Change to Flights - do we have a right to cancel

ascuteasabutton

Apologies if this is the wrong place but just looking for some advice please

Booked a holiday in February to go in September, paid the balance owed 2 weeks ago and last week we get a call saying our returning flight has now been changed to 6:40 in the morning instead of 18:10 in the evening on return...meaning we lose a full day of our holiday aswell as the final night as we will need to be at the airport for 4:40am.

Our holiday is part of a package holiday with Budget Travel...so my question is do we have a right to cancel without incurring any penalties as they have changed the original terms and we are not happy with them?

schemingbohemia

your contract should actually have the details on this.

my only knowledge refers to scheduled services ie Aer Lingus and Ryanair, where they breach the 4 hours (I think) limit on moving the flight then you're entitled to a full refund or a different flight. with package holidays i'm not sure.

Savman

ascuteasabutton wrote: »

Booked a holiday in February to go in September, paid the balance owed 2 weeks ago and last week we get a call saying our returning flight has now been changed to 6:40 in the morning instead of 18:10 in the evening on return...meaning we lose a full day of our holiday aswell as the final night as we will need to be at the airport for 4:40am.

Ouch! That's a huge difference in fairness, personally I'd be kicking up a storm. I wouldn't know or care about the Company's policies or whether they are well covered in legal jargon, it's bloody ridiculous to change a flight time by 12hrs.

Typical 'cattle herd' mentality from a Package Holiday company tbh.

another native

Had a quick look at terms and conditions for package holidays by Budget Travel. It appears they divide changes in "major" and "minor". A difference of more than 12 hours is major and entitles the person to cancel. As yours is 11.5 hours, it seems it's outside the cancellation option. Still I would contact them and express your dissatisfaction.

another native

I should have mentioned in my first post, that it's the terms of the contract that Budget Travel made with you in February is what counts, so check it carefully!

mikedragon32

You're stuck I'm afraid.

Budget T&Cs wrote:

a) Holiday arrangements excluding packages: Alterations to bookings of this kind are infrequent. Although under no obligation to do so, the Company will endeavour to notify all changes before departure if it is practicable to do so. (Please see section 13 Flights.) No compensation is payable by the Company in such cases. Should a schedule change occur to your itinerary after full balance/ticket issue, on either the outbound, or return flights the relevant suppliers decision will be final.

http://www.budgettravel.ie/useful-informations/booking-terms-and-conditions.asp?lang=en_GB#al

Pretty standard for a package holiday, however point four on this link:

http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/consumer_topics/package_travel_en.htm

EU Consumer Advice wrote:

If there is a significant change to the package content, you can cancel the contract without penalty or accept a change to the contract.

I guess the question is what is classed as a "significant change"... Hope that helps.

another native

There may be a chink of hope, in the unlikely situation that the terms and conditions were not in line with European consumer law. It's all getting a bit confusing!

Perhaps the original poster has already sorted things out!

ascuteasabutton

Thanks for all the replies guys

Just to update - I have been on to them and expressed how unhappy we are with the change , we were told as we are minutes short of the 12 hour policy we will not be able to cancel we can however chose a different location, change our dates or stay an extra night - all of which we would have to pay the balance for!

I appreciate that they are trying to offer some sort of compromise but we booked the holiday so far in advance as we are stuck to these dates as we are very very limited to the dates we can go. Secondly I spent alot of time picking the right destination that suited us and thirdly it wasnt that cheap at just over €1,000 for 2 of us so I want what I paid for or I want my money back, I don't think I am being unreasonable as we are paying for 7 days and getting 6.

The first girl that I was dealing with kept pressing me to accept the earlier flight but im determined to stand my ground on this one!