ok - so lets do some maths here then..... so lets say you paid £400 for a ticket - in that £400 was the agents fee of lets say £50 hypothetically so the net fare from the airline to the agent was £350 – now you want to cancel and the agent has to do more work refunding your ticket and issuing cancellation documentation – taking up valuable sales time…. So now air India are going to give back the agent £300 – are you saying you expect the agent to give you back their original commission and not charge you for the further admin / time / effort in administering your cancellation? I don’t think so – were not running a charity here we all got mouths to feed and mortgages to pay… So the agent gets back the £300 – less the original £50 profit on the transaction – and lets add a further £50 for the admin – that leaves you with £200 refund – so a £200 cancellation fee…. That is more than reasonable – more than fair – what do you expect a free service – were only covering costs here... Further more there are so many different airfares with so many different cancellation policies it would be impossible to list them all. If your going to book something with cancellation in mind – enquire about the cancellation policy of the booking And I will repeat my mantra: don’t book and pay for a flight unless you know you are definitely travelling and take out travel insurance in the event of cancellation due to reasons beyond your control.

wanderingsoul - your so wrong i dont know where to start - firstly im not taking it personaly, and yes without travellers us agents would not make money.... lets start with the "Service" point - as an agent our service extends to being a ticket provider - we do not make up the rules governing fares - the airline does- and as i have said we only reap a commission - so by cancelling, a traveller does not make the agent any more money - just more hassle, where fares are non refundable and most are these days - the agent then has to process the taxes for refund - and again makes no money on this – so we don’t as you say make contracts unfair on purpose and with or without a heart an agent does not have the power to change airlines rules. You go on to say… “It is getting to the stage that people don't want to book with agents anymore. My advice, book directly with the airlines - be sure of your rights before you agree to the conditions - check the cancellation costs - request any information that is not showing.” Well firstly agents are given special fares to sell that are cheaper than buying through airlines direct – its like wholesaling, so if you want to spend more money on the seat than the passenger next to you – go to the airline direct and ask all the above questions…. You can still ask your agent all the above questions and make sure you are aware of the cancellation fees… Did you even know Qatar Airways fly to Bangkok? Did you know there are over 50 carriers that fly to Bangkok from the UK? - Your Agent does!!! And can give you fares on all of them in one phone call. At the end of the day – don’t book and pay for a flight unless you know you are definitely travelling as cancellation fees that are imposed by airlines are very hefty in this day and age…. And remember when you pay thousands and thousands of pounds on an airfare the agent is not getting this they are only getting a commission on the transaction and once a ticket is issued your contract then lies with the airline directly and so do your thousands and thousands of pounds.

i dont have any motivations here - i just stumbled across this website - i am trying to get my bank charges back - and as i said in my first post on your case - i work for a travel company and often represent my firm at arbitration cases and small claims courts - i have been witness to many proceedings... also as i said in the first instance - in my opinion your consultant was confused as to the difference between AI and AI Lite - its just your sort of people that assume travel agents are all crooks and trying to put one over you - sometimes this is called paranoia - you probably dealt with a teenager fresh out of college who has a lot to learn - but his mistake does not mean he is a crook, and nor does it mean you should be left out of pocket, Personally i would have whacked the £400 on a credit card, enjoyed my holiday and then claimed it back on my return... take my advice or leave it - thats your perogative - but dont tar everyone with the same stereo typical brush you seem to hold let me ask you this - if you paid for a 3 course meal and didnt like the desert - would you expect a full refund? - or just a refund of the desert? there is really only the one element of your holiday that went wrong - and any sane abta or small claims court judge will see this.... best of luck - and dont get personal

you wont get the full cost of your holiday back, you used the flights - there was nothing wrong with the flights - why should you get your air fares back??? you stayed in the hotel - your only issue is board basis,and that is not grounds enough for a full refund, if your too greedy in your expectations you run the risk of being thrown out of court for being unreasonable, as i said you are entitled to £400 being the difference in board basis + compensation per person - they will not award compensation over and above the costs - you could have paid the £400 locally and had your "dream holiday" best of luck

Hi, yes - sorry about that im a newbie here.... funny enough i used to work for jetline, currently i work for a london based travel company and often represent my firm in court... your problem is you have been missold by jetline - they didnt nescessarily mis sell you just for the commision - "AI" and "AI lite" is a bit confusing even for experienced travel agents - operators are always coming up with new marketing names for services (one of my staff once told a passenger she was flying on concord to barbados - when in fact it was "concord services" on british caledonian-theyre equivalent of club class - poor boy never lived that one down and cost us a few quid too ;-) IMHO you have 2 choices.. 1. write to jetline tell them you want £400 for the difference in the board basis (this is what the hotel offered you locally) and an offer of compensation for loss of enjoyment -(expect between £50 and £100 per head) you expect a reply within 28days or you will take them to arbitration (if they are still ABTA bonded) arbitration costs you £30 and it costs jetline £300 - to sit at a table in abta and put your cases forward, abta are not stupid they acknowledge agents make mistakes - in my experience they often side with the consumer especially where terminolygy is the question - the consultant should have questioned deeper the term "AI Lite" before confirming the services i.e. restaurants available on your board basis - instead they assumed AI lite was AI... 2. go straight to your small claims court - again about £30 - the form asks exactly what monies you want and why - again £400 thats the difference between the board basis - and go for £100 per person loss of enjoyment... your basic gripe when all boils down is with the consultant that told you it is All inclusive - when in fact it is AI Lite - and you have found out the difference the hard way... there is no point whatsover going to Med Hotels directly - they sold your agent AI Lite - and thats what they got... ..... again im sorry im a bit confused by these threads and this forum...if you have already written to Jetline - and they have replied with what we call "a scuttlefish reply" (a scuttle fish kicks up mud in order to escape its enemy). write to them again and tell them you feel you have been mis-sold the board basis and you expect a reply with an offer of settlement or you will go to arbitration or small claims - then you decide which route to take - tell them you will do it in the next 7 days.

few questions... when you were sold the holiday did you enquire as to what facilities/ services were included in the all inclusive tag? what was not included that you thought was? did you receive any documentation through the post before traveling and was there any mention as to what the all-inclusive actually was? or where to find out? different hotels/resorts have different levels of what they call all inclusive ... ie: alot do not include watersports or - motorised water sports there is axtra charge locally for this - alot only allow free "local brand" drinks ie in the caribbean you get red stripe lager - if you want a budweiser or holsten pils its extra - i have had many a bad rash from local vodka's and had to spend large amounts of drinking money to have the "import" smirnoff or absolute...

Just to put the record straight here.... When a travel agent takes money from a passenger and issues a ticket - that money is then paid to the airline less the commission - usually around 5% - then when the customer wants to cancel the tickets - as an agent the seats cannot then be re-sold most tickets now days are non refundable and non changeable the seats can only be released back to the airlines system - so no agent keeps £1400 and neither do they then make a further £1400 (making a total of £2800 not £3500 as mentioned above - get a new calculator Karma1)- people seem to think when they are spending large amounts of money with travel agents - that the agents are actually making bundles - when in fact they are not - are you aware British Airways do not pay agents commission? - Instead agents have to charge a booking fee to make some money on the transaction, I have signed up to this website purely to post a reply to this thread - as it annoys me being in the trade that people with the above view assume travel agents are crooks - when in fact its the airlines rules that we have to work to. And for the poultry £30 we earn on a £700 seat the admin and hassle of a cancellation - letters and threats going back and forth is hardly worth it.... Let me leave you all with this - don’t book or pay for an airline ticket unless you arte absolutely 100% positive and definite you will be travelling - and furthermore take out travel insurance to cover the cost of the holiday/flight in the event you cant make it due to death or sickness.... In respect to the old dogs original post - my professional opinion on what happened is thus..... You called made a booking and paid for the ticket - an email was sent to you confirming the details - and the ticket was in fact issued – (you mentioned QA confirmed this) - the only reason the agent was waiting for a confirmation reply to your email was to double check the dates/times and names were all correct before sending your e-tickets to you (normally via e-mail) Had there been any irregularities – names flights etc – the agent would have gone to QA to make any changes – however cancellation is not something that can be done at that stage…. Booking conditions on their website or no booking conditions on their website the fact is you bought the tickets and your situation changed, and now the tickets have cancellation fees. I would like to know the outcome of this – I will keep watch on this thread