Travel and Opodo

RE: Travel and Opodo

Abraham Dennis — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 11:47:45 GMT

I would be very grateful to know if anyone has been able to secure some money back from Opodo using the Cancel for Any Reason on a flight scheduled for end of June or early July please?
If yes then how did you do it please?

RE: Travel and Opodo

Tim Powell — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 18:10:48 GMT

The Force Majeure clause is a little worrying but I'm still going to wait. If Opodo or the airlines I'm booked on go bust, that's a different matter but I booked through Opodo for the Prague to Sofia via Ljubljana flight on Adria Airlines and when they went bust, my credit card stumped up payment (eventually).

You do wonder why we go through all this grief - what I'm more hacked off about is the hours and hours I spent finding appropriate flights and accommodation (and did that for both twin and triple rooms because we didn't know whether a third mate would secure all the match tickets as he only had 10 caps - but he did). Had to find hotels/apartments that could be cancelled sometimes with just a couple of hours to spare in some scenarios.

Now have to go through the whole damn process again!

RE: Travel and Opodo

Michael Palfrey — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 15:23:28 GMT

Last one canceled was EasyJet.. the other 3 were Ryan....all have been acknowledged for refund, but not seen money yet........just wait and see...Had 1 Easyjet refund....all easybus refunds and FA refunds....

RE: Travel and Opodo

David Lilley — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 13:22:35 GMT

[quote user="Michael Palfrey"]My last flight for the March friendlies has just been cancelled.....full refunds all round [/quote]

Which airline was this ?

RE: Travel and Opodo

David Lilley — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 13:19:44 GMT

[quote user="Tim Powell"]Why are people invoking the Cancel for Any Reason clause now when you will effectively only get back around 70-75% of your outlay once the fees are also taken into account. Isn't it better to wait until closer to the flight departures on the basis that if they are then cancelled by the airlines, presumably a 100% refund would be provided.[/quote]

Do you have any examples of the airline giving a 100% refund for flights which have been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak ?

I have a number of flights booked for Austria v England, Euro 2020 and the Nations League. At the moment, these flights have not been cancelled as they are too far into the future. But, for cancelled flights, the policy of the airlines appears to be to offer fee-free rebooking rather than refunds. The ones whose policies I have seen typically require a rebooking to be made before a certain date, with the new flight to be before another stated date. For example, the Lufthansa Group, which includes Austrian Airlines and Eurowings, requires any rebooking to be done before 31st August and the rebooked flight to be taken before 31st December. This would be no use for 2021 football trips. Even if flights after 31st December were allowed, does any airline publish their summer 2021 schedules this far in advance ?

It should be noted that, under the terms of the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee

Cancel for Any Reason Guarantee must be added and paid when the trip is booked only. If you are to modify your trip then this contractual guarantee will not apply to the new trip.

So, if it were possible to rebook my Copenhagen and St Petersburg trips for 2021, the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee would not apply to the new booking. If we didn't qualify for those games, the flight fares would be 100% forfeited.

One of the other terms and conditions says

In case of a force majeure event, the customer can be refunded (i) the amount paid for the Cancel for Any Reason service and (ii) the taxes refunded to us by the airlines (unless directly refunded by the airlines to the customer). The 10 days refund period does not apply in case of force majeure.

This seems to get Opodo completely off the hook. It implies that if I try to invoke the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee now, then I will not get back 80% of the fare, but a significantly lower amount.

Anyway, having gone through the automated telephone process, I'm still waiting to see what refund, if any, will appear in my credit card account.

RE: Travel and Opodo

Abraham Dennis — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 13:09:01 GMT

If airlines are still cancelling come end of June then there is a chance that the airline could go into administration before then. If you have no ATOL, as could be with Opodo, then bad news. Also there is a chance that you may not be able to claim on credit card since you did not book directly with the airline but through Opodo.
People should please look more into this.

RE: Travel and Opodo

Michael Palfrey — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 17:05:54 GMT

My last flight for the March friendlies has just been cancelled.....full refunds all round (I live in Germany ...so fly to all games)....hope there are still restrictions and flight cancellations in June...I have another 9 games to refund....keep smiling

RE: Travel and Opodo

Philip Sherwin — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 16:47:48 GMT

Well said, that's why I am hanging on.

RE: Travel and Opodo

Tim Powell — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 16:12:06 GMT

Why are people invoking the Cancel for Any Reason clause now when you will effectively only get back around 70-75% of your outlay once the fees are also taken into account. Isn't it better to wait until closer to the flight departures on the basis that if they are then cancelled by the airlines, presumably a 100% refund would be provided.

RE: Travel and Opodo

Neal Granger — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 15:45:58 GMT

After an hour on hold to the automated chat option I got some mong who basically kept saying it was my job to cancel the flights and then to email them and they would refund me.
Funnily enough the flight companies don't agree.
I have taken t social media to try to get my point across, but Opodo just keep taking everyone's comments down.
Think I can kiss the money goodbye

RE: Travel and Opodo

Kerry Gillen — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 19:59:41 GMT

I have just had a degree of success with the facebook route using the wifes facebook account.

I went to the FAQ on opodo and when the help assistant popped up I entered cancel flights. A series of questions then popped up including do you wish to cancel for any reason. I said yes and was asked to enter confirmation number and email address.

It all seemed to go through ok though trying to do a second cancellation seemed to confuse it so I have backed out ready to have another go later.

There is now a record of my cancellation request on my wifes messenger

I suppose the real test is if any refund arrives?

RE: Travel and Opodo

Neal Granger — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 18:19:34 GMT

I had exactly the same with my flights. Once booking reference is put into the automated phone system it just says contact your airline as its not 5 days away and cuts me off.
I have managed to get through via the online messenger chart, the automated response has now added me to a queue with a live agent. Currently been in this queue for an hour.
I'm not hopeful!!!!

RE: Travel and Opodo

David Lilley — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 13:07:11 GMT

Following news that Euro 2020 is to become Euro 2021, I have just been back on to the Opodo phone number to invoke the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee. I went through the cancellation process for my flight booking for St Petersburg and, in case I did it wrong the first time, I also went through the process again for Copenhagen.

The process was entirely automated. At the end, before the system terminated the call, the 'voice' said that, due to the coronavirus issue, they were currently only dealing with cases where the flight is within the next 5 days. I hope this means that my request is deferred rather than ignored. In any case, if the process truly is automated then high call volumes shouldn't affect anything. According to Opodo's blurb, refunds are supposed to take no more than 10 working days. We will see.

I really hope that Opodo have properly insured their liabilities under this guarantee. If they have tried to bear the risk themselves then I can imagine the coronavirus crisis and Euro cancellation could hit their cash flow so hard that they collapse. In that case, I would just be another creditor with no chance of any pay out.

RE: Travel and Opodo

Chris Fletcher — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 22:28:53 GMT

Opodo are the worst company I have ever dealt with by far!!

I booked some flights to Florida with them about 3 years ago

My plans changed so I tried to get a refund, was told no, fair enough, my mistake so not much I could do

A couple of months later they contact me to advise my flight times had been changed

I rang them and the person I spoke to said he would try and find me new flights

I said I would happily take a refund to which he said would be fine but would take 4 weeks

I said fine and was happily jumping for joy

After 4 weeks nothing

I rang back and was told it could take 6 weeks

This went on and on

Me chasing

Them fobbing me off for almost 3 months

I then had enough, I set up a twitter account, followed everyone under the son to gain followers and started hammering them on social media 15-20 times a day

Took 3 or 4 days then they did my refund which took another few days and I had my money back

Utter cowboys

If they mess you about take to social media and don’t stop

Your problem will soon be sorted

RE: Travel and Opodo

Kerry Gillen — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 18:30:26 GMT

I have checked their website for the original link to cancel the flight and it has now gone. The whole site seems changed since I run my checks last summer.

I did try the +44 80 0026 1621 number just to see if it worked using my booking reference number for my flight to Milan for the quarter final in Rome. As soon as I entered the ref number an automated message said straight away that they were only dealing with bookings in the next 5 days due to the corona virus then cut me off.

It doesn't help you I know but I think you were screened out by a hastily arranged 5 day rule due to corona.

Keep us informed on how you get on with the "cancel for any reason" guarantee. I have a few flights booked with it and very small windows to cancel in should we progress/not progress in the competition.

As already stated I have had bad experiences with Opodo. It was only this guarantee that brought back to them. If someone else had been offering the same guarantee I would have gone through them

RE: Travel and Opodo

David Robinson — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 11:06:11 GMT

I can't cant comment on Opodo, I but had problems with E Dreams and their cancel for any reason guarantee.
It was a nightmare trying get the money refunded and took a lot of time and expense to get sorted.
Contacting E Dreams customer services to cancel cost over 12 pounds as it's a premium rate number, and I then had to keep chasing-up the refund for weeks before I finally got reimbursed.

RE: Travel and Opodo

Kerry Gillen — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 10:27:56 GMT

I too have purchased flights with this guarantee. I have also had big problems with Opodo's customer service in the past. It is due to this that when I booked flights with this guarantee I did a dry run of cancelling flights. I did find an automatic way of doing it online. I think I found cancelling flights in their FAQ. There was a link there which did give you the opportunity to do it online despite all the instructions with the guarantee saying it must be done by phone. Sorry its a bit vague but I am supposed to be working. When I get home I will retrace my steps and try to post the link

RE: Travel and Opodo

David Lilley — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 11:58:42 GMT

I've just had to invoke the Opodo 'cancel for any reason' guarantee. This guarantee related to flights to and from Copenhagen for the Euro 2020 R16. I received an email saying that my itinerary had been changed. When I looked, the airline had cancelled the service which I was on for the homeward journey and they had booked me on to the corresponding flight 24 hours earlier, before the match would have taken place. I checked the airline schedules but there was no alternative flight which would work for me.

My booking confirmation email from Opodo included a link to the terms and conditions for the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee. In that document was the phone number you were supposed to ring : +44 80 0026 1621. This number does not work ! Sure, you get through to the automated answering system with the 'if this press 1', etc but the system would not recognise my booking number and there was no way to get past the automated system to speak to a person. There is a 'help chat' facility on their website but it can only be used by people with a Facebook account.

I found another number through google : 0333 300 0291. This goes to an automated system with exactly the same options, but this time my booking number was recognised. When I had gone through the sequence of key choices to the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee, the system told me that the refund system was automatic, but the call didn't then end. I don't know whether that's it or whether something else was going to happen and I should have stayed on the line. I'll wait a couple of weeks to see whether the refund arrives and, if not, I'll have to try again.

RE: Travel and Opodo

Frances Mcquarrie — Sat, 08 Feb 2020 18:30:57 GMT

You will be fine. If its Lufthansa your flying with they are very efficient and from our experience they come looking for you if connection is tight and get you through security etc.

RE: Travel and Opodo

Tim Powell — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 15:04:45 GMT

I've had some involvement in both issues mentioned here. I too booked that Adria Air flight via Opodo and they made it clear that any refunds due to an airline going bust has to be dealt with by the airline or your credit card. I had loads of correspondence with my credit card who temporarily credited me back the amount spent whilst they investigated it. At first they said the airline wouldn't agree to any refund which confused me because I thought the credit card companies took the hit and then tried to get back what they could. Anyway, after a couple of months, my credit card confirmed the refund they'd given me would remain permanently so it ended up well so hopefully you'll get yours back too.

Re Opodo's Cancel for any reason policy, it appears towards the end of the booking when it asks whether you want all the add ons that they try to screw more money out of you with. They also say you can only buy it at that point of confirming your flight payments. It amounts to around an extra £5-10 per leg of the flight so I'll see in the Summer whether it's been worth it!

RE: Travel and Opodo

Matthew Isle — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 20:34:12 GMT

Just a heads-up that this thread is within the fully open part of the forum.

As such you are discussing your travel arrangements with anyone who cares to search for your name on the internet.

Be it someone who wants to know you're away, Opodo themselves, your work, etc etc etc.

The thread below (or at least the area of the forum it's within) might be more appropriate:

englandsupporters.thefa.com/.../15501

RE: Travel and Opodo

Nick howell — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 20:27:53 GMT

James

Who did you use for the refundable flights and accom?

RE: Travel and Opodo

James Siggins — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 19:39:59 GMT

This is my worry about Opodo, I have literally heard so many poor reviews about them & people waiting an eternity to even get through on the phone never mind a refund. This example should be cut & dry, airline has gone bust, full refund. As Nick says, I can’t see how phoning up stating England have finished ‘X’ in the group so you require a refund for your flights will be met very well.

There is a lad on the Facebook ECTS group that said he’s been successful in a refund for a flight during the Russia WC, he’s the first I’ve had any positive comments from regarding Opodo.

I personally have risked us finishing top currently & have booked outright flights & hotels (which are thankfully refundable) for Dublin/Rome. Fingers crossed

RE: Travel and Opodo

Philip Hackett — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 19:15:09 GMT

I booked flights through Opodo for the match in Kosovo (Pristina) Unfortunately Adria Airlines went bust and therefore the flights were obviously null and void..
My Travel Insurance Company (Saga) told me to get in touch with Barclaycard using a templated letter they sent me informing Barclaycard of the section 75 consumer credit act indicating that Barclaycard were liable to refund this money (£559.98 for two of us),
Barclaycard have now asked me to obtain written confirmation from Opodo that they have not refunded this money.
On telephoning Opodo they have refused to email or write a letter confirming this non-payment.
I am now awaiting a letter from Barclaycard that I can forward to Opodo asking for evidence of this non-payment.
This has been going on since the Kosovo trip.
I am getting heartily p****d off with the whole affair. Even been awarded £100.00 by Barclaycard for the amount of time and effort that has gone in to recover this money but am still chasing the £559.98

RE: Travel and Opodo

Nick howell — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 17:55:18 GMT

David.
Just been through the emails from them and there is nothing there as described. Could this be maybe because I already purchased the wrong cancellation policy before check out they deemed unnecessary to offer the policy I really wanted. So like wise people who are thinking of buying multiple flights so they cover all bases with England results they could go through the process, buy the ticket then not get offers of cancellation for any reason policy.
I even went trough the process of booking a random flight to another country, Euro unrelated, and also nothing came up. Hope other fans have not made the same stupid and costly mistake, no idea what to do about Rome now, maybe pray for the match to be at St Petersburg . The price we pay.