[alfiesmam]

I booked a return LHR-SYD 10 Dec 2010 for departure July 2011 for 2A 2CH.
At the time of booking there were no fare rules provided (No fare rules provided for this fare. Please select a catagory. Of which there is no catagory to select

Tried to change the return date on 27th Dec 2011 to be told the following:

1. the ticket had expired as it was over 12mths since I booked it. (T&C's state: 3.2.1.2 Subject to the first travel occurring within one year from the date of issue, one year from the date of first travel under the Ticket).

2. the ticket has been cancelled due to no show on 7th Nov (T&C's state: 5.5.1 Onward or return reservations may be subject to the requirement on you to reconfirm the reservations We or our Authorised Agent will advise you within specified time limits. When we require reconfirmation, and how and where it should be done. I was never contacted by Etihad and told what action to take. I was never given the fare rules & booked the ticket going on the T&C's.

3. it was possible to upgrade the the ticket to a 12mth validity with additional fees and fare differences to be paid. This would be approx 1000GBP for 1A ticket!!!


After speaking with Tyagi a booking supervisor, he tried to have the ticket fees waived and the booking extentions approved, but with no success.

I spoke to 7 people over 4 days and 7 hours on the phone. I have since emailed [email protected] and am awaiting their response.

Is there any further action to be taken?

[siscar]

I have a very similar problem and am considering paying it then recovering the difference thought the courts. A nuisance but they don't listen and don't respond sensibly

[siscar]

I should add that their t&c's say that tickets are valid for a year unless it states otherwise on the ticket. Nothing I received stated otherwise

[alfiesmam]

Thank you siscar for your reply. Have you had any legal advice that suggests there is a leg to stand on?

[alfiesmam]

Oh, there has also been no response as yet from etihad Must be 4 weeks by now. They seem very quick to threaten with legal when there is any mention of suggesting that they may have behaved inappropriately. Did i get enough flexibility in that sentence to avoid slander ? I have travelled extensively and never experienced this before from an airline.

[siscar]

Well in my case the issue is that I booked a ticket, the website told me it would cost 275GBP to change and when I went to change it I was told it would be over 2000GBP to change.

The website made no mention of 6 month validity, the fare rules simply said the message you quoted - no fare rule available for this ticket (I have the screen shots of it), yet the reason for them charging so much is that they claim it is 6 months validity.

The T&Cs clearly show that tickets are valid for 12 months unless otherwise stated. So I am giving them one final chance to sort this out by writing to them today, if I don't get any joy I will pay the extra then reclaim it through the courts. There is little doubt in my case because I have all of the evidence of the process I went through that I should win. Interestingly a few days after I emailed them all of the details they changed their website and fixed the problem, but they haven't come back to me and admitted that they were at fault.

[alfiesmam]

I've just found this email you can send all your complaints to [email protected]

They say they will follow up if there is a reply from an airline that you are not happy with. Not sure if they can do anything when there is 'no response'.