Flight refunds

[Paultry]

Is there precise advice of how to obtain a flight cost refund?

The flight in question is from Riyadh to London in April on BA but purchased from lastminute.com

Would the credit card provider cover the cost?

I'm unsure whether the flight has been cancelled, I just wanted to gather informed knowledge from LF experts. Paul

[dealtn]

Is there precise advice of how to obtain a flight cost refund?

The flight in question is from Riyadh to London in April on BA but purchased from lastminute.com

Would the credit card provider cover the cost?

I'm unsure whether the flight has been cancelled, I just wanted to gather informed knowledge from LF experts. Paul

You want "precise advice"?

The only one who can give you anything approaching that would be the counterparty you have a contract with, which is lastminute.com. If they can't provide satisfaction then ask your credit card company, or travel insurance provider.

Alternatively you will have to be satisfied with "general advice"

[Paultry]

Turns out BA say get in touch with Lastminute.

But, Lastminute, as everywhere is seemingly closed.

The flight was cancelled, so presumably a refund will materialise eventually.

The flight was paid for on a debit card, not a credit card. If Lastminute do not give a refund could the debit card provider be responsible?

Paul

[Lootman]

Turns out BA say get in touch with Lastminute. But, Lastminute, as everywhere is seemingly closed.

The flight was cancelled, so presumably a refund will materialise eventually.

The flight was paid for on a debit card, not a credit card. If Lastminute do not give a refund could the debit card provider be responsible?

I had two BA flights on two separate itineraries for April and BA refunded both in cash.

In one case the flight was cancelled and BA phoned me to ask whether I wanted to rebook, get a voucher or have a cash refund. I chose the latter.

In the other case I cancelled it online and, again, declined the voucher offer instead choosing a cash refund.

These are for flights booked directly with BA. Since you booked through a third party you have to talk to them and not BA. LM should come through for you eventually but, as you can imagine, they are swamped with phone calls right now. As a general rule it is better to book directly with the airline from the point of view of making changes later.

In some circumstances you can raise a dispute with a credit card issuer but I am not sure this is one of them. With a debit card you generally have fewer protections. This is on LM to make you whole. Just hope they don't go bankrupt.

I also had various hotels cancelled on me and, in each case, I got refunds either from the hotel chain or from an intermediary. Again they contacted me - I didn't have to do anything.

[colin]

Martin Lewis speaking on the radio about this said that if you have to press the issue you can get a refund from a debit card provider as you have not received the goods you paid for, however he did say that he would accept a voucher if offered because he could see travel companies being made bancrupt by this. Have you emailed last minute?

[richlist]

If you accept a voucher and the company go bust.....the voucher would normally be worthless.

[AF62]

If you accept a voucher and the company go bust.....the voucher would normally be worthless.

Exactly. And if you re-book then will your travel insurance cover for any CV-19 claims? Mine won't.

Just had an email today telling me my holiday was "postponed", which clearly meant 'we have cancelled it and are keeping your money, here is a credit note with a bunch of restrictive t&cs'.

After a request for a refund, which to be fair they answered promptly, albeit with a "not a cat in hell's chance" I spoke to the card company (who also answered surprisingly promptly) who suggested raising a dispute as the payment was made in the last 120 days and they would raise it with the travel agent to seek a refund, although I pointed out that if no joy then I would follow up with a Section 75 claim so they would be refunding me, just a question of when.

[gryffron]

The flight was paid for on a debit card, not a credit card. If Lastminute do not give a refund could the debit card provider be responsible?

No. Section 75 protection explicitly only applies to Credit cards. Which doesn't mean the bank won't help. It is possible they might, out of the kindness of their hearts, but there is no chance they are "responsible".

Note you only have to make PART payment with a CC for them to be responsible for the entire cost. So, for example, IF you paid a deposit by CC and the balance by debit, then the CC company may be "responsible" for a refund.

Gryff