out the Holiday Insurance we offer or one that offers the same of greater protection.
(d) Due to the recent terrorist incidents and subsequent increased security levels, it has been deemed necessary by the insurance industry and the relevant authorities to charge an Aviation Security Levy (ASL). This is shown as a separate cost on the invoice.
(e) Additional charges are sometimes levied by airlines in respect of luggage in excess of your standard allowance detailed on your ticket and special catering requirements. Airlines may also levy a charge on certain items of luggage such as golf clubs, skis, snowboards, cycles, windsurf equipment etc.
(f) In-flight catering in certain circumstances. (This will be indicated prior to booking)
(g) An arrival tax of £10 is payable on arrival in Turkey, to be paid in Sterling.
(h) Car hire: Car hire details as shown in our brochure are subject to separate booking conditions, available on request. Holiday Autos and Custom Flights Ltd. act as agents for overseas car hire companies.
(i) Passport and visa charges if necessary.
(j) Car parking at UK airports: Details available on our web site http://www.customflights.co.uk and are subject to separate booking conditions, copies are available on request.

Prices are fixed at the time of booking and will generally not be subject to surcharges. The price of your travel arrangements is subject to surcharges for increases in transportation costs (e.g. fuel). Another exception to this is an increase in costs arising as a result of any government action including but not limited to new or increased taxes such as VAT. Also, all U.K. and overseas airport tax/security levy are beyond our control and will be passed on to the client.

But then if it is their mistake then they should honour it as stated below

9. Our responsibility to you

We accept responsibility for the acts and / or omissions of our employees, agents, and suppliers while acting within the scope of, or in the course of their employment with us. We also accept responsibility for any deficiencies in the services we are contractually obliged to provide, or the failure of such services to reach a reasonable standard. We do not accept responsibility in respect of death, bodily injury or illness of any person taking one of our flights, except when caused by the negligent acts and / or omissions of our employees, agents suppliers or sub contractors while acting within the scope of, or in the course of their employment, agency, contract of supplier or sub-contract. All our flights and arrangements have been purposely designed to allow for some un- scheduled changes. But you will appreciate we cannot be held responsible for changes outside our control resulting in a missed or delayed connection. At all time a representative or agent will be on hand to ensure that any problems are overcome as quickly as possible. We will give you what assistance we can to a client who through mishap suffers illness, personal injury or death during the period of the flight arising out of an activity which neither forms part of the flight arrangement, nor forms part of an excursion offered through Custom Flights.


Hope this helps in some way but i would definately argue the toss with them to see exactly what the truth is as it may be A1 Travel applying the extra charge and just blaming it on Custom Flights as because it is an agent booking, Custom will generally not discuss the booking direct with the passenger.

Thanks

You have paid in full for a September Holiday? How can they increase it? This doesn't sound right. What is the point of booking with A1travel when they accept no responsibility and tell you to contact the flight supplier direct (Custom Flights) who I doubt will want to discuss it with you anyway.

It sounds like you thought you booked a package holiday with A1travel which you can do as they are ATOL holders, but in truth they have sold you components ie a flight plus a hotel to avoid responsibility.

The thing is you have paid already paid in full and I think legally you are in a better position, so contact Ros.

What i would do is maybe look at your documents and see what the flight price is that you have paid and then have a look on custom flights website and see what they are charging. http://www.customflights.co.uk

I reckon it is a cock up by A1 Travel but i could be wrong. A1 Travel were prepared to sell you that holiday at the agreed price, if this was my client, then we would hold our hands up and write it off for our own stupid mistake for getting the price wrong. The agent is probably getting grief from her boss and trying to recoup the losses but this is not your problem, it is theirs.

If they are adamant then i would ask for a full refund as this is clearly not your fault and i would look elsewhere.

They do have this disclaimer on their website but as you have paid in full and have recieved all documentation then this is a confirmed booking as both parties have agreed and accepted.

Disclaimer
The information advertised comes from Individual Travel Providers, however, the data is sent by a third party. As agents for Travel Providers we are constrained by the information they provide. Although every care is taken to ensure our prices are correct, please be aware that as we use third party data, there may be occasions where the prices shown are incorrect. For example a £280.00 flight might be shown for £28.00. Please accept our apologies for any accidental misrepresentations on this web site or other affiliate sites. We cannot accept liability for these errors.

Did you make the booking online at all - if so, how long after did they contact you?
Also, have your recieved your accommodation vouchers etc too ?

This is taken from A1 Travels website FAQ's:
Making a Booking
Are prices guaranteed?
No, any price quoted is only valid for the duration of the call as prices do fluctuate and availability does change. As we are an agent only we do not have any control over this, but due the extended list of Travel Providers that we deal with, A1Travel is confident that we offer very competitive prices on all products and services that we offer.

Can the price change after the booking has been confirmed?
Once the agreed amount of money has been debited from your payment card a contract is in place between yourself and A1Travel and any price quoted is therefore guaranteed at this stage. Prices may subsequently increase or decrease but the price paid at time of booking cannot be altered. Two exceptions to this are an increase or decrease in tax or fuel costs if these are imposed by the Travel Provider in accordance with the Terms of the Travel Provider. Also when paying a deposit only on a schedule flight the total flight price cannot be confirmed until the full balance is received as the deposit simply secures a confirmed allocation on the aircraft but does not guarantee the flight price.

Hi,
Have you received anything at all in writing from A1 travel? Reason I ask is that I booked our forthcoming holiday to Turkey through flightline.co.uk. Last week I received a letter from them advising of a change to our flights. Attached to their letter was a copy letter from Customflights advising them (as agents) of the changes and our options ( referred to Terms & Conditions to be found on INVALID URL I think after having been told such conflicting information over the phone by A1 travel, I would insist on getting them to put in writing/email exactly what the situation is. That way they cannot chop and change their minds. I would also ask for copies of correspondence to them from customflights regarding the price increase/cancellation , as there will be correspondence IF A1 actually made the booking. That may throw some light on the situation. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I agree the important thing is to get A1 to state their position in writing - until then you'll be all over the place.

In the meantime read this http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38337.html which explains how a business is legally required to act "with reasonable care and skill" and http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38609.html which explains they can't stick anything in the T&Cs to cover for mistakes.

Hi guys. Thanks for the reponses.

I have paid in full for the holiday and have received paperwork from A1Travel confirming the booking.

Having spoken to Custom Flights yesterday It appears that it is an error by them. The flight was priced at £109.00 per person when it should have been £209.00. They don't seem to be budging at all even though they admitted that it was their mistake. I am going to double check everything and get evertything written down before I speak to them again.

Then if I have no luck I will probably go back to A1 as I believe this question covers it as it is an increase in the price of the flight and not the charges or tax.

Can the price change after the booking has been confirmed?
Once the agreed amount of money has been debited from your payment card a contract is in place between yourself and A1Travel and any price quoted is therefore guaranteed at this stage. Prices may subsequently increase or decrease but the price paid at time of booking cannot be altered. Two exceptions to this are an increase or decrease in tax or fuel costs if these are imposed by the Travel Provider in accordance with the Terms of the Travel Provider. Also when paying a deposit only on a schedule flight the total flight price cannot be confirmed until the full balance is received as the deposit simply secures a confirmed allocation on the aircraft but does not guarantee the flight price. (Thankyou leisurelad).

I'll keep you informed. I'm definitely not going to pay the £200.00 they're asking for.

Thanks again.
Rachael
x

Hi burnsey

Don't know if you've seen this on A1 website:

Disclaimer
The information advertised comes from Individual Travel Providers, however, the data is sent by a third party. As agents for Travel Providers we are constrained by the information they provide. Although every care is taken to ensure our prices are correct, please be aware that as we use third party data, there may be occasions where the prices shown are incorrect. For example a £280.00 flight might be shown for £28.00. Please accept our apologies for any accidental misrepresentations on this web site or other affiliate sites. We cannot accept liability for these errors.

and Custom Flights:

3. The price of your transport arrangements

Custom Flights reserves the right to raise or lower its advertised prices and such prices do not constitute an offer. If prices do alter you will be advised of the revised price prior to you making a booking. We have the right to correct any obvious errors in advertised or confirmed prices.

Thought if you were double checking you might be interested in these (if you didn't know already).

What safeguards does the customer have?

Sunaddict

What safeguards does the customer have?

See the two government fact sheets linked above - businesses are always liable for their mistakes and cannot use standard disclaimers to get out of it. It just needs someone to challenge them - which rarely happens, too many people are prepared to be walked on.

I have also had quite a bad experience with a1 travel.Booked with them last year no problems.booked again this year in January to travel to Marmaris end of May for 2 weeks and had to pay in full. Got all documents 3/4 days later.The flights were booked with Thomas cook.In March received phone call to say cancelled gave a new flight,different airline(Freebird) and asked for £55 each extra (I was away from home at time).Husband ,as I wasn't there agreed.On April 29th nother call saying flight cancelled offered another with different airline again (Pegasus) and another £25 each,but different times meant we came home late evening instead of early morning(same day). Meaning we were without rooms the previous day as we had to vacate rooms at midday prior to flight.When I realised this I asked for another night in hotel(at extra charge)but they said no vacancies and offered another hotel for 1 night (£40).I accepted.The same day a letter came (dated 6 May )saying the flight had been changed yet again back to near original flight time still with Pegasus.When i rang a1 said they only received notice that day (8th).Luckily they not ask for any more cash.I couldn't cancel and get money back as only 3 weeks to holiday.At least I am free from my computer and phone.Sent 18 emails in all and got 3 replies.I will enjoy my holiday despite a1!! Sorry about this sad story but it WILL have a good ending!!

I've got to say this all seems very fishy to me.

When I book a flight for a customer early on before the season starts and especially to Turkey there can be flight time changes. However, if your flight time changes and you have already booked that flight, the airline will not ask you for any more money. Neither should, unless the airline pull out of that route and you have to be re-booked, your actual airline change. Marmaris addict I am presuming (and forgive me if I am wrong) that you are flying to Dalaman. Thomas Cook have not pulled out of flying to Dalaman from any major airport as far as I am aware. If anything, the demand is so great for Turkey this year there are more flights than ever... From Manchester there are 3/4 flights some days. A1 moving you from TCH to Freebird and then PGT AND askng for further money makes me doubt the flight was ever booked in the first place. Could it be that they are hanging around with your money to get the cheapest fares and as demand has been high this year the fares have actually gone up, meaning they need to ask you for more money to prevent them making a loss?

I could be completely wrong, but something here really does smell funny.

If I were you I would ask them for your booking reference for your flights as you want to contact the airline to add on extra legroom or something, or ask them which tour operator they have booked the flights through. Pegasus don't really sell direct and neither do Freebird, most of their seat only sales are through tour operators like Holidays4U, Scott Travel and other independent turkish tour ops. If they cant give you this information (which you are entitled to) or send you a confirmation invoice from the tour op for the flights I would be asking some serious questions.

I booked flight only from Glasgow to Dalaman with A1 travel in October 2008 for June 25th 2009 flying out at 20.40hrs.
Friends going to turkey had their flights changed so i phoned A1 travel to check and was told the flight had not been changed.I was going to work that day and go to airport straight from work.My accommodation and transfer were booked depending on that flight.My daughter also had something on at school that day.
7 days before my due flight i received a photocopy of tickets and discovered my flight had been brought forward to 7am (more than 12 hours earlier)
I first contacted custom flights who stated they had informed A1 travel about this several months ago and had received agnowledgement of their notification.They stated that we had never been booked on the original flight.I then contacted A1 travel who were very unhelpful,denied this was the case and more or less said 'hard luck'-yes,this was their manageress.she was very rude and customer unfriendly.

I dont want to jump to any conclusions here but to have soo many different flight changes seems very unusual.
Yes there will always be changes from time to time but to be pushed from airline to airline seems odd.

I am wondering as someone said earlier, was anything actually booked in the first place. Alot of agents were struggling heavily earlier in the year as there were many advertising holidays at below nett cost which outraged alot of us. I am wondering if A1 Travel and maybe many other agencies were using the forward booking money to pay for staff costs etc to see them through and now your holiday is nearer, they go to book the flights only to find they are alot more than what you paid for them, and then ask you for more money.

I also understand that as A1 mainly do dynamic packaging, if the flights had been cancelled and they had to re book you with another tour operator, then yes any difference in the fare would be asked for, but for soo many changes in such a short space of time seems very odd.

One of the reasons why our agency hardly use Custom Flights anymore because of the poor service.

Cheers

But then if it is their mistake then they should honour it as stated below

9. Our responsibility to you

We accept responsibility for the acts and / or omissions of our employees, agents, and suppliers while acting within the scope of, or in the course of their employment with us

The above is the answer to your question. Yes it may be true that the price should have been £100 more but they have been paid in full he price they asked. Their own T&Cs state that if it is their mistake then they will accept it.

The numbers for Ros Fernehough;

The direct number to Ros's PA Pam is 01922 705134

Or try the switchboard number 01922 633214 and ask for Travel Dept.

fwh

I too have just had a bad experience with A1 travel - used them last year to Egypt and they were fine - this year booked for Fuerteventura on Boxing Day - got a call yesterday to say that Custom Flights had gone bust - all other flights are too expensive so had to cancell. A1 says they will return our money for the accommodation - minus £55 cancellation fee but we have to go through ATOL to claim for the flight money- any views on this from anyone ??

This isn't A1 travels fault , it is custom flights who have ceased trading. To get your money back you have to go through the CAA. There is a thread about this in this section as a few of us are affected.

Thanks for that - wasn't really calling A1 - just miffed as we'd booked with them.
Better stick a claim in straight away then !!

The CAA haven't put the information up on the website yet, hopefully by the end of today you will know what to do. Im still hoping travel republic will transfer my flight for me so I don't have to claim but for now I am just checking the CAA website ever hour or so

Don't know what Travel Republic are like with these cases but A1 told us yesterday that if we picked another flight we would still have to pay again upfront and claim the other back or if we picked another total holiday we would still have to put in a claim for the one lost - didn't want to risk it again so going to Cyprus now with Thomas Cook - a bit chillier than Fuerteventura but never been before so will be a change and we may be lucky !!
Let me know if you see some change on the site before me and vise versa