I also do understand why they combine flights. However, I do agree with Oscarben.

Thanks morh,you obviously understand what I'm saying,I'm not asking for any more than the travel agents would ask of me,they are saving money at my expense..It will cost me about £180,so £90 would only be half,and I would not be so disgruntled.I don't expect compensation,only a fairer deal.T.

Oscarben - you have the right to feel disgruntled especially after the let down with your Ibiza holiday. I was following that particular post with interest since we are visiting Ibiza (via Thomson) in 2009.

Hope all works out well for you.

Hi All

I am trying to compose a letter to send to Customer Services regarding the extra money that this change will cost us,I am going to tell them that if,for economic reasons I wanted to change airports I would be charged an amendment fee of at least £30 per person,why do they think I am being unreasonable asking them to pay me the same amount which would pay half our extra costs.Does anybody think this may work or have any ideas that I can use.Also is it worth mentioning that I am posting their answer on this forum?

Any help or advice would really be appreciated.T.

we had our flights changed to another airport ,birmingham to gatwick and got compensation of £20 each, i did complain and they raised it to £30 each. ive got the letter from this flight company although its not your company, here is the compensation payable per person they allow to give you a rough idea, 60 days or more nil, 30-60 days £10,15-30 days £20 and less than 14 days £30. so its worth a try, good luck

we had a holidays booked to Gran Canaria for our 25th wedding anniversary, had to book early as its half term , had great flgiht times they were then changed to crap ones but we agreed to them , slightly i know but i'm getting to the point , last week we had a letter saying they have now changed airport again with inconvenient flight times , we asked if they would honour out travelling expenses , but got turned down , we were told we could cancel free of charge and make another booking , which is what we done and actually got a better deal ,

Hi Llindy

We would like to be able to do that,but we're going with our friends from Manchester,their flight is from Manchester on the same day, and their flight is okay.If you read the earlier posts I've made you will understand why I am so annoyed,but to cancel this holiday and go without our friends would be far worse than paying the extra costs.T.

Hi I'd definitely write them a letter, if nothing else it gets it off your chest

Keep the letter simple, maybe in bullet point style, outlining all the changes, inconveniences and expense that this company has brought to you. You can of course point out that you would have incurred charges had you been the one to bring about any changes to your holiday.

Let us know how you get on.

Hi All

Just an up-date on this subject,I had decided it was probably not worth my time and effort to try and get some compensation but have just come to the realisation that this is what travel companies expect.I have written a letter and explained the extra costs I will incur and have asked for £30 pp because that is what they would have charged me if I had decided for some reason that I would prefer to travel from a different airport.

Wish me luck,I will let you know the outcome,Tina.

Best of luck Tina Let us know how you get on.

It's the airlines that make the changes. We booked (flight only booking) direct and non-stop flights from Manchester to the Caribbean with Virgin Atlantic, who then cancelled the route. We were offered an alternative on a different day with BA flights from Manchester to Gatwick, change of plane (so recheck bags and go through passport control a 2nd time Gatwick and then Gatwick to end destination or full refund. They refunded the flight cost - and we had to wait 6 weeks the refund, and it was an instant payment on purchase. So they had my money for about 3 months in all. They wouldn't swap our destination so we could still fly from Manchester direct without paying a huge supplement. So we are not going.

Airlines do this all the time and if your book with a tour operator, they do try their best to make good of the bad situation that the airlines enforce when changes happen. For example, if you book your own flight and accommodation, and you have to be re-arrange your plans, it's time consuming and very annoying (never mind the cost implications). Imagine though The Tour Ops and Agents, have to do this for each of all of their clients when there is a flight change, and very often never cover their overheads in doing so.

It's annoying, but I expect many routes will be cut this year.

I agree with all you're saying but this happens all the time,not just because we have a credit crunch,we're told to book early to get the best price and then get clobbered with a considerable amount of extra charges when they change airports.If we realised that we couldn't afford the holiday because we are struggling with the credit crunch so had to cancel,they would still expect to keep the full deposit and then re-sell the holiday at a higher price,win win for the travel company,so why not expect some form of recompense when they get it wrong.I am only asking for £90 no more than than we would have to pay if the change was our choice. Travel companies must realise at some point that in order to stay afloat they must make their customers feel that they are getting a fair deal,the more people complain the sooner they may have to take notice.Tina.

Travel companies must realise at some point that in order to stay afloat they must make their customers feel that they are getting a fair deal,the more people complain the sooner they may have to take notice.

Unfortunately for us, since the major players jumped into bed with each other we have less choice where to spend our money so the ball ends up in their court. They write it in their T&C's and we are bound by that contract when we commit to it. The only way I can see things changing is a total boycott but I doubt that's going to happen because we need our holidays. They have us by the proverbial short and curlies.

I know what you are saying and agree that travel companies are trying to stay afloat. Also airlines do this a lot, especially of you book about 6 months in advance and have done so for years. As I said, I've had this too.

I think the point I am trying to make is that it is the airlines that make the changes, but at no cost to themselves. They hand the bad news to the travel company who in turn has to tell the client. It's the the travel companies that incur extra costs with a package holiday, when the airline are the ones that make the change. Someone has to re-book your flights and other travel arrangements, (a whole plane load of passengers has been affected, maybe not all booked with them). Who compensates the travel companies costs? Maybe it is from the loss of deposits when people cancel.

Smaller companies who can't cover these costs will have to make staff redundant or go out of business. So possibly there will be less choice with who to book with in the future anyway.

Also could you put your hand on heart and say you'd book again through loyalty if they compensate you now, or offered to do so, in the first place?

Yes I could,I'm less likely to if I don't get any satisfaction but if they offer to meet me halfway I will at least feel that they are aware of the problems they cause,I booked this holiday last July after the same company had messed up my earlier booking to Ibiza,I had paid deposit for an AI holiday costing over £2000 FOR 2 adults and 1 child,took in quote from internet,they matched it,a few weeks later they informed me that they had undercharged by £792,I had to pay the difference or cancel,even though it was advertised at the wrong price,it would have made our holiday £800 more for this year than we paid for same hotel leaving one day later than last year.We are still with the same company.

Hi All

I sent a letter asking for £90 compensation,the amount we would have had to pay if we wanted to change airports,sent it 2 weeks ago but have not had a reply,is it worth sending a copy and reminding them that we are still waiting for a reply or do they have 28 days to answer?

Thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to offer,T.

I think it is 28 days for your first letter of complaint then 14 thereafter. I could be wrong as it's a long time since I had my complaint - but the above is ringing a bell deep in the depths of my fuddled brain.

I think the main problem you'll have is the terms of the booking!
The fact is someone has signed the contract which will allow them to get away with this! It's probably very well hidden in the small print somewhere! It's like any contract, if you've signed it then you've agreed to what it says.
But I think the biggest problem is that the holiday companies don't seem to give a damn if they lose you as customers or not! It's like they sometimes prefer you to have a refund.
I mean how many people book early with these companies only to find 6 months down the line it goes up in smoke and the tour operator offers you a refund because anywhere else you want to book is now way more expensive than when you 'booked early' They also don't honour any free child places you may have had on the original holiday! So basically you're left with your money back and only a few months to book somewhere else where most likely any free child places have all gone!!!
It really is win/win for them!

I hope you get the £90 back!

I had a similar experience with flights and accommodation booked separately. I purposely left booking the accommodation as I had a gut feeling that something would happen to the flights. Low and behold, one week after booking the accommodation, the flights were cancelled. We were offered flights at a different airport 2.5 to 3 hours drive away, also travelling on a different day which meant we would have had to change the accommodation, which was booked through Thomsons therefore we would have been charged fees for changing.

We didn't want the 3 hours drive there and back to the alternative airport as this was February time and there is no telling what the weather will be like (the weather turned out to be atrocious the day we should have travelled as it was during the heavy snow). So, we had to cancel the accommodation and pay 50% charges of £278 to Thomsons. Needless to say I was fuming and put in a complaint to the airline. I got the standard sorry, terms and conditions of booking etc. Still seething over how they can treat customers like this someone on another forum very kindly gave me the email of the top two people at the airline. I then fired off a polite, factual email about how their decision to cancel the flight had left us and asked if they could put themselves in our shoes and asked how they would feel about being out of pocket through no fault of our own.

Took a while for a reply (had to chase) however I then got a phone call and they have now offered me £200 off another flight at anytime. Not really the result I wanted (I wanted my money back) but, I am grateful they have at least offered me something as I didn't really expect anything as reading other complaints everyone always seems to get the "sorry but refer to T&Cs". Only thing is I am now having a very hard job in persuading hubby to make use of this offer as he vowed never to fly with them again after how they treat us and their other customers, however I am working on him

So, my advice would be to try and get contact details for the most senior people in the Company, chairman or CEO and fire off your complaint.

Slightly off topic but this has also worked for me with another complaint this week for the waive of an exit charge to Broadband provider. Customer Service all said no, however, again I managed to get email address of chairman, then got a call from a very nice lady, very apologetic and agreed to release us from our contract without any charge to us.