I think that it's next to impossible to protect people and make sure that they benefit from the safeguards that are in place to help protect us if we wilfully ignore them. We are protected from being charged for things that we don't expect - that's what the T&Cs are for and how the Government has ensured that we are protected as far as possible from possible pitfalls but we create the pitfalls for ourselves when we don't bother reading them.

Likewise with the bank, they've never hidden from me what I'd be charged if I go overdrawn without getting it authorised, write a cheque that I haven't got the funds in my account to honour etc. in other words spend money that I don't have in my account. I think that I should be protected from them just levying charges willy-nilly - that's why they have to inform me and why I keep getting little booklets through the post from them whenever the T&CS attached to my account change. It's their responsibility to send them to me, but it's mine to make sure that I read them and if I don't like what they say, then take my business elsewhere.

SM

There is absolutely no doubt that you should always read the T&Cs but just because something is there does not make it fair.This is a good debate.

del949 wrote:

I get sick of hearing 'its only five mins work and that should cost a tenner why am I paying a hundred'

1) I bet you don't say that when you get a £30 charge from the bank for a bouncing check/ insufficient funds/unauthorised overdraft etc.

2) they have the same expenses when they take your booking but wouldn't dare to try and charge you £100 for that service.

No one is suggesting that they should do it for free but the charge should be "proportionate" to the work actually involved.

I would be annoyed with myself not the bank.

I make sure what I know what I am getting myself into in the first place.

I personally wouldn't touch a company like onthebeach with a barge pole, but at the end of the day they don't have people's arms pinned up against their backs to make them book.

It's something called free will, buyer beware etc etc

People moan on and on about having a 'nanny state' with one breath and then in t'other expect people to be protected from so called 'big bad' company's.

Folk can hardly have it both ways.

wether OTB is a good or bad co is alrgely irrelevant.
As for terms and conditions, I printed off TC's for my next flight and there were 4 A4 pages of, largely gobbleldygook, tight printing.
Careful reading leads me to believe that
1) the airline can do almost anything to my booking without penalty
2) I can do virtually nothing without penalty.
I may agree to TC's simply because if I wish to fly I simply have no option as all airlines have the same basicTC's.
The suggestion of taking your business elswehere is a non starter.

However this is geting away from the original complaint, which in general was unfair treatment.
Even if the terms and conditions are read and agreed to it doesn't make them fair or proportionate.....£175 to amend two tickets.... please...justify that.
Bearing in mind that OTB would not be losing any money and would in fact by charging for the amendment be making an extra profit, as would the airline, then why would they make it so difficult to transfer tickets to another name.?
It defies logic and business sense.

When we needed a change of flight 2/3 years ago with the ash cloud it took about 2 minutes and that include a printout. I consider anything over £10 as exhorbitant for any simple name change etc

With respect Shrimper that is a very different scenario - you were having to be booked onto a new flight for reasons totally outwith the control of both yourself and the airline and you still wanted to travel. You weren't looking for a refund just because you had changed your mind about travelling and you weren't wanting to sell on a non-transferable flight to a 3rd party. To be honest I don't understand why people don't understand or won't accept that a non-transferable flight is just that, non-transferable.

SM

shrimper wrote:

When we needed a change of flight 2/3 years ago with the ash cloud it took about 2 minutes and that include a printout. I consider anything over £10 as exhorbitant for any simple name change etc

I don't see that as the same thing at all. You hadn't entered onto a contract with a travel company and then simply changed your mind about travelling and then asked if a way to get out of it was to dupe the company by cancelling your bank card.

Whatever people feel about charges is irrelevant in the final reckoning the only thing that matters is what is stated in the terms and conditions that have been signed up to.

IMHO people still want cheaper and cheaper holidays. Pro rata to thirty years ago they are very cheap and have not risen in price like other things, so the company's continue to charge cheap and get some money back when people mess them about, change their minds etc. the alternative to that is probably the costs of holidays going up for everyone.

If it wasn't for company's like onthebeach and Travel Republic, Thomson and Thomas Cook wouldn't have much competition in the market at all and that would hardly be a good thing.

I know they are the T&Cs but I do wonder just how much money is made by companies along the line of OTB when there is a cancellation. The flight I cancelled because I had changed my mind- I paid £175 for the ticket and was refunded the taxes as is standard - I got back £137. Years back, when most companies T&Cs were set up, the taxes were very low. Now they are skyhigh( no pun intended )
Its time something was done.
Why not ask to be refunded the taxes on your flight Paul? Obviously this would be minus admin fee in this case.

so the company's continue to charge cheap and get some money back when people mess them about

having said that I assume that you agree that the companies are not charging an admin fee and covering their costs but are actually charging a cost plus figure.
I am still waiting for someone to convince me that £175 charge is reasonable, £175 probably equates to more than the actual profits that would have been made if the booking was left standing.

The £175 will be made up of the admin fee to change the names on the tickets plus the difference in cost between the original fare and the current fare, which will probably be higher.

Paul is actually lucky that he could do a name change as not all airlines allow it, BA for example.

Given that these flights would appear to have been booked back in June and depending on which airline they were with, that difference could be considerable. £87.50 per ticket could easily be accounted for if that is the case.

SM

Clicked 'submit' before I'd finished! Had been going to go on and say that as the OP has never been back since his last post on this thread, we never will know sufficient details to ever find out if that is the case, Luci.

SM

In June this year we went into Thomas Cook travel shop to enquire about a holiday.
The manager knowing we love Icmeler came over and asked us if we wanted to go the following week as someone who was due to go had to cancel because of ill health.They hadnt declared a pre existing so couldnt claim from insurance.
She asked us to make them an offer and it would only cost £25 each to change the name on the tickets.
The people had booked in September 2011.
Unfortunately it was when Turkey were having very high temperatures of 40+ which is far too hot for us.
If a large company like Thomas Cook only charge £25 which is OTB charging what I think is an obscene amount to do a name change.
They are one company I would avoid like the plague.

Thomas Cook usually charge £50 per name change, on one of their package holidays. Name changes to flight only with an airline are completely different. The majority of tickets are restrictive and where name changes are allowed the charge, as has been said, is made up of the airline charge, plus difference in fare cost, and OTB admin charge. The OP was lucky he had the opportunity to change the names having bought a restrictive ticket. If you want flexibility you need to buy a fully flexible ticket with a full service carrier. The cost between a restrictive and flexible ticket will usually far exceed the cost of a name change, where allowed.

I don't think £30 per change (which is what OTB charge) is excessive by any means, given that TC charge £20 per sector to change the name on a flight if done online, or £40 per sector if done via the call centre.

The OP stated that OTB would charge £175 to change the name on the ticket,

Jay Trip wrote:

The OP stated that OTB would charge £175 to change the name on the ticket, :que

That would be the total cost to change, so airline charge, fare difference, plus OTB admin charge.

Well will I just stick with the larger companies regardless.

I suppose its best to book with the main tour operators,for me anyway as I have never booked online.

It depends what you want. If you want a package holiday book with a tour operator. If you want more freedom to choose your flights and accommodation to suit your needs, booking components is the way to go. That is what OTB, TR plus many, many online booking companies do. You really do have to read the terms and conditions though, before booking. I prefer to book online direct with the suppliers, and cut out the middlemen altogether.