Travel agent charges 64 per cent cancellation fee for grounded British Airways flight

‘There was no explanation whatsoever,’ says customer

Tyne travel: The river in Newcastle (Simon Calder)

A passenger whose British Airways flight was cancelled a year ago has been charged 64 per cent of the fare by the online travel agent she used. 

In January 2020, Rose Storey bought a BA ticket from London Heathrow to Newcastle for travel on 1 May. She paid £77.85 through TravelUp, based in Berkshire. The company boasts: “0 per cent Faff when booking Flights, Hotels and Holidays.”

After the coronavirus pandemic began, British Airways cancelled the flight on 30 March. Under air passengers’ rights rules, Ms Storey was due a full refund within a week.

Rose Storey contacted British Airways a month after the cancellation. A call centre staff member told her that, as it was a travel agent booking, it would be for TravelUp to deal with, but that she should expect all her money back.

But after waiting months, she was refunded just £27.85 – barely one-third of the fare.

Her mother, Karen Storey, said: “There was no explanation whatsoever, and at first we assumed this was an ‘interim’ payment. But by February 2021 nothing more had arrived.” 

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At this point they contacted The Independent.

TravelUp’s conditions say: “We will refund to you any monies repaid by the carrier to us on your behalf less the cost of any reasonable administrative costs in making such refund to you.”

The company applies a flat fee of £50, even though the transaction to pass on the money received from BA would have taken a few minutes at most.

Karen Storey said: “We do not feel that to retain approximately two-thirds of the ticket price is a ‘reasonable amount’. Rose has started her own online business, so every penny counts.”

Under consumer law, airlines are obliged to refund in full when they cancel a flight. But an agent may seek to withhold a part of the ticket cost as a service fee for recovering the refund from the airline on the consumer’s behalf.

TravelUp’s director of marketing, Craig Ashford, said: “The fee of £50 per booking may seem excessive, however we felt that a flat fee for all customers should be adopted as the work involved is equal no matter what the cost of the original flight.”

He added that the passenger was offered a credit voucher for the full amount to be used on TravelUp products.

“There was a voucher on offer but she didn’t take up that offer as it was absolutely no use to her,” said Karen Storey. “She knew she wouldn’t be travelling anywhere within the 12-month voucher validity.”

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued guidelines on refunds triggered by the coronavirus crisis. It says: “In some cases, where lockdown laws prevent a business from providing a service or the consumer from receiving it, the business may be able to deduct a contribution to the costs it has already incurred in relation to the specific contract in question (where it cannot recover them elsewhere).

“In the CMA’s view, these cases are likely to be relatively rare and the costs that may be deducted from refunds will usually be limited. However, the ability to make a deduction, and its amount, will depend on the circumstances, including the sector and the nature of the service being provided.

“Ultimately only a court can decide how the law applies to specific contracts and circumstances.”