Sunaddict wrote:

It's easy to avoid the charges. Just don't book through online booking companies. Go to an independent agent (for better service) and they will do the same thing for you, but without charging for amendments etc.

Are you saying that someone can book a flight with Ryanair or Easyjet with an independent agent and the agent will make any amendment free of charge?

Despite their bad reputation, both Ryanair and Easyjet will make an amendment for the mis-spelling of a name FOC if they are contacted within 24 hours of booking.

For an upcoming holiday I booked direct with the airline and with the hotel back in March. I was aware that anything can happen in 9 months so I checked the hotel's cancellation policy which is FOC up to the day before arrival. Last time I booked a package to the same destination we were messed about 6 weeks before departure with flights being consolidated and a 3 hour flight turned into 4.5 hours.

I have also booked a Flight Plus / dynamic package for next year with one of the low cost online booking companies. I noticed as soon as the confirmation was emailed to me that it didn't state the hotel name I had booked, it only mentioned the resort name which consisted of 3 different hotels. I contacted them straight away and once I had provided a screenshot of my booking it was amended. They actually had our hotel listed twice on their website with the name in a different order and it should have been more expensive, but they honoured the lower price.

luci HT Mod wrote:

Sunaddict wrote:

It's easy to avoid the charges. Just don't book through online booking companies. Go to an independent agent (for better service) and they will do the same thing for you, but without charging for amendments etc.

Are you saying that someone can book a flight with Ryanair or Easyjet with an independent agent and the agent will make any amendment free of charge?

.

What I'm saying, as in a previous post, the agent doesn't charge any admin fees, they only charge what their supplier charges. Generally, overall, because you don't pay agents fees to do amendments, you do pay more than you would if you booked online (they have to make a profit). Online agents charge their own admin/service fees, some of which can be quite hefty. As I've also said previously, I don't think £30 is OTT for a name change, but some charges are ridiculous IMO,
Agents booking Ryanair flights. Those that will book them (against Ryanairs terms and conditions) may charge a service charge, because as we know Ryanair doesn't allow third parties to book their flights, so no commission. Some will do it FOC for regular customers. You can't book a RYR flight any cheaper through an agent, online or high street, so no point in doing so. It's always better to book direct with any airline.

I know we are well away from the topic now, but that is another thing I don't like about these companys. ie that they illegally book Ryanair flights (and I think Easyjet flights although I am not so sure on the law on that one and if Ej do allow it under some circumstances).

I do remember that O'Leary was suing one of these companys and in the wake of that they stopped booking clients on to his flights, but the fact that they were prepared to operate outside the legislation is enough to put me off in the first place. However I still dont have any arguments really with what they charge for a cancellation, if they are upfront about it in their terms and conditions, at the end of the day the onus is on the buyer and presumably they were happy enough to get a cheap deal at the time of booking or they wouldn't ahve gone ahead.

I think you are right Del we will have to agree to disagree . Some of us will think they are ripping folk off and others that they are levying these kind of charges in order to be able to stay in business, make a profit & offer a cheaper deal than to booking with TUI, Thomas Cook & a viable alternative to booking an airline & hotel direct. Particularly as they seem to be able to negotiate better rates with hotels than fold that book direct, presumably they have economys of scale.

Hi I'm all booked up with on the beach my 15 year old niece cant go idont want a refund shall I just say she didn't show up please help

You could do that but is it possible another relation might like to go instead? seems a pity to waste it.