We also booked up for tenerife for christmas with A1 Travel, and were unfortunate to loose our flights with custom flights.
As all the other coments we had to cancel because they wanted another £2000 for flights for our family of 4, and there was n way we had that sort of money so close to xmas. So we cancelled the whole holiday!! At first we were told that the accomodation money minus £150 cancellation fee would be returned to us in 7-28 days, After numerous phone calls to a very snotty manager sandie (apparantly) we have now been informed 3 months on that we wnt recieve this until they have sorted through all paperwork, and they have so many to get through that they cant say when this will be!!
We are so disappointed with the company they have been of no help to us at all with this matter, we have now cntacted ABTA directly to see what they can do for us, because obviusly we dont want to send out any forms to them for the flight refunds if they cant even refund something that hasnt even been paid by them to the accomodation we booked!!!!
If anyone has managed to do anything about this matter with the company it would be really appriciated if you could help us because we have gotton nowhere with these and at the end of the rope with them. I have given up on calling them as the woman speaks to you like something she has trodden on and i am really frustrated with everything she comes out with!!! too busy to help!!! more like to busy getting new customers and forgetting the unfortunate ones who lost out with them!!

A1 told us that as they receive completed forms back to them they will be done together - flights and accommodation so god knows how long they will take doing that. We returned our forms about 7 weeks ago with all the attachments (copies taken and kept) but so far CAA have not received anything back from A1. Not sure if they mean everybodies forms or what! Some people may not be in such a rush if they can afford it but we are down a lot and want it back - not sitting in their banks so they can claim the interest.
Also if they haven't paid Low Cost Beds and CAA pay you out themselves with a personal claim number I can't understand the logic.
Think it may be Solicitor time for Cagey Christine and Snotty Sandy.................

This is why i dont want to send the forms to them, we have sent all the details to abta t ask them and they are looking into it for us and have advised not to send them back to A1 travel until they have looked into the situation. Maybe if more people get in touch with them smething can actually be done, We cant afford to wait for our money either, and definately not loose it all together which we are now worried about with all the different answers we have had from the company about the accomodation money, The peple we were meant to be going away with booked with ON THE BEACH and all theirs have been sorted!! They had their full refund for accomodation (no cancellation charges) and the CAA are now dealing with the claim forms. Just dont knw what else to do from here!!

I booked my flights with Travelrepublic,they were with custom flights,all sorted now and had my refund from CAA last week.Travelrepublic managed to get me a new flight provider at the same price,so the refund went to them.I had a problem with CAA just before Xmas,they sent me a letter asking for all documents,saying they hadnt received them with my claim form,which had been sent,I just contacted Travelrepublic over this,they got onto it in a couple of hours,they phoned up CAA and got it all sorted,cant praise them enough now.

We have had a mail from A1 at last, informing us that we will get paid for the accomodatation including cancellation charge by end of March "WOW" that means it would have only taken them 3 months to do it and after them telling me it would be sorted in 7 days. It beggars believe that this company exists and that people still use them.

we havent recieved a thing not even wasting my breath ringing them again!! We have now sent the forms to CAA direct not loosing out again!!! it'll be another year by time A1 get them sorted!! if it takes them 3months(if it actually gets paid then) to get money they already have in there account god knows how long it will take them to sort through CAA forms and dish out everyones payments!!!

we only got a reply because I contacted them again. Please keep in touch on here and let me know how you go on with CAA will you. I will update you when I hear anything too -- 'we will fight them of the beaches' etc etc

of course i will yes, still waiting for abta to get back to me, they have recieved our complaint and booking forms and are looking into the company that they say are CHADWELL TRAVEL not A1 so fingures crossed they will do something about them!!!! Good luck with everything!!!

Beware A1 Travel trade under many guises under the Chadwell banner.
Name & Registered Office:
CHADWELL TRAVEL LIMITED
C/O N S AMIN & CO CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
334-336 GOSWELL ROAD
LONDON
EC1V 7RP
Company No. 01337190

Heres an extract from one of their Invoices "For clarification, Chadwell Travel Ltd has several websites and trading names including but not limited to
a1flights.com , a1travel.com, .a1cruiseclub.co.uk, a1holidays.com and
bargainholidaysonline.com. All bookings are subject to the above Terms of Business regardless of whether your
reservation is being made via our call centre or via one of the company websites"

Better to be safe than sorry, I wouldn't trade with any of these companies.

I Was lucky, in that I got my money back relatively quickly minus the £69. It pays to keep on at them, I was 1 of a group of 4 bookings travelling together that rang on a daily basis. Keep on at them they will soon get fed up of you ringing.

Good luck all.

well if you got your money back i will try and keep ringing then, £69?? what was that for, they have charge us £150 cancellation fee which i think is abit extortionate!!!!

I read that quote on our confirmation!!! One question to all of you! Did anyone recieve confirmation from custom flights as well as a1 travel??? because the party we booked with as i said before booked with On The Beach and they recieved confirmation from both them and Custom Flights to say there place was booked on the flight so this worried me a little to hear as i didnt recieve anything from custom flights just email confirmations from A1

And there is no way i would ever book with these again!!! or any of their trading names to be honest we have always gone through local travel agents this is the first time doing it on the net!!! and as we can see hasnt really worked out for us

Locketts08 - Will have a look at all our forms when I get home and check it out - can't remember off hand.
Did you receive the private message I sent with A1's reply ?

oh my god i have just recieved an email fom the caa saying that i can send forms straight to them, and asking if i have a contact number as they have not been able to contact them and that they have not recieved any claim forms from this company!!!!!

Dont know what to do now!!! I am getting straight on the phone for an explanation!!! No i have not recieved any pm!! i am in shock now think we have been duped, need to get in touch with the right people now does anyone know who can help!!!

I use A1 quite often, have no problems at all, i have emailed them recently over several queries and they got back to me the same day

yes we have used them before and they were fine - that was when everything was hunkey dorey - you try getting any info back when they owe you - different story !!!

As we are on the subject - has anyone had any info back yet from CAA ??
we haven't - have you locketts08 ?

no not yet they still havent recieved any forms from A1 Travel, and agree im sure if nothing goes wrong with the people they book through they'll be happy to help you, but i myself have sent 17 unanswered emails since december and as for phone calls well!!! alls you get from them is a whopping phone bill and no explanations.

i have sent my forms straight to caa suemog and they are going to chase up the details they need from a1, as a1 are apparently still waiting for their bank statement to prove payment to custom flights. I'm sure that shouldnt take 3 months to sort those out, at least if the caa have them they may get sorted a bit quicker.

have you heard anything else yet???

not heard anything else since - as we have a promise of end of March at the moment we may leave it till then for accommodation refund then start again for the flights - it was giving me a headache - or at least my husband was !!

Just e-mailed Sandie for an update - she said A1 not yet received cheque proof back from Bank - may take 4 or 5 weeks.
Think they need to change their bank - Travel Republic must have a better one !!

so have on the beach as my parents have recieved confirmation from the caa that theres is being dealt with!! 4-5 more weeks????? who do they bank with???? its been 3 months now thats madness, did she mention your refund for accomodation??