More Company Scams

A friend of mine has just run into one of these really annoying big company scams.

My friend booked a return flight to the UK with Opodo - although the actual airline delivering the 'service' was good old, reliable old - British Airways (BA).

The world's favourite airline?

Think again.

Because BA went on to cancel the flight - for reasons which have not been explained - and then had the cheek to say it will take between 2 and 12 weeks to return the customer's money.

Have you ever heard the like?

Meantime BA are presumably using these funds to bankroll and cash-flow the giant company - at the little guy's expense, of course.

Which means that unless the little guy is flush with lots of dosh - then they have to wait for up to 3 months before the person can book another ticket.

Now I don't know about anyone else - but that sounds like a good old-fashioned scam to me - and being a helpful sort of person I tried to help by ringing up Opodo in the UK - to give them a piece of my mind.

Predictably, Opodo blamed BA - most of the money had been passed over to the world's favourite airline - said Opodo.

It's the big, bad BA and other giant airlines who adopt this practice - poor old Opodo can't do anything about it - and while they feel very sorry for the little guy who's the penniless 'piggy in the middle' - all Opodo can do is to feel their customers pain.

Bollocks! - is what I say to that.

So my advice - to my friend - is to complain to Opodo, complain to BA - and complain to the independent regulator - who in this case is ATOL which issues licences to airlines and air travel companies.

Interestingly, the ATOL web site says that in the event of cancellation the operator has a duty to offer a choice between:

1 Reimbursement of the ticket within 7 days
2 Re-routing the traveller to the final destination under similar conditions
3 And if necessary, care (such as free telephone calls, food and refreshments etc)

So far absolutely none of this has happened - but the fight will continue until justice is done.

I will keep readers posted.

Because the practices of some of these big companies are a complete disgrace.

And the more people who try and hold the buggers to account - the better it will be for the rest of us - the long suffering travelling public.