'I need to cancel a flight but my booking agent has gone bust – what can I do?'
Sarah Hudson writes
In May I purchased a ticket for my daughter Madeleine to travel back to Australia with Malaysia Airlines (MAS) on Sept 26. I booked the flight through online agent Tripsta and paid extra for flexibility in case she wanted to change the flight date. Due to a death in the family, Madeleine does not feel able to return to Australia for the time being. Both she and I have tried to contact Tripsta using the numbers provided and by email but we have received no response. Madeleine called Malaysia Airlines direct, which said it could not get involved and that she could only deal with Tripsta. Please can you suggest a way for her to change the date of her flight?
Gill Charlton replies
Unfortunately, the Athens-based Tripsta ceased trading at the end of June and shut down its operations. Industry insiders blame its aggressive discounting of airline tickets, which led to unsustainable debts. Tripsta’s website says customers who want to change or cancel their reservation should contact the servicing airline directly. Fortunately, Miss Hudson had been issued with her e-ticket, which can be viewed in the MAS booking manager. However, the fare rules section has been left blank, so it is not clear what her rights are. I contacted MAS to find out why its staff would not engage with her. The airline has now confirmed that as a general rule it will take over the management of the booking as long as it has been paid for before the agent goes bust. In such cases it will amend the ticket in line with its own standard terms and conditions, which may differ from those of the travel agent.
Miss Hudson was fortunate that her e-ticket was issued and paid for by Tripsta. MAS has now been in touch and is allowing her until May 2019 to rebook her flight. The situation is more complicated for any Tripsta customer who has only been sent a booking confirmation and not issued with the actual e-ticket. Anyone who booked with Tripsta from June should check that their flight ticket is valid using the relevant airline’s booking manager. If there is no six-character airline booking reference or e-ticket number then the ticket was not actually issued and hasn’t been paid for.
In such cases, customers should contact their bank for a refund. If you have paid by debit card you can obtain what’s known as a “chargeback” under the Visa or Mastercard schemes’ rules. The claim must usually be lodged within 120 days of the ticket purchase, though some banks allow claims up to 120 days after the date of travel. Banks do not have a legal liability to refund customers who have paid by debit cards, though most do.
If you paid the agency using a credit card and do not receive an e-ticket, the bank has a legal liability to refund you under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act as it is jointly liable with the travel agency to provide the e-ticket or give a full refund. It is very tempting to pounce on a bargain airfare when using a flight-comparison site. Always browse for reviews as there are a lot of agencies out there that are flying by the seat of their pants.
