Having booked my holiday to Lindos with Direct Greece everything looked cosy.
Staying at Manolis Villa in the village which looks lovely.
We where flying out on the 21st in the early morning around 7am, so we'd be arriving just before 1pm in Rhodes (they're time). That would give us a nice day to get things organised and go out and watch the Champions League final. It was a good flight out too as we'd have our room upto 12 noon but we'd already be away before then to catch our flight just after 1pm.
However with Direct Greece and Thomas Cook merging, think things have went a bit pear shaped.
I was trying to find out if my brother could come along, but the net seemed to be showing only a flight out at 4.30pm on the 21st and returning at almost midnight the following week. My first thoughts where that the earlier flight was full. On calling Direct Greece today I asked if there was space in the earlier flight and the girl turned round (well not actually turned round............) and said that we where not flying out till 4.30pm now also.
So whilst we have 1 good news that if my brother goes he isn't going on his lonesome, it means we're all going later. Now we'll be out at 12 noon and not be flying out till almost midnight, so we'll need to mess around for around 9 hours or something like that. Now it's fine before as I have had stuff like this happen before, but now we have a little girl who will be just over 2 and my mum and dad are going who are well into their 60s.
The other bummer is when flying out at the later time I'll miss the whole of the CL final with the different time differences.
What's getting me is that we've not heard a peep from them about it. I sent off the final payment over a month ago which they took and they didn't crack a light about any changes to the booking.
I'm hoping I can maybe get it booked for a little later that day, but I've never had luck with this at all, and I think it'll be even harder in Lindos (this is actually our first time staying in the village).
FD
It is a bummer when they change the flight times, especially if you pick an airport because the flight time is more convenient 
As you say the main problem with a later departure is 12 noon checkout. Most tour ops will do a later checkout of 6pm for a charge but this isn't always possible, it depends on the next booking's arrival time. Don't worry too much though, it may cost a little more but you could always rent a room in the village for one night which gives you somewhere to shower, change, store your bags, etc.
As you say the main problem with a later departure is 12 noon checkout. Most tour ops will do a later checkout of 6pm for a charge but this isn't always possible, it depends on the next booking's arrival time. Don't worry too much though, it may cost a little more but you could always rent a room in the village for one night which gives you somewhere to shower, change, store your bags, etc.
LOL.............you'll never believe this, it's 7.30pm now. 
I phoned to check out flights for someone at the 4.30pm flight and they told me there wasn't a flight at that time. The alarm bells started and found out that it had been moved again.
Getting a bit of a pain now and with me having to book a parking space I don't want to be getting messed around much more as you need to put down the times of the flights.
FD
I phoned to check out flights for someone at the 4.30pm flight and they told me there wasn't a flight at that time. The alarm bells started and found out that it had been moved again.
Getting a bit of a pain now and with me having to book a parking space I don't want to be getting messed around much more as you need to put down the times of the flights.
FD
Hi there,
It looks like you might be on the Glasgow flight??? So were we....... We booked in July 2007.... Leaving Glasgow at 6am......
After lots of emails back and forth and endless phone calls, we discovered we were on the new flight at 1930 as well.....
Kept trying to get a hold of Direct Hols, but it is almost impossible.
We discovered that the flight from Edinburgh leaves on the same day of the week (wed) at 1015am. It leaves Rhodes to return to Glasgow at 1745pm.
Due to the fact that the flight time change is now more than twelve hours from our original flight we have transferred to the edinburgh flight at no extra cost. (It is in the booking terms and conditons- under the section"changes made by us).
Also, I gave up phoning the 0870 numbers and called either 0141 559 7000 or 01274 384 658. Got answers then. They stil claimed there was no edinburgh flight and that the amendments are chargable but once I pointed out the booking terms and conditions the charges were wavered.
If you are flying from Glasgow this might be of help to you???
It looks like you might be on the Glasgow flight??? So were we....... We booked in July 2007.... Leaving Glasgow at 6am......
After lots of emails back and forth and endless phone calls, we discovered we were on the new flight at 1930 as well.....
Kept trying to get a hold of Direct Hols, but it is almost impossible.
We discovered that the flight from Edinburgh leaves on the same day of the week (wed) at 1015am. It leaves Rhodes to return to Glasgow at 1745pm.
Due to the fact that the flight time change is now more than twelve hours from our original flight we have transferred to the edinburgh flight at no extra cost. (It is in the booking terms and conditons- under the section"changes made by us).
Also, I gave up phoning the 0870 numbers and called either 0141 559 7000 or 01274 384 658. Got answers then. They stil claimed there was no edinburgh flight and that the amendments are chargable but once I pointed out the booking terms and conditions the charges were wavered.
If you are flying from Glasgow this might be of help to you???
you are not the only one that has had flights changed, i have always booked through tomas cook but they seem to be buying out alot of companys this year with the company you are with and manos, so rather than a 10pm flight out it is now 12am and rather than a 12am flight home it is now 2am which wouldnt be to bad if we had a room for an extra day but having a group of 32 very tierd people with us i cant see it going to well, my grandad is 81 and the youngest child with us is 7 we had no choice on flights we had to book late as there werrnt any daytime flights but to come home in those hours of the morning is rediculouse. i know just how you feal fd1972 uk,
Hi Stevie 1
We are a party of 15 who had also been booked from July 07 for Pefkos Rhodes and who got letters last week saying flights had been changed. New times are totally unacceptable and we we were actually thinking of cancelling and rebooking with Thomson, I also had noticed that the Edinburgh flight had ok times but trying to get thru to TCX was a nightmare!!! myself and 2 friends tried all day monday and most of today , you are right the 0870 numbers are a waste of time, it was just music ALL THE TIME nit even been told you were in a queue or anything!!! got back on to Direct who have offered to e mail Thomas cook operations for us and it could be a 4 day turnaround [/b]for them to get back to us!!! Diabolical treatment !!! the call centres are a total joke and last night we would definetely have cancelled if we could have got someone to take the cancellation. !!! Still to date , havent spoken to anyone at all , eventually Direct have said they will hold seats on Edinburgh flight so hopefullt it should be ok. We are all totally fed up and unimpressed with this company as we booked on line , there was 5 separate bookings so all lead passengers have to try to get thru!!! Can I ask you , who did you actually speak to that did the change for you? cos Ive been told that they (Direct )have no authority to do so but my feeling is that thats who I booked with and incidentally I have not even had a notification that I am now booke under Thomas Cook thouroughly FED UP !!!! bE GOOD IF YOU COULD LET ME KNOW cHEERS!!!
We are a party of 15 who had also been booked from July 07 for Pefkos Rhodes and who got letters last week saying flights had been changed. New times are totally unacceptable and we we were actually thinking of cancelling and rebooking with Thomson, I also had noticed that the Edinburgh flight had ok times but trying to get thru to TCX was a nightmare!!! myself and 2 friends tried all day monday and most of today , you are right the 0870 numbers are a waste of time, it was just music ALL THE TIME nit even been told you were in a queue or anything!!! got back on to Direct who have offered to e mail Thomas cook operations for us and it could be a 4 day turnaround [/b]for them to get back to us!!! Diabolical treatment !!! the call centres are a total joke and last night we would definetely have cancelled if we could have got someone to take the cancellation. !!! Still to date , havent spoken to anyone at all , eventually Direct have said they will hold seats on Edinburgh flight so hopefullt it should be ok. We are all totally fed up and unimpressed with this company as we booked on line , there was 5 separate bookings so all lead passengers have to try to get thru!!! Can I ask you , who did you actually speak to that did the change for you? cos Ive been told that they (Direct )have no authority to do so but my feeling is that thats who I booked with and incidentally I have not even had a notification that I am now booke under Thomas Cook thouroughly FED UP !!!! bE GOOD IF YOU COULD LET ME KNOW cHEERS!!!
Hi there,
We got the same treatment!! Told to wait on a four day turnaround.. They called and we were out, but never left any contact details. When we called again they told us it would be another 4 days.....
Ended up so fed up, I phoned this number for direct holidays 0141 559 7000. It was answered pretty much straight away. I told them about the hassle and stated that I was not going to hang up until this was sorted.
I spoke to someone called Mark, a friend spoke on the same number with a guy called Liam. I asked to speak to a group manager and was told her name was Margaret Hamilton.... another line manager name was Lynne Ross.
Both were in a 'meeting'------sure!!
But I stated the clause in their terms and conditions about a significant change to the flight times>>>>-
''Changes Made By Us Before Travel
From time to time we may have to change details of the Holiday you have booked. If any change will have a significant effect on your Holiday, we will tell you about it before your Holiday, if there is time. Changes we will tell you about include:
- Change of your UK departure airport
- Significant change of your destination
- A change of more than 12 hours to the time you leave the UK or your destination
- If we downgrade your accommodation by one full 'Tour Operator' rating or
- If the swimming pool will not be available for an extended period during your Holiday and no alternative pool is available either at the property or nearby.
If you do not want to accept a significant change, which we will tell you about before you depart, we will, if we are able to do so, offer you an alternative Holiday of equivalent or closely similar standard and price at no extra cost, or a less expensive Holiday, in which case we will refund the difference in price. If you do not wish to take the alternative we offer you, you can choose a different Holiday offered for sale by us and pay, or receive a refund of, any price difference. Or, if you prefer, you can cancel your Holiday and receive a full refund of any money you have paid to us, except for any amendment charges. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy.''
As a result of this, i was told they could change me onto the Edinburgh flight there and then..... BE WARNED - THEY TRIED TO CHARGE FOR THE AMENDMENTS.
But after I quoted the above clause in their terms and conditions, they agreed to change them free of charge...
Persevere with them and demand it is dealt with immediately and you will get there. As i say we have got the changes and 3 friends have also had their flights changed, free of charge after calling this number.
stevie1
We got the same treatment!! Told to wait on a four day turnaround.. They called and we were out, but never left any contact details. When we called again they told us it would be another 4 days.....
Ended up so fed up, I phoned this number for direct holidays 0141 559 7000. It was answered pretty much straight away. I told them about the hassle and stated that I was not going to hang up until this was sorted.
I spoke to someone called Mark, a friend spoke on the same number with a guy called Liam. I asked to speak to a group manager and was told her name was Margaret Hamilton.... another line manager name was Lynne Ross.
Both were in a 'meeting'------sure!!
But I stated the clause in their terms and conditions about a significant change to the flight times>>>>-
''Changes Made By Us Before Travel
From time to time we may have to change details of the Holiday you have booked. If any change will have a significant effect on your Holiday, we will tell you about it before your Holiday, if there is time. Changes we will tell you about include:
- Change of your UK departure airport
- Significant change of your destination
- A change of more than 12 hours to the time you leave the UK or your destination
- If we downgrade your accommodation by one full 'Tour Operator' rating or
- If the swimming pool will not be available for an extended period during your Holiday and no alternative pool is available either at the property or nearby.
If you do not want to accept a significant change, which we will tell you about before you depart, we will, if we are able to do so, offer you an alternative Holiday of equivalent or closely similar standard and price at no extra cost, or a less expensive Holiday, in which case we will refund the difference in price. If you do not wish to take the alternative we offer you, you can choose a different Holiday offered for sale by us and pay, or receive a refund of, any price difference. Or, if you prefer, you can cancel your Holiday and receive a full refund of any money you have paid to us, except for any amendment charges. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy.''
As a result of this, i was told they could change me onto the Edinburgh flight there and then..... BE WARNED - THEY TRIED TO CHARGE FOR THE AMENDMENTS.
But after I quoted the above clause in their terms and conditions, they agreed to change them free of charge...
Persevere with them and demand it is dealt with immediately and you will get there. As i say we have got the changes and 3 friends have also had their flights changed, free of charge after calling this number.
stevie1
Hi Stevie 1
Thanks for all your info and the numbers you supplied before, Glad to say that eventually today I GOT THROUGH!!! and the flights were changed to Edinburgh I wasnt Direct tho it was the Thomas Cook nuber and it was answered straight away, couldnt beleive it!!! she didnt even start to go on about ammendent charges cos I said there was no way I was paying it as i knew we were over 12 hours etc so she just did it there and then.All our friends (4 other parties) got thru as well ,Im kinda worried now cos it all seems too good to be true!!lol What I dont understand is that why couldnt Direct do this for me asap they said they didnt have the authority to change flights but they could take a booking seems crazy!!! I was all for cancelling , if we hadnt got a result by Friday which was a headache as there are 15 of us and we all wanted to stay in same accomodation, but just tried this morning out of the blue got through. so hopefully all sorted out now!!! Thanks again cos I probably wouldnt have perseverd if I hadnt read your posts and read that you had got yours changed. We are going on 23rd July when are you going???might be on same flight !!!!!
Thanks for all your info and the numbers you supplied before, Glad to say that eventually today I GOT THROUGH!!! and the flights were changed to Edinburgh I wasnt Direct tho it was the Thomas Cook nuber and it was answered straight away, couldnt beleive it!!! she didnt even start to go on about ammendent charges cos I said there was no way I was paying it as i knew we were over 12 hours etc so she just did it there and then.All our friends (4 other parties) got thru as well ,Im kinda worried now cos it all seems too good to be true!!lol What I dont understand is that why couldnt Direct do this for me asap they said they didnt have the authority to change flights but they could take a booking seems crazy!!! I was all for cancelling , if we hadnt got a result by Friday which was a headache as there are 15 of us and we all wanted to stay in same accomodation, but just tried this morning out of the blue got through. so hopefully all sorted out now!!! Thanks again cos I probably wouldnt have perseverd if I hadnt read your posts and read that you had got yours changed. We are going on 23rd July when are you going???might be on same flight !!!!!
hey guys glad you all got your holidays changed as i bboked only threw thomas cook do you think they would change my flight times to there are 20 of us on our flight and its silly although we fly from lgw
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