Story goes like this,
I booked tickets to India with this travel agency and whole booking they are all sweet and nice.
Now I want to change the dates and they are asking 200$ for airlines free and 150$ for their agency for each side and the difference of the ticket price. It is almost half of what I paid for the tickets.
Isn't it looting…. I am so annoyed.and If I cancel I will not get anything back they say.
What can I do now…?
call the airline directly
Called them, they said they can't help if booked from travel agency….
which airline?
To me, this is part of the risk of using a travel agent (or third party booking site)… Last year I travelled to the UK, flights booked through a booking site… It was great, saved me $200 or so… When I tried to change my return flight, I was informed it would cost me the equivalent of almost 50% or the original cost… I thanked them and politely declined… Thing is, I knew this may be the case based on my original bookings T&Cs…
This year, I had flights booked to the U.S… having learnt my lesson from the first time, I paid an extra $180 for a return flight and booked the same travel dates with Qantas…
Again, I needed to change my flights (or in this case cancel), and I was cheerfully told it wasn't a problem, and that they look forward to me rebooking the flight. Full refund.
Point is, if you use a travel agent and score cheap flights (given the costs you've given for changing the flights are almost half of what you paid for the original booking, I think it's a safe assumption you got a fairly neat deal), you've gotta expect penalties I'd you want to make changes…
I'm regretting the decision of booking throught agent seriously, that was the heat of the moment decision. I would never book with this guys ever.
Yeah, so…but given the emotive change in discussion title and lack of responses to queries on the T&Cs… I'm going to be THAT guy, and suggest that the travel agent hasn't actually done anything wrong…
Now I want to change the dates and they are asking 200$ for airlines free and 150$ for their agency for each side and the difference of the ticket price. It is almost half of what I paid for the tickets.
This sounds normal to me. There are almost always airline fees and agent fees to change. Why do people(no offense to those on this site but it's a common forum topic) think they can just change with 0 fees. If you have to change tickets for a legitimate reason (family member sick or an emergency like that etc) try calling them and explaining what is going on. They might give you a credit.
It also would have said everything about the change fees in the T&C's yet people don't bother reading them? (bring it people who neg me)
Going through the airline directly wouldn't necessarily have saved you any money. There is NORMALLY still a airline change fee. Unless you book a flexi ticket.
It requires time and effort for them to change a booking. Plus they have to pay the airline's charges. Most travel agents have fees for changes. I think it is only fair, especially for very cheap flights.
It was not even cheap when I booked. I agree with u that there should be a fee but not equal to half of the ticket fare.
$350 is not half of the original fee, and if it is, given Skyscanner currently has Canberra to India at around $2k return, your original tickets were cheap. Again, what did the T&Cs say that you agreed to with the original booking?
Not 350, only the fee is 200 for Singapore airlines and 150 each side for the travel agency. Which is 300 and apart from that I need to pay the difference amount which in total is equal to +800$.
About the terms and conditions yes I didn't read them at first when I booked. But I asked the travel agent if there will be any fee for rescheduling but he said it would be free. I agree that I should have read t&c but he shouldn't lie about it.
Did you check the T&Cs of your ticket? These prices aren't extraordinary if the tickets were booked on a special fare type.