Don't waste your stamp on ABTA.

There are three basic questions to ask here.

1. Did Onur Air ever really have a flight at either the times you were told, with the flight number you were told?

2. If the flight(s) existed in the first place have they really been retimed or cancelled?

3. If it really has been cancelled, when was this announced.

If Onur really are messing about with their flightplan you can't blame A1. But if your flight never existed, is still running or was cancelled weeks ago then A1 have got questions to answer.

If the airline has cancelled your flight (rather than the agent) then under EC 261/2004 Articles 5 and 8 the airline should refund your fare or re-route you on another flight at no additional cost.

Who is levying this admin fee? Agent or airline.

Ask some hard questions of the agent.

Jus thought of another question to add to above

4. If either of the other flights existed, did the airline ever have any record of a confirmed reservation for you on it?

Cityboy, does it have to be an EU based airline for the regulations you quoted to apply?
Just wondering because Onur is a Turkish airline rather than an EU one?

Thanks

It has to be an EU airline or flying from the EU.

luci

Since the airline was flying outbound from the EU, as Luci has already correctly posted, EC regs apply to this flight.

Thanks for the info guys. When I spoke to A1 they said that they had an email that morning from the airline to say that my outbound flight had been cancelled and that I could have a refund of the outbound and inbound flights or I could reroute the outbound flight but I had to pay the difference. I have had a look at the EC 261/2004 Articles 5 and 8 regulatoins and my terms and conditions of booking but am a little confused as it says in my terms I am bound by my airlines terms and conditons (which I can't find a copy of anywhere). I did ask why I had to pay the difference and she said it was becuase the flight was cancelled and all they had to do was to offer a full refund. But all this information seems to be saying that they should reroute me at no cost to myself - is this correct. If someone can confirm this for me I will ring them back and see how I get on quoting this regulatoin.

PS: They are very crafty and have cancelled the flight 6 weeks and 4 days before the flight date (I think I read somewhere that compensation is payable if it occurs less than 6 weeks before the flight date) and also the same flight is flying on previous weeks but doesn't seem to be availabel anywhere on the week I am due to fly.

Airline must offer refund or re-route. EU rules supercede airline terms and conditions. Cancellation compensation does not apply in this case as this only kicks in where flights are cancelled less than 14 days prior to scheduled take off.

Thanks for that cityboy - so they were wrong to charge me the difference in price for the changed flight?

I thought the compensation thing kicked in at 6 weeks notice - thanks for putting me right.

I think a phone call to the agent is in order.

Di.

Grrrr the lady I need to speak to is not in until Wednesday.

so they were wrong to charge me the difference in price for the changed flight?

until we get a clear answer to the questions I raised earlier we won't know. Before you can even look at the EC261 rules you have to confirm that the flight existed at the times sold and that you were actually booked onto the flight - that means you were in Onur Air's reservaton system with an OK status (not standby!).

If they only had you on a standby list you have no claim against the airline.

If the reservation was never actually made you have no claim against the airline.

If you were advised the wrong times/ flight number by the agent you have probably have no claim against the airline unless they changed the actual times as well.

At this moment I have a feeling that Onur Air may never accepted a reservation for you.

Not only that but Onur Air don't operate flights directly out of the UK so Onur Air no way to blame for this.

Your travel agent will have the answers so go get em!

Not only that but Onur Air don't operate flights directly out of the UK so Onur Air no way to blame for this.

Your travel agent will have the answers so go get em!

Well I flew with Onur air from the UK and have done so for the last 4 years. You cannot book direct via there website you have to go through an agent.

My return flight this year was cancelled which I was informed of four months prior and I was placed on a Pegasus flight at no extra cost, this was with AegeanFlights.co.uk

Dave

Well I flew with Onur air from the UK and have done so for the last 4 years. You cannot book direct via there website you have to go through an agent.

My return flight this year was cancelled which I was informed of four months prior and I was placed on a Pegasus flight at no extra cost, this was with AegeanFlights.co.uk

It doesn't look as though Onur Air have flown ex B'ham this summer after checking flightstats. They may well have been replaced by other carriers but that may be the reason OP's flight has been changed.

Like Dksbbs, I booked Onur flights through aegeanflights for August 2010 and ours too were moved to Pegasus ones for both the outbound and inbound journeys. TBH I didn't even notice because we book early and are very used to the flight times changing - it wasn't til we got our e-tickets a couple of weeks before flying that we'd got flight numbers.