I assume your complaint is regarding a charge for suitcases. This does seem a little strange.

Who did you fly with?

fwh

FWH,

My complaint is with the way they handled the additional charge. If they had been up front and said there might be a charge for taking your suitcases then fair enough. But to spring it on you after you have paid is not good. Also they wanted to charge me double what Ryanair actually charged for taking suitcases.

If they know about the charges then surely it wouldn't be hard to put a little note on the order screen to say that there might be additional charges. It seems to me like they want to keep it all quiet until you have paid, then you can't get out of paying the extra fees.

As I understand things Ryan Air charge for checked hold luggage and have done for quite some time. Were you not aware?

They do allow a reasonable amount of carry on - 15kg pp I believe. Would that not have been enough?

fwh

I wasn't aware that Ryanair made any charges for baggage. I have no problem with them doing that, it would be nice though if the OTB told you before you paid for the holiday.
15kg was enough to carry on but you are restricted with dimensions. I wouldn't have got all my stuff in a bag small enough.

Every low cost airline charges for hold baggage now. Jet2 flybe and Ryanair and have done so for a long time. Jet2 have just reduced their baggage allowance to 17K from 20K.
When making the booking it is only when you are putting in the final information that the cost of the bags is added.
Don't think there is any point in complaining as it will just add to your frustration.

Sue

Is it me or is every one else missing Colin's point?
As far as I understand it a booking has been made and after being paid for in full it has then been brought to light that there is additional cost for luggage, i.e. a holiday has been booked through OTB which does not include luggage.
To me it is incidental whether low cost airlines charge for cases or not unless Colin booked the hotel through OTB and booked the airline separately.

We all complain enough if we book a package holiday and find that the AMOUNT of luggage is less than we would expect, however ZERO is a lot less than I would expect and I am grateful for Colin for bringing this disreputable practice to my attention as it will be something I check for from now on.

Back to the complaint which was that there was no prior mention of the additional charge for any luggage and then very poor customer service from the company from there on in.
I will not be using this company as a matter or principle now, but one possible recourse is to check with the consumer services or whatever guise trading standards are under nowadays. I would have thought that selling a holiday package that does not include baggage but does not actually mention it must break some agreement. My daughter was getting the runaround from the local Orange shop regarding a dodgy mobile until I contacted Trading Standards. Armed with the correct information and phrases, I found the shop could not have dealt with us any better!

And I agree with Colin that if the charge had been made obvious during the booking process, it would have sorted the problem as it could have been taken into consideration then.

Steve,

Thanks for that - you have hit the nail on the head there. I am not worried about the cost of the charge, it's the fact they sprung it on me after I had paid for the holiday. It's the principle of the thing.

Thanks

I've just done a dummy booking to Madrid with them and in all fairness to them they highlight that it is a no frills flight right from the beginning of the booking process.

Hi Fiona,
Out of interest I did the same exercise for an AI holiday to Ibiza.

There is a big logo showing No Frills Airline to me this means as opposed to a known TO operator.
The only legend states that the costs includes seat taxes etc etc.

There is no mention of luggage, however from a consumer point of view:

I have hit the website looking for a holiday package the same as I would with a TO. The search layout is the same.
The logo showed does state No Frills but the logo is not clickable and nowhere along the booking route does it highlight that there is no luggage and yet it knows I am looking for a weeks holiday!

There is no obvious link where the definitions can be read to find out what no frills airline would mean and therefore like the majority of people using the site for the first time I would assume that the agent had an agreement in place with the airline regarding luggage for the holiday.

If the company "were being fair" then they would have a rider attached or a clickable link explaining that No Frills means additional luggage costs in regards to a holiday package at some point before completion.

This is therefore misleading and I again thank Colin for raising it because I would not have considered it an issue whilst clicking through and booking. To me on booking a holiday package my only automatic question is whether it is 15kg or 20kg and if I could cope with 15 such as a short holiday I would not even bother digging into the terms and conditions to check.

my freinds just booked a holiday with this shambles of a company on thurs flying today to benidorm AI to magic rock paid in full £2400 for 1 week. then on the friday they phoned to say the accom was not avalible but they had another one (another magic one) the worst one of the lot with terrible reviews. so they declined and asked for there money back only to be told they could not get money back for flights, only accom not very good with 2 days to go they were on phone for 2hrs and got no were with them they said (the company) would phone back yesterday but never. my freinds had to go to a travel agent and book a hotel separate at an added cost to them villa de benidorm lucky they got in but still dont know if they will get money back off o t b for hotel when they get back sorry but this company stinks would not touch them with a barge pole (there phone people just dont have a clue on good manors)

yours the fatboy

only to be told they could not get money back for flights, only accom

OTB are a travel agency who sell package holidays. If your friends have booked a holiday with them my interpretation of what you have said is they have "booked a package holiday" put together for them by OTB. I may be wrong (and no doubt others will tell me) but I would have thought they would be covered under the regulations and be entitled to a full refund.

I would be interested in what others think. The definition of a package holiday is not just something you pick out of a TOs brochure.

fwh

they do not claim to sell package holidays. As far as I understand( and someone can put me right) they sell hotels and act as agents for flight companies.

Fatboy
I'm not understanding this properly. Did they not take the money back for the hotel? Are they using the flights already booked?
I do understand the frustration of a last minute change though.

Perhaps it is a matter of how you interpret it but they are a member of ABTA and so sell/arrange package holidays. In this particular case, in my opinion anyway, they have put together a "package deal" of flights and hotel and are therefore bound by the regulations.

fwh

Section 2 of The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992, defines what a package holiday is.

Peter

fiona they tried to get all there money back but o t b would only give them money back for hotel and sayed they could not get money for flights and with 2 days to go they had flights and no were to stay apart from a sh**e hole they offered them .in the end they got accom with another company so have paid 2 times and as they could not get through to otb before they left they still have not got money back for hotel and dont know if they will. cause no doubt otb will say when they come back that you never got back to us about the sh**e accom we prosume you whent i just hope they got there flights it left from glasgow at 2pm today and they paid by debt card

the fatboy

I thought they had already asked for their money back? Did they email them to emphasise that they wanted their money back?
Let us know the outcome please.
However, not everyone is able to afford paying again for a holiday whilst waiting for a refund. The mark of a good company is how they react when things go wrong- hopefully they can come back with something that will acknowledge the stress your friends went through.

Thanks Peter when I posted I was not able to access the relevant information.

"package" means the pre-arranged combination of at least two of the following components when sold or offered for sale at an inclusive price and when the service covers a period of more than twenty-four hours or includes overnight accommodation:—

(a) transport; (b) accommodation;

Your friends according to the above have booked a passage as defined by the regulations.

OTB are just trying to confuse the issue, why, I cannot understand. The information is readily available and with sites such as HT it is not hard to find someone who will point you in the right direction. Then they wonder why they get such a bad press.

They do need to press for repayment of the monies regarding the accommodation.

fwh

fatboy,

I hope your friends get a better response from OTB than me. All I got was a letter which copied about 4 paragraphs from their terms & conditions page. They skillfully avoided answering any of my questions. The best part of the letter was right at the end when it said

"We hope you will consider allowing On The Beach Holidays to be of further assistance to you when you make your next holiday arrangements".

Let me think - that would be a big NO

Since posting I have completed my letter of complaint regarding OTB to ABTA - I would advise your friends to write too. They might not take 1 single complaint to seriously, but if they receive several all within a few weeks it might make them think a little harder.

I know every business is out to make money, but at the same time when something goes wrong they should hold their hands up and say OK lets fix it.

Hi All...Glad it wasn't just me as the original poster that had had problems!! We travelled with OTB 2 years ago and had no problems whatsoever....but as my original post states...things have obviously changed since then. My OH rang ABTA regarding our complaint and they basically said that OTB have the right due to their T&C's and the wording of it to move the goal posts at anytime...so basically as consumers we do not have a leg to stand on.
Just as an aside...eventually rebooked my daughters holiday to Ibiza with Cosmos and they had a great time....I certainly would never use OTB again and would advise anyone else to steer clear!!
Also I did notice the extra charge for baggage when I originally booked for them...it was on the final invoice page...but am sure theirs was not a no frills flight.
Regards
Annie