Beware Flight Centre's ambiguous cancellation fees.

[expat]

Statement that fares are cheaper on the internet are not correct. Many smaller travel agencies are given special direct deals or route deals to different destinations. Like if you wanted to go to the Middle East you would go down to Lakemba in Sydney with cash in hand. Same if you wanted to go to China go to China town. These small agencies give airlines millions of dollars in business and get preferred deals. They are not permitted to quote over the phone or sell them on the internet. Flight Centre will match them with a written quote but these small agents are not allowed to put their fares in writing. We use a Travel Agency called Travel Central when we want to travel to Thailand and Indochina. No-one comes close to their fares. Book online pay more then if you need to change the booking how do you do that. Call the agent get put on hold. Direct booking with an agent is always cheaper and this will never change. Small agencies don't pay their staff commissions, large amounts on advertising or share holder dividends. So they can usually discount more than agents who have higher overheads.

Don't take my word for it call your local travel agency.

[jeffinbris]

Wilrc1- By booking direct, you do realize that a lot of the time you can end up paying MORE, because Flight Centre has access to special deals and packages that you will not?

It seems silly to boycott an entire company because you disagree with their fee schedule.. After all, you'd struggle to find a company in any field that would happily hand over every cent after working tirelessly on your behalf.

I also find it difficult to believe any travel agent would say it 'wasn't worth their time'; that may have been your interpretation of their attitude, and if so you should have had a word to their team leader, who would of sorted the employee out, and possibly given you a discount.

[jeffinbris]

What i am reading here is that these complainants expect FC to work for them for free; they have spent hours teeing up your trip, no small of time co-ordinating wholesalers, airlines and the like, and that all this should be negated when you cancel.

When you register for a flight through Flight Centre, they always give you a detailed breakdown of EVERY applicable fee and charge (on eleven trips they always have for me, and displayed the utmost courtesy and honesty). IF you disagree with the fee, that is the time to say so, not skim over it and sign the document, then kick up a stink when you encounter an issue.

I appreciate you may find the situation frustrating, but the onus is on you as a customer to read the contract, you did after all sign your name to it, indicating you read and understood the document. If the fee you were charged differed from that contained on the document, you have legitimate and reasonable grounds for complaint, if not, you don't.

[wilrc1]

Probably is the commission the agent would have made but doesnt that just show that people should be booking via the internet and bypassing all travel agents, if they wanted your return business they would charge say $100 fee, not $500, thats just greedy. I once went to flight centre top of bourke street in melbourne with a print out from an internet site as the guarantee to beat any compeititor price, they were extremely rude, saying why should i bother i get no commission from this... needless to say, i booked on the internet and have ever since, you can save thousands just by using Google and searching for cheap flights!

[Blue Cheese]

The fees will be the commission that the consultant earned on the booking, if you cancel a booking they still have the right to retain the commission. This probably should have been disclosed to you as a 'Flight Centre cancellation fee'. They are not alone in charging fees on cancelled bookings, most companies, even online agencies, charge some fees.
These fees should have been clearer though.

[lea77y]

Seems a bit rich to charge a $500 fee for the child when the airfare did not even cost that much. Most places the child stays for free so I cant see whey it should be that much.

[Cas98]

I have used Flight Center in Logan Hyperdome to arrange my tyrip to the USA in October for 3 weeks.. While I hope I have NOneed to change or cancel, I will have to keep this in mind.

[wilrc1]

Flight Centre are the worst for this, i was recently charged the $500 fee... i have since never booked with them again, and neither has any of my family, instead i book through the internet, either direct with the airline or through discount flight booking sites... Never again Flight Centre

[Anirtak]

h2o. Travel insurance won't cover this. Yes, I did read the Flight Centre terms and conditions, hence I think the $150 non refundable deposit per person is indeed fair + whatever the airlines and hoteliers charge in cancellation...That's $450 to Flight Centre themselves for their work and $770 in fees to the airlines. I did a lot of the leg work in relation to accommodation etc.

If Flight Centre themselves want to charge cancellation fees on cancellation payable to the Flight Centre organistion, all I ask is that there is some honesty in this. Be upfront about your cancellation fees from the outset.

I run a consultancy service, I am extremely upfront about my fees. I don't like feeling like I have been taken for a ride and in this instance that's exactly how I feel. The cancellation policy in my opinion is ambiguous and makes no reference to a standard cancellation fee payable to Flight Centre aside from the $150 deposit.

Be clear about the fees and then everyone knows where they stand from the outset. If they honestly thought the cancellation fees were fair, why not be completely upfront in detailing these fees in the cancellation policy and then everyone is on the same page from the outset. If they were upfront in the cancellation policy, I would not be arguing the point right now.

[h2o]

I guess it is too late to say read the terms and conditions before proceeding. Also, your travel insurance should cover the cost of the cancellation fees under certain circumstances. You do have travel insurance don't you?

Finally, you seem upset that FC are charging fees. Why? They have done a lot of work and deserve to get paid. Think about how many hours of work they have done and ask yourself would you do that much work for free?

I doubt it.

[Anirtak]

In March I contacted Flight Centre Samford to book a holiday to Thailand for my son/daughter-in-law/infant granddaughter. I paid in full $4387 for flights and accommodation, with a few tours due to commence in August 2008. 16th June I had to cancel this holiday.

First email received from Flight Centre re cancellation fees informs that I would be charged $500 per person for flight cancellation and $198 per person for land cancellations.

When I queried this I was led to believe this was the charge that Thai Airways was charging for cancellation.

I believe this was to high and was disturbed by the fact I was to be charged $500 to cancel my granddaughters flight when in fact the flight only cost me $265 to begin with?

On talking to Thai Airways I was informed that cancellation fees that would be charged were $270 each adult, plus $50 each for the admin fee ($330 total per adult).

I contacted Flight Centre to enquire why there was such a steep charge and also contacted the Flight Centre customer complaints department to discuss the vast difference between the airline charge for cancellation and the amount that flight centre are attempting to charge me along with the ambiguous wording of their cancellation policy in which my interpretation is...you are required to pay a $150 deposit per person of which was non refundable and cancellation fees if they were applicable to the carriers and hoteliers, which could be up to 100% of the total paid.

In this case the hotels did not charge anything for cancellation and neither did the tour guides (as discussed with Flight Centre). So essentially, only the airline has charged a fee for cancellation.

The complaints department emailed back to say that a cancellation fee of $1810 will be charged.

Thai Airways themselves charge a $770 cancellation fee for the cancelled flights and as per the deposit forfieture discussed in the Flight Centre cancellation policy of $150 per person, this would add a total of $450 in cancelled deposits on to the flight cancellation costs ie: a total fair cancellation fee of $1220. Which I believe to be fair and in line with the interpretation of the Flight Centre cancellation policy.

This leaves a markup of $590 in 'cancellation fees'.

Why am I being charged more than the deposit forfiet fee? I did ask this question of Flight Centre and was told because I paid my holiday in full. Silly me.

None of the figures add up. In nearly every email I have had regarding this the fee per cancellation item changes and the reason for the fee changes.

It is my belief that Flight Centre are not being very honest in their dealings with regards to the cancellation fees.

I would be VERY interested in hearing from any others who may have experienced a similar experience with Flight Centre and their response to your complaints.

On top of the airline cancellation fee I have been charged $1040 fee to Flight Centre or one of it's other departments.

Flight Centre now disclose that Infinity Holidays is charging a fee for cancellation because this is who Flight Centre use to book their holidays through. Infinity is of course part of Flight Centre.

And 9% of the fee to Flight Centre in Samford for booking the holiday.