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Having a kafkaesque nightmare with Lastminute.com at the moment (I know…always book directly through the airline!).
Booked a return ticket to Tokyo, connecting in Paris outbound (BA, JL) and via Helsinki on the return (AY). The two ‘long-legs’ were booked and paid for in Premium Economy (to try and make transporting our 17-month lap infant a little easier).
In the process of manually ticketing the flights, Lastminute messed up and booked the return fully in Economy. I had to notice this myself when checking the PNR.
After weeks of back and forth, with weird things going on in the PNR, random emails from Finnair about ‘refund requests’ (requested by Lastminute, not me), Lastminute are in a bind.
To their credit, I have been escalated all the way up to their VIP service and have had dedicated humans dealing with the issue, they are just completely stuck. They say for some reason the ticket is now under the airline’s control, and they are unable to change it.
The situation is ludicrous because you can still quite easily buy new seats in the correct cabin. Availability is not an issue. But within the confides of the existing ticket they say they are unable to ‘upgrade’ it.
One agent did offer to put us on the direct JL flight back to London the same night, which would have been fine with me. The PNR was even updated to show a reservation in business for that flight (there is no PE on that particular flight), but sadly that quickly disappeared and we are left with the PNR showing the economy seats on Finnair. The only other solution offered has been to try and get us a bulkhead seat in economy for a bassinet (1 – our child is too big for a bassinet now, 2 – that’s still an economy seat when we paid 3x as much for PE!).
I’m most fearful of Lastminute just giving up and issuing me a full refund. The same flights are now several thousand pounds more expensive. Any thoughts as to levers I could pull, or recourse against Lastminute in the event they don’t solve the issue – gladly received.
A pressing question : How soon is your flight?
I think LastMinute’s plan is, in order of their preference :
(1) Brazen it out and keep you going round in circles until you are forced to take the flight including that return they mistakenly ticketed you in Economy for, or, their next most preferred option:-
(2) give you a full refund and leave you high and dry. It’s possible the fare type they’ve ticketed it under would still leave LastMinute having to leave money with the airline (eg if fare type they ticketed is nonrefundable). So this puts this option at No. (2) for them.
I simply don’t believe this ticket is “now under the control of the airline” unless it’s 24hrs before your flight when it normally would be.
I think they’ve ticketed a fare type which wasn’t upgradeable, or has crossed a time limit to upgrade, or that the flights can be amended but costs too high for higher cabin seats.
Do you have really really good evidence that you absolutely booked and paid for PY seats on the return?
Have you been able to access the fare code(s) used and the airline’s associated conditions for the fare type? .. in particular, for the return legs.
Is the first flight on the ticket a BA flight to Paris and does the ticket number begin 125? The airline which has the very first flight on the ticket ‘owns’ the ticket, it’s ‘written on their paper’, that airline (or its agent writing the ticket) are the ones who can change it (or not), it’s done according to the rules of the airline that has the first flight on it.
Have you had a look at the detail of the ticket online using that airline’s booking ref? (if LastMinute did not supply).
If it’s a BA ticket I’d be very tempted to call BA and see if an agent could just take a look at the ticket, the fare type and whether the fare type would in principle allow an amendment to PY where you need it.
If the ticket rules would in principle allow to amend in that way then it’s a cost issue to remedy their error that LastMinute is facing and hoping they can make you fly in Y for “between 0 – and less than what PY seats would now cost them to provide”.
Depending how much time you have I’d try to find out more as to what us the problem – because LastMinute’s certainly not telling you the truth – then send LastMinute Legal Department a signed-for paper letter stating that unless the correct ticket aa purchased [evidence attached] is provided to you by 4pm on [5 working days if you have that time] then you will obtain PY seats for your return aa booked and will claim all costs connected with this from LastMinute.
Though of course wiser heads than mw could say that’ll triggervan immediate unwanted refund and you’ll have to go through with it….
To make you feel better:
I had a LHR-HND and back with JAL booked with BA holidays.Recently times have changed for the return flight so, in order to avoid waking up too early in Osaka, decided to do a crazy ITM-HND-HEL-LHR.
BA had no issue with that but for some reason said the return had to be in economy instead of PE. I had to insist that PE was available on the HND-HEL JAL flight for the person to have a second look and book that.
So there seems to be some sort of “default to economy” here that makes the whole thing very dangerous as it happened to you!
Hopefully you can get it sorted. If your ticket says PE I do not see how they can argue you are booked on economy (I don’t know if they can pull a “well sometimes our systems are wrong”). By their own admission they seemed to have messed it up so keep fighting it!
I’d say it’s pretty simple, they’re stuck because they have to pay. Most big airlines / agency have a budget to deal with this kind of mistake.
We’d need to know the exact details of the ticket but there really aren’t many long haul tickets issued that are completely inflexible and even then that is their problem and not yours.
I’d go legal on them ASAP. As it is the agency that isn’t delivering what you’ve paid for then an S75 claim if you paid by credit card could also be an option to look into
Thanks all, really appreciate the responses.
To answer LadyLondon’s queries:
How soon is your flight?
The outbound is 28 Feb. Inbound 13 March. So some time to rectify, but getting a bit close for comfort. Plus travelling with a baby heightens the desire to have it all sorted and settled in good time.
Do you have really really good evidence that you absolutely booked and paid for PY seats on the return?
Yes – I have a Lastminute.com confirmation email, issued a day or so after I submitted the booking, stating ‘your booking has been confirmed’, listing exactly the flights I booked and paid for (with PE listed on the return) and providing the PNR. It was only upon checking the PNR myself with the airlines that I saw that the return leg had actually been reserved in economy.
Have you been able to access the fare code(s) used and the airline’s associated conditions for the fare type? .. in particular, for the return legs.
The erroneous return leg is booked in Q, so discounted economy. I haven’t found Finnair’s actual conditions for Q class (yet).
Is the first flight on the ticket a BA flight to Paris and does the ticket number begin 125? The airline which has the very first flight on the ticket ‘owns’ the ticket, it’s ‘written on their paper’, that airline (or its agent writing the ticket) are the ones who can change it (or not), it’s done according to the rules of the airline that has the first flight on it.
The e-ticket begins 131, which is JAL.
Have you had a look at the detail of the ticket online using that airline’s booking ref? (if LastMinute did not supply).
The JAL website is quite good and lets you see the full fare conditions. They are slightly hard to interpret, but the following lines seem to indicate fairly clearly that changes are possible:
————————————————–
Change Permitted To Jl/Ay/Ba/Ib Fares Of Equal Or
Higher Rbd.
————————————————–
New Ticket May Be Lower – Equal Or Higher Than
Previous And Must Comply With All Provisions Of
The New Fare Being Applied.
————————————————–
When The New Itinerary Results In A Higher Fare –
The Difference Will Be Collected. Any Applicable
Change Fee Still Applies.
————————————————–
When The New Itinerary Results In A Lower Fare –
The Residual Amount Will Be Refunded. Any
Applicable Change Fee Still Applies.
————————————————–SamG’s right.
Send them the legal signed for letter now. I’d give tbem till, say, 3pm next Friday to provide you proof they have provided you the correct ticket …I’d call on Monday to say that letter sent signed for and that’s how long they’ve got as you are travelling with a baby and need certainty of getting the PY seats you bought.
If LastMinute doesn’t provide then ticket comes under control of airline from 24hrs before you fly, so I am guessing if you don’t have a back way into JAL to use from that time, as it’s their ticket, JAL is T3 and is your first flight a BA operated flight to Paris from T5 with a JL codeshared flight number? so sounds like you’d have to ask at an airport with a JAL desk. Gut feeling this would be a JAL desk after you’ve flown your outward leg and before you fly the return leg ( fare code rules *may* specify this means ticket can’t be repriced except for the upgrade once you’ve flown the outbound).
If you do pay for an upgrade with the intention of pursuing LastMinute for costs I make no comment as to the fact that this could be stressful, onerous and have risks but with a bit of luck, @JDB will. I really hope LastMinute will sort it out instead.
Do you mind giving us the date you booked and the price you paid ? I can dig around expertflyer fares section and see if I can find out anything else to help you
They say for some reason the ticket is now under the airline’s control, and they are unable to change it.
Bull manure. They are completely able to purchase you the ticket you paid them to provide (if nothing else by purchasing one and then sorting out the other refund mess themselves). They just don’t want to.
I’d agree with advice above. Push very hard. Recorded delivery letter to legal dept on Monday with evidence showing that the tickets you have purchased are still available, so it is entirely within their power to provide them, and making clear expected course of action (provide ticket as described when purchased) and that failure to do so will mean you purchase what they are not able to and are likely to pursue them for the full cost and your time/expenses/inconvenience (considerable).
Do you mind giving us the date you booked and the price you paid ? I can dig around expertflyer fares section and see if I can find out anything else to help you
Thanks Sam. Booked 30/12, confirmed by Lastminute on 31/12. Paid just over £3k.
Prepared a decent letter as suggested above. Lastminute have a registered address in Farringdon, although they really contract through Bravonext SA – a Swissco. I guess I’ll send it to the UKco and hope it’s more than an unmonitored post box.
LM.com is a super slippery organisation. I’m not sure if you will even find a suitable UK address to send a letter as they proudly announce on their website that they are a Swiss company so you can’t use the EU arbitration scheme. They got into a fight with the Competition and Markets Authority over covid refunds.
My sense is that this will not be resolved by conventional means. I’m not sure if you just booked flights or a package – I hope it is the latter as the The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 afford much better protections than flight only. Given you only have two weeks, I would email a proper letter setting out the facts and attaching your confirmation vs the booking held by the airline(s), and if a package remind them of their obligations under Part 4 of the Act wherethey are responsible for performance of the contract, even if it involves a third party supplier. Send this to the CEO, Luca Concone, Laura Amoretti, Chief Operating & Customer Officer, plus the Press Office and Investor Relations. Tell them you are copying the correspondence to the CMA Chairman (and send to CMA with a suitable cover letter). Give them until Wednesday 5pm to resolve the matter. Going to your credit card provider at this point is a risky step as it might end up with the booking just being cancelled.
If you have a good address in Farringdon, send a real letter there as well, although if it is the Hatton Garden address that is for a dissolved company.
Do you mind giving us the date you booked and the price you paid ? I can dig around expertflyer fares section and see if I can find out anything else to help you
Thanks Sam. Booked 30/12, confirmed by Lastminute on 31/12. Paid just over £3k.
That looks correct for PE. They have a few fares filed and I can’t quite figure out exactly which one would have applied but from what I see a K/E class outbound and T/Y inbound (Finnairs lowest PE fare class) would be just over £3k. Coming back on AY in Q would have been around £2.6k
This was the number I used in 2019 to speak to them about a schedule change 0203 005 6687
Best I can tell without the exact fare information is that them just upgrading you to T inbound now will only be a couple of £100 (makes the ticket around £3300) – the lowest T fares have an advanced purchase restriction they’ve missed now. So I really can’t understand how this happened as you notified them whilst the lower T fare would have still been available, so they would have just been on the hook for the change fee (€150pp)
Have you tried requesting the eticket from the Finnair website? Be interesting to see the numbers from there
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09399258
That’s very helpful, so Mr Signoretti should also be emailed, plus the hard copy to this address. I doubt this is the contracting company for MCOL purposes, but for now the OP should treat it as it is. Interesting to know which entity took payment.
Thanks again all.
Letters have gone this morning to BravoNext in Chiasso and to LMNext at the address linked above. I’ll try and find various email addresses (CEO, Investor Relations, etc) to forward email copies too as well later.
The T&Cs are quite helpful in so far as it explicitly states that the confirmation email is proof of the contractual relationship between us.
It really is (or will be) an open and shut case of breach of contract. I’m a solicitor myself so not shy to pursue them, I’d just rather have avoided the hassle.
Best I can tell without the exact fare information is that them just upgrading you to T inbound now will only be a couple of £100 (makes the ticket around £3300) – the lowest T fares have an advanced purchase restriction they’ve missed now. So I really can’t understand how this happened as you notified them whilst the lower T fare would have still been available, so they would have just been on the hook for the change fee (€150pp)
Have you tried requesting the eticket from the Finnair website? Be interesting to see the numbers from there
Really interesting. Thanks for this. Definitely further ammo for when I next speak to them on the phone.
I’ll keep everyone updated!
Thanks again all.
Letters have gone this morning to BravoNext in Chiasso and to LMNext at the address linked above. I’ll try and find various email addresses (CEO, Investor Relations, etc) to forward email copies too as well later.
The T&Cs are quite helpful in so far as it explicitly states that the confirmation email is proof of the contractual relationship between us.
It really is (or will be) an open and shut case of breach of contract. I’m a solicitor myself so not shy to pursue them, I’d just rather have avoided the hassle.
T&Cs helpful, but who is the contracting party? Emails: corporatepr@lastminute.com and investor.relations@lastminute.com. The firstname.lastname format appears to be what LM uses. If you google it, you will find the personal telephone numbers for IR/PR. For the management one of LC’s addresses is: luca.concone@solarinvestmentgroup.it On one of those subscription sites that claims to offer emails, others are luca.concone@me.com and lucaconcone@gmail.com but no idea if these work.
If you have time, I would write to the CMA – it really ought to be unacceptable for LM to market so actively to UK consumers yet attempt to hide behind a Swiss company if anything goes wring. I had a similar issue with Viator last year, eventually wrote to CEO and got a very arsy email from their general counsel basically telling me to F off, no responsibility for third party services, exclusive jurisdiction in New York, they would apply for strike out if any claim issued plus other aggressive nonsense. Sent LBA to UK registered office which was helpfully also the address shown on my Amex statement pointing out all the reasons why this was an English contract and MCOL wouldn’t be too interested in attempts to deny jurisdiction. Three days later got a call from a CS agent asking how they could pay me the £460 sought.
Never forget the benefit of doorstepping companies or company directors if you are finding their customer service elusive.
Too many organisations have lost sight that there are real people behind the “tickets” and workflows. When suddenly faced with a person in front of them it’s a real shock.
The Farringdon Lane address does appear to have some people working there, but the structure is that they are a separate company providing IT and marketing functions to the Swiss parent. So unfortunately I don’t a route via MCOL etc as they could (rightly) say it’s nothing to do with them
The S75 angle could still be an option – agree with @JDB you wouldn’t want to touch this before travel as any notification to them will likely cause you not to be able to fly on the ticket. One option would be to have them upgrade the return and charge you for it and then raise a dispute on that transaction on your return. Depends how comfortable you are about getting/not getting the £ back!
You could also try the money pages of the press – sort of thing the Daily Telegraph etc like to cover there
I think the phone call to let them know you’re going formal with x deadline is needed as well since LastMinute has sticky structures – since you’re really trying to get this solved rather than follow a legal path.
Illustrious members on here probably know this more than me, but I’m pretty sure if you send letters like this or MCOL them at any address it’s clear they use, this is acceptable as having served them.
Could have been worse. Could have been TravelUp.
I think the phone call to let them know you’re going formal with x deadline is needed as well since LastMinute has sticky structures – since you’re really trying to get this solved rather than follow a legal path.
Illustrious members on here probably know this more than me, but I’m pretty sure if you send letters like this or MCOL them at any address it’s clear they use, this is acceptable as having served them.
Could have been worse. Could have been TravelUp.
Surprisingly, after wading through lots of guff about Swiss law and no EU arbitration it does say “These Terms & Conditions are governed by the law of England. The parties agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the Courts of the consumer’s domicile. We invite you to contact our dispute resolution team directly via email and/or phone using the information provided in the confirmation email, so that we can assist in resolving your issue.”
By way of update, letters were sent Saturday morning, followed by emails attaching the letters on Sunday and follow-up calls yesterday and today.
You might call it Stockholm syndrome but the customer services agents on the phone are actually not bad and fairly switched on.
I’m inclined to believe them when they say that there is an administrative bind between lastminute and the airline(s) about how to rectify the error.
Nevertheless I reiterated the deadline of this week, and made the point that ultimately, the issue could be solved in 30 seconds by the issuance of a new ticket. Lastminute is choosing to fall short of taking that definitive step, and I made clear that I’ll take it for them if they fail to fix things this week. The agents were understanding and continue to tell me that it’s been escalated to the highest customer services level and actively worked on…
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