We booked a holiday with loveholidays for 4 adults and 2 kids. They cancelled our flight after 2 months, then said we can fly from Gatwick instead of Luton for 1500. Is this allowed? What else can we do?
We booked an all inclusive holiday to Egypt including flights & hotel. The flights got cancelled and were originally from Luton airport. They said we could fly from Gatwick for a extra one thousand five hundred.
Is this allowed? the booking was through loveholidays.
Traveller's answer tells you what you can do, which is the answer to the question. But the bigger context is that companies like this are scammers. They don't actually book the flights they offer you, but gamble with your money on the chance of being able to get the flight later at the price they quoted you (or less), then cancelling on you and/or trying to upsell something different if they can't. There are all kinds of scam hotel companies that flood the search results doing this too. The only solution is to book directly from the airline/hotel website or a reputable company, ignoring all the cheap ones that show up in search results.
It is allowed but you don’t have to accept it.
From Citizens Advice
If the company has made a ‘significant change’ to your package holiday, you don’t have to accept it. You have the right to either:
Edit:
Love Holidays is a booking platform (online and via telephone) which enables users of the platform to search, compare, combine and book various travel services including, but not limited to, flights, hotels and transfers (“each a Travel Service”). It does not own or operate any of the Travel Services (emphasis mine). When you search for Travel Services and make a booking on the platform, the service is only to obtain and provide information about those Travel Services, arrange for you to enter into a contract with the individual provider of the Travel Service in question (the "Service Provider") (emphasis mine) and to agree payment terms between you and that Service Provider. The Service Provider will be the party responsible for supplying the Travel Service to you.
Its T&C Section 10. Changes and Cancellations to your Travel Services includes statements such as:
We and the Service Providers reserve the right to make changes to your Travel Services at any time.
Significant changes made prior to your departure could include (but are not limited to)…..a change of UK departure airport, except between: - London airports: Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Stansted, London City and Southend
As most changes will be made by the Service Providers, we will not be liable to you for such changes or to pay any refunds, compensation or other claims.
Love Holidays is not an ABTA member and ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services listed on its website. I don’t think the company is a scam as such, however as another answer mentions, booking direct with a ‘real’ package holiday company is typically much safer and offers more protection for the average consumer. Cheapest isn’t always best, unfortunately.
