Rights after booking a flight

[niteray]

Hey All

 

I booked my yearly flight to Thailand all the way in March, leaving YYZ on Nov 30 on Korean Air.

My travel agent called last week and told me that Korean has no flight departing YYZ on Nov 30 and my flight has been rescheduled departing on Dec 1. That makes one less day of vacation.

I requested to leave earlier, Nov 26 actually, since they changed my booking thru no fault of my own.

My travel agent had to wait until Korean Air head office said " No " and she told me airlines have a right to change dates after booking.

I know airlines have a right to change flight time, depending on schedules, but whole days?

I told my travel agent I want to leave earlier and she said my only option was Nov 29, but she can't find space to take me on Nov 29. I will have to wait until later to find out if I leave on Nov 29.

 

Anyone have any clue as to what my rights here are?

Should I suck it up and just accept the Dec 1st flight?

Can I cancel the whole thing without penalty as I paid for it in full for the now not existing Nov 30 flight?

United has a cheap flight on right now that has the dates I like available and it may be worth booking with them instead, if I can get a full refund on my Korean flight.

 

I'm looking for my actual rights or suggestions as to how I can get to Pattaya without it costing me anything extra

[999Baht]

I actually think it sounds like the travel agent is at fault here.

You told them the dates you wanted to travel and gave them the money and then they came back and told you different dates!

 

I went through a travel agent myself on this trip and wish I had not now.

I want to change the date I change out as I can get an extra 4 days off work but they can not be changed no matter what.

I then thought I might just book the flight TO BKK with another airline and fly back on the original ticket.

Apparently that is not allowed either.

 

Next time it's with Airlines directly...seems like we are missing out on extra fun due to travel agents.

Not sure of your rights though sorry.

[Mr David]

I can only advise what happened to me with a UK based company and laws change depending where you are from etc.

 

My flight was canceled until the next day and the airline offered the next day instead but by law had to agree to a full refund if this was not convenient to me. They can change the dates and times within a certain amount of weeks of departure at no cost to themselves as long as the refund is also offered. I'm sure it's all in the small print of the airline company (try google) but as its a long way off and they have cocked up by either overbooking or canceling a flight and pushing passengers around, you should get a full refund.

 

Hope it's of some help.

[Methos]

I believe you have the right to get a refund since they changed the dates of your booked flight - but your travel agent should be able to confirm that. If you switch to United, my suggestion is to go to aeroplan's website first and get a number so you can get a free flight after your next few trips (or sooner if you use other methods to collect aeroplan points).

[ricktoronto]

Hey All

 

I booked my yearly flight to Thailand all the way in March, leaving YYZ on Nov 30 on Korean Air.

My travel agent called last week and told me that Korean has no flight departing YYZ on Nov 30 and my flight has been rescheduled departing on Dec 1. That makes one less day of vacation.

I requested to leave earlier, Nov 26 actually, since they changed my booking thru no fault of my own.

My travel agent had to wait until Korean Air head office said " No " and she told me airlines have a right to change dates after booking.

 

I have access to the airline reservation system.

 

KE74 has no flight on the 30th. They sell the 27 and 28th for the 28th, the 29th on the 29th, the 30th and 1st on the 1st.

 

Your travel agent can see the available seats (on the 29th) are like this: R4 A3 J4 O4 Z4 I4 Y4 K4 M4 E4 B4 H4 L4 S4 T4 Q0 N0 V0 X0 G0 , so if your ticket was in Q,N, V, X or G those are sold out. But they may have seats. The cheapest fare is in L and there are L seats and an L fare so you need to talk to the travel agent. The other non full fare seats are H and K and there are H and K seats for the 29th also.

 

On the 30th there is a United/KE fare via Chicago that would get you there.

 

But I can tell you nothing is sold out for the 27th to the 3rd nothwithstanding the 27th is really the 28th etc.

 

Airlines can change the date of YOUR flight but you have to be on it or you can ask for a refund and they should change to the prior day as there's no reason not to.

 

Why would you (or anyone) fly KE to BKK from Toronto when you can fly on Cathay Pacific via HKG and they have 2 flights every day and service many times superior. More so given what KE is doing.

 

What potsie travel agent is this? I use Carlson exclusively and they would never tell you anything like this.

Edited August 16, 2011 by ricktoronto

[niteray]

Thank you for your input, Gentlemen! When I wrote the original posts, I was just told by my travel agent she couldn't find me a seat on the 29th. I just got email confirmation for the 29th.

 

I have access to the airline reservation system.

 

KE74 has no flight on the 30th. They sell the 27 and 28th for the 28th, the 29th on the 29th, the 30th and 1st on the 1st.

 

Your travel agent can see the available seats (on the 29th) are like this: R4 A3 J4 O4 Z4 I4 Y4 K4 M4 E4 B4 H4 L4 S4 T4 Q0 N0 V0 X0 G0 , so if your ticket was in Q,N, V, X or G those are sold out. But they may have seats. The cheapest fare is in L and there are L seats and an L fare so you need to talk to the travel agent. The other non full fare seats are H and K and there are H and K seats for the 29th also.

 

On the 30th there is a United/KE fare via Chicago that would get you there.

 

But I can tell you nothing is sold out for the 27th to the 3rd nothwithstanding the 27th is really the 28th etc.

 

Airlines can change the date of YOUR flight but you have to be on it or you can ask for a refund and they should change to the prior day as there's no reason not to.

 

Why would you (or anyone) fly KE to BKK from Toronto when you can fly on Cathay Pacific via HKG and they have 2 flights every day and service many times superior. More so given what KE is doing.

 

What potsie travel agent is this? I use Carlson exclusively and they would never tell you anything like this.

 

Thanks Rick! This was exactly the info I was loooking for. I was freaked out because there is no flights for the 30th but they were could not confirm my flight for the 29th. You telling it was not sold out helped relieve my anxiety.

 

I booked KE because they had a seat sale in March. Cathay is my fave airline to fly to Asia but at the time, they were a few hundred $ more than KE. I book early because getting a return flight during busy season can be pretty difficult.

[ricktoronto]

Thank you for your input, Gentlemen! When I wrote the original posts, I was just told by my travel agent she couldn't find me a seat on the 29th. I just got email confirmation for the 29th.

 

 

 

Thanks Rick! This was exactly the info I was loooking for. I was freaked out because there is no flights for the 30th but they were could not confirm my flight for the 29th. You telling it was not sold out helped relieve my anxiety.

 

I booked KE because they had a seat sale in March. Cathay is my fave airline to fly to Asia but at the time, they were a few hundred $ more than KE. I book early because getting a return flight during busy season can be pretty difficult.

 

Your travel agent is shitty as a proper TA would see just as I did that nothing was sold out. You get what you pay for. Was the few hundred worth this?

[niteray]

Your travel agent is shitty as a proper TA would see just as I did that nothing was sold out. You get what you pay for. Was the few hundred worth this?

 

Well, it's easy to be the monday morning quarterback at the end of everything.

At the time I booked, KE had a seat sale and I was worried I was going to miss it, like the Cathay seat sale the month before. They also had flights scheduled for Nov 30, I even saw that online myself.

I think it was only relatively recently KE changed their flight schedule to no flights out of YYZ on Suns and Weds.

 

Last year, I paid $989 for Air Canada and that mostly worked out well ( except for the ANA portion from Tokyo ).

[ricktoronto]

That's the problem with having to wait for sales etc. You should fly on a proper airline and not get so worried about pennies.