Ellie - really sorry to hear this. I remember talking to you last September as I was also booking First Choice flights.

Have FC not said why the change of airport?

As you say, they have had your money since September!!

Hi Ellie_meg,

You don't say whether it's a package holiday or flight only, but I think that in either case your only options are to either get a full refund, or accept it.

In cases where 'they' do the altering or cancelling, consumer law is just not good enough.

Peter

i second that,sorry to here of your bad news ellie-meg,
im keeping my fingers crossed now,thats who im booked with for may,hope i dont get one of those e-mails,

its flight only ,but think its disgusting not only have they changed airport to 1 thats miles away, east mids, luton and gatwick are nearer than manchester but ive lost a day off my hols too, if i get a refund then i wont be able to find a flight as cheap as i got these as i booked in sept and all flights have gone up loads since then, is there anyway to find out if the flight has been over booked instead of cancelled and if thats the case do i have any more rights

Ah Karen . your not having much luck with this holiday are you. so basically theyve said "put up or shut up". this is just your flight isnt it Karen?. personally i dont think theres a lot you can do . are those flight days from birmingham still on their schedule ? do you know if its the duration or the airport thats giving them a problem. Have you gone through any other possibilies of different durations with them .maybe 21 days

hope you get this sorted Karen

lyn

ps Have you asked about those other london airports ?

hi lyn ,they were showing as available about 1 month ago but not now only the return is showing, they have now said i can go from east mids on 12th as i was supposed to be from brum and return to birmingham on 31st original flight, what a carry on means ill have to get someone to take and collect us, east mids 1 hour away and birmingham flight lands at 3 am grrr and i didnt really want to involve anyone else, they have return flights from brum 9th -27th but said i will have to pay around £600 more and theres no way i am paying more when i booked these in sept in full to get cheap flights , really is disgusting what these airlines can do, i asked about gatwick flights but they havent any for 19 nights only 21 nights and again i would have to pay todays price , not good enough unless i get flights that leave and return within 48 hours of my orginal flights i have to pay extra at todays price

Karen .their flight schedule is showing flights monday and fridays from Birmingham/dalaman

you can check their schedule by going to their web and clicking on info then timetable. Ifyour flights are still showing i would want some answers

theres no flight showing for 12th july returning the 31st july, this was our original flight

latest news is, i have been given incorrect information by customer services yesterday, i either accept these manchester flights, pay extra for another airport around 400-600 in total or cancel, im so mad , what a shambles

I'd cancel out of principle and find a more reputable compancy than FC (shouldn't be too hard) for your holiday this year.

Oh Karen sorry to here of this happening to you. Have you looked around to see if you can get competatively priced flights with anyone else? Does this mean you have to alter your accommodation booking as well?

Chris

Hi I think their will be lots of changes to other flights as well as yours as FC nd TUI have merged and i think this is the outcome, canceling flights where the flight is not full, have you phoned FC and asked if ypou can go on a TUI f.light from Birmigham if they have merged i cannot see why they cannot find you a Birmigham flight .They are now called TUI UK LTD from the 21st of March, haveyou read your small priint to see what your rights are, i think as long as they give you 14days notice and ppay for the transport to Machester their is nothing you can do.Im worried now as wel as MyTravel are mergong with Thomascook and we are going on a Thomascook flight anyway goodluck.

hi

i am waiting for a manager to ring me back this morning but i have a feeling no one will ring me.

no i didnt ask about tui flights as they made it clear that they would not move me at all, i even got her to look and they found another flight going from gatwick which is 1 1/2 hrs from me so better than manchester by an hour same dates and she refused saying this flight was about 500 more for the 3 of us, i asked why i wasnt offered this instead of the manchester as it was exactly same dates whereas manchester comes back a day early and the reply i got was its in your terms and conditions we can change flights if need be, and i said yes but surely not airport and dates, she said her hands were tied on these ticketless flights and there was nothing she could do.they only thing she did offer was me to fly out on manchester flight and return to brum lol, so that would mean getting shuttle so ive looked into this and the shuttle arrives 8 hours before flight and im not sitting around with a young child for that length of time, so i then said well petrol to manchester instead of brum is going to cost me about £30 more and car park around £70, as birmingham we were getting a lift so is fc going to pay this difference and again she said no and referred to terms and conditions , ive had a look on my email about terms and conditions doesnt say much so will have to have a look on their website. i think this is totally out of order to change someones dates and airport with no choice !!!

luckily for me im staying in my own apt as if id booked accommodation and airport parking what a worse mess i would be in

as regards to changing to another co not as easy as it sounds as prices have gone up hugely since i booked these flights we only paid £380 for the 3 of us, now im getting prices of 650-1000, i have found one thats 541 from birmingham but its for 21 nights not 19 and my hubby needs to find out if he can have the extra 2 days off, but hes sub contracts for someone and doesnt get paid for hols so thats another 2 days extra of no wages so when u add this on to the 541 that bumps it up a lot grrrrrrrrrrr

chris im doomed with bad luck over this, cos do you remember i was booked to go to agadir then all those bad reports came in about the hotel and some of the all inc changed so cancelled free of charge and booked flight only to go to turkey booked with xl flights then they cancelled flights and i got refund now this is the 3rd time and its happened again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

karen

karen . I feel so sorry for you . I dont think i can suggest anything else that hasnt already been said or you have tried but i just want you to know that im still here listening and i really pray you get this sorted to YOUR satisfaction.

im a firm believer of "everything happens for a reason" so lets hope the reason makes itself clear soon

lyn

ive had a look at their flightless terms and conditions and this is all i can find which doesnt tell me a lot grr

CANCELLATION BY AIRLINE
If First Choice has to cancel a flight for any reason and no alternative flight is available, then we will upon application refund all of the monies paid in respect of the cancelled flight. Any refund due will be made to the individuals who paid for each seat. Requests for refunds should be made by calling our call centre on 0870 850 3999.

FLIGHT CHANGES BY AIRLINE
In the unlikely event that First Choice has to amend a flight schedule you will be notified by either email, phone or details will be posted to your home address. It is your responsibility to advise First Choice of any changes to your contact details including new email addresses

What a nightmare. I know you have booked loads of DIY holidays in the past Karen, but they still bother me (even though I am doing my first one this summer).

It sounds like with these 'ticketless' flights we have virtually no protection at all. Then they cancel people so late that all the alternatives are double the price.

Presumably with a first choice package holiday, they would have had to do a bit more for you, at least sort out accommodation (thank goodness your going to your own flat), and pay for transfers from one airport back to other. I'd forgotton this was the 'Morocco holiday' rebooked.

Do you think it's worth giving Ros a ring? They seem to have altered an awful lot of elements of this flight.

I feel the right (or moral) thing to do would be to move you to the Gatwick flight, but i suppose FC wont do that as they can charge someone else 100s of quid more for it.

Under CANCELLATION BY AIRLINE bit, they seem to be very 'selective' about about what they are considering an alternative flight.

As you would consider the Gatwick flight to be a suitable alternative, but they dont presumably because it is going to cost them. I'm not sure how tied their hands really are?

Is it a flight 'they' deem to be a suitable alternative or you do?

I wonder if you took this further a small claims court they might find in your favor as you have told First Choice that the Gatwick flight is a suitable alternative for you.

its taken me 3 phone calls so far of at least 30-40 mins each call at 10p a min so ive bet ive spent in excess of £10 and got no where grrrr

i do book loads of diy and this is the first time ive had such huge changes to my flights, i wouldnt have minded if there had been a few hours time change from brum, but to send me to an airport that is miles away, ive got about 4-5 major airports nearer than manchester so god knows why they have choosen there grr

Karen

Sorry we are posting at the same time. I edited my last post so you might want to read it.

How about putting it in a formal letter. Saying whats happened and that under their policy you know there is a suitable alternative flight from Gatwick, but they are consistently offering you less suitable flights than the Gatwick one?