In the process of planning our honeymoon, we booked a flight via Aunt Betty. We called them later to check whether we could change the travel dates but we were told that we could not change them.
After the call we went back to Aunty Betty booking screen which references the in/eligibility for a refund should you want to cancel but makes no mention of not being able to change travel dates. In fact, the fare terms clearly differentiate between cancelling and changing so one cannot be taken to mean the other. Furthermore, the fare terms clearly detail the cost of changing travel dates as if it is a valid option available.
As a result of the above information contradicting what we had been told over the phone, we decided to submit an online request using Manage your booking function. We subsequently received an email from Aunt Betty detailing the cost of our proposed change ($340 per person plus a fare difference of $50 per person). The email instructed us to call them to make the date change.
When we called we were told that the fare difference had increased from $50 to $300 per person, so the total fee to request a date change would now come to $1280 for two persons .This huge change occurred in the space of about 2 hours. Whilst on the phone with Aunt Betty we were actually checking online ticket prices on their website for our flights and the price was actually decreasing. Made us seriously question the accuracy and genuineness of the initial $50 quote and the later increase of $300;
Surprised by the significant cost increase (email quote was $780 for 2 persons, phone quote was $1,280), we discussed with the call centre staff the possibility of getting a travel credit so that we could rebook our flights with the new dates. We were told it was okay to get a travel credit but that we would still need to pay the change fees. Shortly after the call we received an email stating that a travel credit had been put in place for a future booking.
As per the instructions from the travel credit confirmation email, we called them to make a new booking with the new dates (note we were not told at the time of agreeing to the travel credit that we could only use the credit by calling them). After calling them we were told that they needed to determine the latest fare difference if we want to use the travel credit and would send us an email once the new costs were known.
After waiting a couple of hours, we called to check on the progress only to be told that our booking had been cancelled (cancelled at the time of giving us the travel credit) and that our travel credit had been made invalid (done without our knowledge or any formal notification) because our ticket was not allowed to be cancelled in the first place. This is despite the Aunt Betty staff clearly telling us that they needed to cancel the initial booking in order to formalise our travel credit. We would never have agreed to cancel the ticket if there wasn’t corresponding confirmation of a travel credit.
Essentially, without our knowledge or approval and without notifying us, they cancelled our flights and invalidated our travel credit. Aunt Betty ’s deceptive behaviour has resulted in us paying them $2,500 for nothing.
As soon as it became clear to us what they had done, we called back to demand answers and we were hung up 3 times by the staff who could not care less (we were never rude in the whole process). When we requested to speak to a supervisor, what ensued was an amazing display by the Aunt Betty staff of ignoring, brushing aside and refusing to transfer us to the supervisor. Despite our constant requests (at least 50 times on the same call) to speak with the supervisor the call centre staff eventually just hung up on us. We called back only to get the exact same agent who continued to avoid transferring us to the Supervisor.
When finally got to talk with the Supervisor he was insistent that we had consented to cancelling the flight. Consent of any sort had only been given on the clear understanding that we had a corresponding travel credit (as mentioned above we did get an email confirming our useable travel credit ). The Supervisor also hung up on us.
It is clear from the two Aunt Betty emails that we have been provided formal notification that we could change travel dates and that we could get (in fact we did get) a travel credit, but they have no interest in honouring them. They have accepted our money, cancelled our booking and invalidated our travel credit which was gained from this cancellation.
Our honeymoon plans are ruined, we lost $2,500 with no booked flights and no useable travel credits all thanks to their questionable practices.
They have no accountability or concern for their misleading and deceptive actions that disadvantage the customer. Due to their deceptive practices that cost us the lost, we requested a refund which was also rejected.
TLDR needed