Hi and welcome to HT!

If you put Lowcost into the Search facility there are numerous posts in several different forums on the site.

luci

Thanks for reply Luci.

I had read the reports on LCH - obviously people only complain when they have a bad experience.

I was hoping to have some positive feedback rather than all negative but realise there may not be any here.

Are there any stats held anywhere (e.g. ABTA) re the number of hols sold by an operator as opposed to
the number of complaints received?

Also I read somewhere that the holidays sold by LCH aren't regarded as a package as you have to select
the extras you want e.g. transfers, insurance.... and maybe not fully covered by legislation. Is this correct?

thanks again

Also I read somewhere that the holidays sold by LCH aren't regarded as a package as you have to select
the extras you want e.g. transfers, insurance.... and maybe not fully covered by legislation. Is this correct?

most of the cheaper suppliers offer what is called Dynamic packaging, where by they sell you a flight [usually no frills {Ryon air easyjet or similar} and hotel accommodation [usually booked through one of the bed agencies] in most cases they will not include transfers flight surcharges Hold Baggage etc and is not fully protected, by the time you get to complete your booking it is often better to have gone to to one of the main tour operators, as a foot note some of the companies offering dynamic packages now include flight surcharges and hold baggage but not transfers [Fleetway and A1 are two that come to mind]

wizard

Hi,

Lowcost Holidays have been around for a while and are one of the biggest suppliers of accommodation to the travel trade up and down the country plus they also now own Resorthoppa, again, one of the largest overseas transfer providors to the travel trade here in the uk.

We use them almost everyday at some point, accommodation only mind, and generally we dont have problems with them.

They are sometimes a bit difficult to get hold off with many departments so after sales service is a bit hit and miss depending on who you get as to whether you are put round the houses but that is no different to any other big company, just more frustrating than anything.

In regards to their holidays that they sell, again, they have their own contracted accommodation and they do also deal with other companies too so they are a bit of jack of all trades to be honest, they are an agent with a bit of tour operating thrown in, an accommodation supplier to the travel trade and also a transfer supplier to the public and the trade.

What you need to ask them is that although they hold an atol license. The holiday that you are purchasing, is it protected as from what i can see is that your flights are with Wizzair which does not fall within the atol regulations, so, will LCH take responsibility and cover it or are they merely match making and the flights will paid direct to the airline with your card, one transaction and then a separate transaction to them for the accommodation, if this is the case then you need to pay by credit card as if no one is going to protect you, only your card providor will.

So, the moral of my point is, although ATOL protected company, is your holiday protected as low cost airlines are not unless the appropiate insurance is paid such as airline failure cover which may be available to you.

If in doubt, always check !!!

I have just done a quick search for you using the wizzair flights and on the costings page it has come up with the supplier failure protection at £2.50 per person. click on the ? against it to see the below meesge.

Supplier Failure Protection

Our supplier protection provides you with 100% peace of mind, in the event that one of our suppliers of your holiday components is unable to fulfil any component of your booking. You will receive a full refund in the event that any of these suppliers is unable to provide your flight, accommodation or transfer.

So although it is not ATOL protected because of a low cost airline being involved they are protecting your funds through this scheme which many agents use, again their are terms to this so you may need to look into it further to see what it is.

Due to fly out to Majorca next week with Thomson - booked via these

Can anybody advise if the Infant allowance (10kg) stated on Thompsons website also applies if not booked via Thompson direct (been having trouble getting through on the telephone to LC)?

Nothing stated on my booking confirmation -just 20 kg hold allowance

Also states limited to 1 piece of hold luggage upto 20k per person - presumably this does not include hand luggage also?

Never booked through these before so just wondering if anybody else had had any issues

Thanks for any advice

Hi and welcome to HT!

I think you would have to call Thomsons with your booking reference to have the infant allowance added. This will be in addition to your own allowance of 20 kgs hold baggage. You are also allowed 5 kgs hand baggage.

I am not sure if the additional allowance will have to be contained in your one piece of hold baggage so you should check that with them, but I think it could be spread between the hold baggage of everyone in your party, eg you and your partner could have 25kgs each. However I would check this with Thomsons.

This is what their website says which is not very clear

Do infants get a baggage allowance?

Infants under the age of 2 have an individual luggage allowance of 10kg. Folding pushchairs and wheelchairs do not count as part of your baggage allowance, however you will not be charged to carry them when travelling on our in-house airline. Some flights shown are not operated by our in-house airline. The maximum weight for checked baggage on these flights may be limited to 15kg with no additional allowance for infants. The weight allowed for all flights will be shown on your tickets.

luci

Thanks Luci

Think I will try and get hold of Thomson direct - called the local Thompson TA but they said need to check through who we booked

We also have our other little bod going who is entitled to the bagage allowance so I think we should have enough anyway even if overflow is into the hand luggage

Cheers

CK

I wouldn't book with these people again for all the tea in China.

When things go well, they are GOOD. But when things go badly, not only will you be charged adminstrative/ amendments/ cancellation fees etc, but it's IMPOSSIBLE to speak to them! I've called them a dozen times, sent e-mails, the works.

THIS from the Low Cost website on Thomson luggage allownce:
http://www.lowcostholidays.com/baggage/airline-baggage-allowances.html#th

I have pasted this over from the Complaints section of HT in case you have not seen it. It may also assist anyone else with a problem.

Hi MaryPrince,

We are sad to see that you have had such a bad experience trying to contact us.

lowcostholiday.com's main priority is to meet the needs of our customers, we are sorry we were unable to answer your calls. This is due to Kiss Flights going under, meaning our call centre has received a large number of calls. If you forward me your reference number to info@lowcostholidays.com I will do my best to resolve the issue.

Sorry for any inconvenience or upset you have been caused.

lowcostholidays.com

fwh

Do not book with Low cost holidays. We had a major fire in one of our hotel rooms in Turkey (Greenland Hotel) complained in resort and rep informed me we would be thrown out if we were not happy!!! Complained on return and got zero satisfaction from Low Cost. Purple Holidays are much cheaper and better.

rozy
As a first time poster how on earth did you manage to find this thread? It is so old it must have been buried pages back!!

Just came across it when trying to warn people abot Low Cost Hols?

Rozy,

I have moved your topic to our Tour Operator and Travel Agent forum as the topic you posted in had no relevance to Low Cost Holidays the Tour Operator. The topic was discussing holidays at a low cost.

MarkJ HT Mod

thanks

I have booked accommodation with Low Cost holidays to a certain hotel in Ibiza for next July.I have booked on a HB basis as this is all that was offered to me at the time of booking.I have now noticed that the same accommodation is available on the LCH website on an All Inclusive basis at an extra cost of approx £250.I phoned LCH to see if I could upgrade but was told rather rudely that this was not possible as it was not coming up on her system.I told her I could book it there and then but she said that the only thing she could offer me was a change of accomm. or I could cancel at a cost of 25% of the total booking.I let her know that I thought this was a rip off and I was not impressed but she did not seem to care.This has now put me off booking with LCH in the future.

Hi hillbankdee

Having had a similar problem with low cost- and got no where with their unhelpful (and hard to understand) staff- I emailed a lovely woman called c* who sorted the problem out within 24 hours-n her email is below- if you decide to contact her- let us know how you got on- belly

operations@lowcostholidays.com

Hi

Low Cost Holidays apparently are a booking only company, try the hotel yourself you may get it cheaper.
We had an incident whilst on holiday with Low Cost, it was a fire in the bedroom, due to faulty electrics!. We had to pay to move rooms, can you believe it???
They do not have their own Reps so this is why they are cheaper than most! They use companies within the areas you stay.
The Rep we had was very nice but did not do anything she said she would do!! We took photos and a report which was never sent to Low Cost Holidays. I have had a devils own job getting the cost back. 6 months later it has been confirmed that they will reimburse out of pocket expenses only, but I am still waiting for the cheque.
Try Purple Holidays they are equally as cheap and very much more organised and approachable. If you go to Travel Zoo you can see all different offers from a variety of Companies.