Name Changes can really cost you with Opodo and BA

iamclaire

2007-08-20 17:46:10

I booked a flight via Opodo with BA for the 1st Aug 2007. It cost me £624 for 2 tickets to Gibraltar. I made a terrible mistake of getting one of the passengers names wrong. When I realised my mistake I emailed Opodo immediatly and phoned them when their offices opened the next day. The reason I made the mistake is that I had been looking after my elderly parents for a week and was very tired from collecting water all day during the Gloucestershire floods. My trip was supposed to be a much needed break.

I was reeling with shock when the booking agent told me there was nothing they could do for me as they had to follow BA's terms and conditions on a non refundable ticket and I would have to buy another 2 tickets at a higher cost of £654. In shock I called BA and they said I would have to complain to Opodo as it was nothing to do with them. I am still waiting for a full explanation in writing that I have asked them for. I stupidly paid for another 2 tickets when I only needed one The booking agent at Opodo failed to tell me I only needed one ticket. So they took another £654 of my money just like that.

When the second tickets came through they made an error with my email address and I had to call their premium line to retrieve my tickets. They would not have informed me of this error if I had not called them. This error however did not cost them £654.

The flight over itself was a complete nightmare. It was delayed by 3 hours and then could not land in Gibraltar due to bad weather. We had to fly to Malaga and were left to wait for our luggage for an hour and a half. No BA staff were present and we were left with Spanish coach drivers who could not speak English. The journey to Gibraltar by coach was 2 hours and in all that time we were not offered any food or drink.

We eventually arrived in Gibraltar at 3am we were supposed to arrive at 6.30pm. We missed our check in time with our hotel and were left to roam the streets of Gibraltar until our hotel opened at 8am. We could not afford a 5 star Hotel which was the only Hotels open as we had already been robbed of £624. We missed a whole day of our holiday and I feel very bitter towards these 2 supposedly respectable companies. We have been treated so badly and Neither company can be bothered to explain themselves. Can anyone help me as I am at a loss of what to do for the best. This trip ended up costing me £1278.

I

fwh

2007-08-20 20:10:31

We can only express our personal opinions here on HT.

In my opinion, your best option is to get professional advice from an expert.

The person to contact is Ros Fernihough, Travel Law Solicitor, Ros has helped many members of HT .

Ros has offered our members free impartial legal advice.

Please note that Ros does not read or post on this board any contact to her must be made via :-

Tel :- 01922 621114

Please keep us informed how you go on. All feedback helps others.

fwh

SandC

2007-08-21 08:51:52

I'm not sure that there is anything you can do to be honest. I am sure you were badly advised about the flights and the name change at the time but having purchased the two extra tickets I am unsure that you can then in hindsight claim for the cost back. I can only suggest writing to them with any proof that you might have in the form of emails (or if it was over the phone a longshot is to try to recall the date of the phone calls so that they might be able to check recorded calls) that you were wrongly advised that you had no alternative but to book another ticket.

So far as the flights were concerned I don't think there is anything you can do about being routed to another airport because of bad weather. They did provide transport to the resort after all.

I'm very sorry that you had a rotten time of it, do let us know if you have any luck.

pickalilly

2007-08-21 09:27:43

Please don't take this the wrong way but whether you were tired or not when you made the booking wont cut any ice with them.
Non refundable tickets are just that ,thats why you have to be so careful at the time of booking again its not there fault a mistake was made.
Don't know why they would have said you needed two tickets when only one was wrong commonsense should have said only one was needed.
The tickets would have been sent to the email address provided.
As for the delays i think you have been very unfortunate.
The lesson here is to book with a travel agent.

I cannot see you getting anywhere with this especiallay the flights but i hope you can get it resolved to your own satisfaction.

Peter of York

2007-08-21 10:31:09

Hi Iamclaire,

I don't know the answer, suggest follow the advice of fwh, it's sound as usual -

We can only express our personal opinions here on HT.

In my opinion, your best option is to get professional advice from an expert.

The person to contact is Ros Fernihough, Travel Law Solicitor, Ros has helped many members of HT .

Ros has offered our members free impartial legal advice.

Please note that Ros does not read or post on this board any contact to her must be made via :-

Tel :- 01922 621114

Please keep us informed how you go on. All feedback helps others.

fwh

Peter

daveyjp

2007-08-21 10:59:28

I received full travel details for someone who entered the wrong e-mail address. All his personal details, home address, credit card, dates he would be away, flight numbers, hotel he was staying at , who the other passengers were etc etc. Check, check and check again.

wickedchris

2007-09-28 19:40:45

I booked flights 8 weeks ago for friends direct with BA.

When the confirmation e-mails came through i realised that i had done this.

Mr M
Mrs M (should have been S)

I rang BA straight away saturday tea time. And got the name changed straight away. Was told that i wouldn't receive a confirmation e-mail for a few days, which made me panic. but i need not have bothered cause the e-mail came the next day.

And confirmation came via a letter 5 days later.

can't think of a username

2007-09-28 20:01:14

Opado was telling you porkies and BA would do a name change if it was a mistake. Get hold of set of BA's term and conditions and if they will allow a name change take opado to the cleaners. Because genuine errors do happen is why they have a name change proceedure in place.

If a agent made the mistake do you think they would paid BA for new tickets, no they would of contacted BA and get the tickets corrected. I am divious if I had booked it on the phone and I would of told them they made an error on the name.

Charter tickets are non refundable but name changes are allowed, a non refundable scheduled airline ticket means if you miss your flight, cancel your ticket and if you try to change the date of travel you will not get any money back.

When I done my airfares and ticketing exams we needed to know all the rules on the tickets and it could be very complicated but it never came up a name error corection was not allowed on a non open ticket before the first leg of the journey. As wicked chris said he booked direct with BA and they corrected the error.

Did you communicate by email with opado, that will give you the evidence you need to take them to the small claims court. If they gave you any mis-leading information they are liable.

fwh

2007-09-28 20:23:55

I accept that members do try to assist but am rather puzzled why this has started again.

Lots of sensible advice was given over a month ago yet the original poster has not come back with an update.

fwh

wickedchris

2007-09-28 21:08:39

Maybe that was because i was reading through posts i had missed.

And i wanted to give my view that BA were excellent with me.

can't think of a username

2007-09-28 22:03:38

fwh

I think it is extremely rude for the original poster not to come back and thank the members who has tried to help, it happens all too often. I am not saying the original poster of this thread will not come back.

keela1eva2

2007-09-29 09:43:06

Double booking

Last year whilst making a booking with Jet2 I accidentally clicked Twice and so produced 2 bookings. I immediately called them and they said that the flight was non refundable but as a gesture of goodwill and in view of the short time between the bookings they would cancel one lots of flights for a fee of £35.
Initially I was upset by this and I wrote to them but they insisted I do this or I would be left with the double booking. They already had my money. I accepted the ruling and I note that now it tells you DO NOT CLICK more than once.

I think there must have been a proceedure to change the names as they have this with most Airlines and it is for a fee.

Sue

loubychew

2007-09-29 13:01:23

can't think of a username,

This happens sometimes as you have noticed, especially when the answers received are not what the original poster was hoping for.

I do like to give folks the benefit of the doubt, sometimes we can't all get onto our PC's every day but you are right, it has been a while now.

Lets hope we hear the outcome from Sue soon.

Louise

Aslemma

2007-09-29 16:23:56

It's even worse when someone sends you a PM and, after you've spent time giving them a full and considered response, you hear nothing further, not even an acknowledgement. :roll:

It's happened to me a couple of times but most people are polite and I've received a lot of help on here. That's why it worries me I no longer get e-mails, as I have to keep checking to see if anyone has responded to queries I've had.

jennyfrank

2007-09-29 17:12:05

What e mails do you no longer get? I receive emails most days to say the the "topic I'm watching" etc etc. Could it be that something needs clicking or something on your profile? As you know, I'm something of a technophobe, but I know what I mean.

re. answers to PM's not being acknowledged. This has happened to me and I do think that it is rude, but there you go ----------. It takes all sorts! jenny x

fwh

2007-09-29 18:42:33

Here on HT we have mostly a nice bunch of people who like to help others.

Yes from time to time we do get the odd ones who do not.

Some of those who try to help are people who have had the assistance when they had a problem.

That is something that makes it worth the time that some give in research etc.

I do wonder if topics should not be locked at times or perhaps an auto lock when a period of time has passed without response.

Perhaps Mods/Admin could tell us if that would be possible.

If people cannot take a few minutes to respond when others have put themselves out then, in my opinion, they do not deserve the help they get.

fwh

Kath

2007-09-29 18:56:15

Dont think autolock is possible, but I will ask a techie

It really is disappointing when a member uses the forum to ask for help, but dont come back to tell us the results. or even say thank you to the members.

Kath HT Admin

whitewineandsoda

2007-09-29 20:55:00

Twice recently I have spent time checking prices and posting a reply to people asking for help/advice, and heard nothing back. I think it's extremely rude,to say the least. I've also read countless post where other members have not had a thankyou. It makes me so angry. I'm so pleased I was brought up to have good manners, and not forgotten how to use them. Must say though these people are the minority on here....

....Linda x

Kath

2007-09-29 20:59:06

I know I am also guilty of this going off topic, so am going to lock it.

If the member comes back to update it, please pm me and I will re-open.

Kath HT Admin

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