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advice on airline consumer complaint?

I was wondering if someone could give me some advice on my complaint letter. ============================================== I recently purchased online tickets with your company under booking reference XXXXXXX and due to unforeseen circumstances was forced to change the outbound flight to a later date. After logging into your website to the ‘manage your booking’ screen I found that the option to change flight details was not available. This left me no option but to ring your call centre to change the details. When I spoke to your customer services call centre I was told that the further charges amounted to £261 plus the credit card booking fee of £4.57, taking the total amount payable to £265.57. Whilst I completely disagree with the £27.50 per person per way administration fee to simply change a name on a computer screen, this charge is clearly stated on your website and therefore I was aware of this charge. On calculation of the remainder costs I was disappointed to find that I had been charged a further £6 per person as the change to the flight details was made as a telephone fare and not a web fare. Whilst I understand that the cheapest fares are available on the internet, thus prompting me to book this way in the first instance, I am appalled to see that you apply this extra difference in fare when you do not give the option to change the booking on the screen. On complaint to your call centre (a further 30 minutes on the phone, at 10p per minute, therefore a £3 call charge) I was advised that bookings including wheelchair users and infants are not able to change bookings on the internet and so have to make these changes by telephone. There is nowhere on your confirmation or terms and conditions stating that changes to a booking that includes infants must be made by telephone. I am sure that you can understand my disappointment that I have been charged a further £36 in price difference because your company does not allow me to change details on the internet. Incidentally, during this telephone complaint, I was challenged as to who the lead passenger of the booking was. When the booking was made I named myself as the lead passenger. After I had paid the charges to change the flight date the lead passenger was changed by your company and therefore I was presented with a challenge as to ‘guess’ the name of the passenger your company had decided to allocate as lead passenger. On a further, more important note, the 2nd confirmation email to confirm the booking change does not list any booked luggage on the inbound flight. I am now left to assume that we are actually allowed to bring our luggage home with us and do not have to post them back by surface mail!! To finalise, as I mentioned above, although I disagree with your administration charge to change a booking date so far in ahead of the travel date on a paperless budget airline, these charges are clearly stated and I had no other alternative. However, I am entering a complaint on the level of discrimination to be told that wheelchair users and bookings with infants who are not allowed to change their bookings online are then left subject to a higher price. I enclose a copy of your current website terms and conditions for you to see that there is no mention of extra charges being applied if your booking includes wheelchair users or infants. I would like to take the opportunity to charge you £30.00 for the administration costs of this letter and look forward to receiving a reply from you challenging why you think the extra costs are justified and do not present a claim of discrimination. With regards Mrs XXXXXX Enc. JET2.COM Terms and Conditions I forgot to include on the end that I have mentioned discrimination under the Equal Status Act as prevention of access to services due to family status. My opinion is that if I was a wheelchair user there would be a good sound claim for disability discrimination and although I cannot refer to this I do feel that I am being discriminated against. jamesoliver, I'm not sure if I have got the wrong end of the stick but I feel that I actually am being treated different than everyone else hence the claim of discrimination. I understand that there are others with infants who also pay this fee but I am making the point clear that it shouldn't be allowed as it clearly is discrimination. It's people making complaints that forces policy changes and so more people should do the same. It's not my fault if they don't complain but it is my fault if I don't complain!

Public Comments

I am going to star your question as I have a contact that may be able to answer you since he is knowledgeable in this area.
Looks fine to me.
well well well Mrs XXXXXX you have seemed to commit Robbery this is illegal and so now I shall call 999
Excellent letter, I can make no suggestions to better it. Sounds like you have an excellent case and I hope you get your money back.
You havent stated why you feel you should be treated any differently from anyone else
(I'm the guy the 1st Answerer was talking about...) ("Non-Transferable" means you CANNOT change the name on the ticket...this is to prevent people stealing each other's tickets...the only provision is...if you catch the "name problem" on the ticket within 24 hours of purchase, they will cut you some slack. But you can (by and large) NEVER change the name on an airline ticket. If you buy a "refundable ticket," and need to change the name, you would simply get a refund on the ticket, and purchase a new one for the new passenger at the going rate...this ALSO prevents people from breaking their "advanced purchase requirement" and trying to slyly burn the airline by buying a cheap "advance purchase" ticket, but then changing it to fly earlier than agreed upon. The airline views your attempts to change your ticket (or name on the ticket) as your way to defraud the airline of it's ticket prices and rules...) (It has to be the airline's verifiable fault in order for them to waive any fees and add collects (read the contract you signed when you purchased the ticket online (it's in that box that you clicked "I Accept" but you didn't bother reading the fine print)...engine failure, etc...Weather, or your personal problems are NOT the airline's fault, so don't expect them to lose money because your Uncle Ernie (or whoever) got sick or died...that is NOT the airline's fault, so they will not take responsibility for it. They have no cheap way to verify the truth of people's sob stories, so if the airlines just let fees and such slide every time people had a personal problem, then EVERYBODY would lie about having personal problems, because NOBODY would want to pay the change fees and add collects, which are designed to make the airline a profit...remember...the contract of carriage says that they will get you to your destination in a reasonable amount of time, but safety is their number one concern, so they'd rather inconvenience you by canceling your flight than KILL you in a fiery plane crash...) 1. Your "outbound" flight is what determines your original contract advance purchase price...(if you buy a 2-week advance purchase ticket, that means you must keep your flight date two weeks in advance of your original purchase AND any changes you make to that date...if you change your outbound flight 3 days before departure to get there early, you just broke your advance purchase price contract, so they hit you for the difference, because if you had originally paid for a 1-week advance the price would have been higher, and the airlines are going to get that difference because the original reason they gave you a good price was that you had more of an advance...it's the way they gouge business travelers, because they know business travelers can't buy in advance, and their companies will pay whatever it takes to get the deal closed... 2. Ideally, the airlines want you to stick to your original flight plan, because it helps them keep track of load factors and statistics, and helps them plan ahead their revenue expectations, so if you change your ticket, expect to get hit with change fees and add collects. Also, whenever you change your ticket on the phone, you are eating up the sales rep's sales, because they have to take the time to change your ticket when they could be "selling" more tickets, get it? So the airlines need to make up for that "lost sales income..." 3. They want you to do everything online, because that way it doesn't eat up their sales time on the phones, and it eliminates the paper trail and costs to the airlines... 4. If you are not a wealthy person, my recommendation is to plan your life around your trip, NOT the other way around...In other words, if Aunt Edna calls and wants you to postpone your trip, simply don't do it. Just say NO to life's demands that would cause you to want to change your trip plan. If Uncle Ernie dies...well...you just might not be able to attend the funeral, because in doing so, the airline is going to charge you almost a thousand dollars in change fees and add collects, not to mention the hotel changes, so...Uncle Ernie is dead...I'm sure he won't know that you didn't attend the funeral, and so you're off the hook...Just tell Aunt Edna that you are very sorry, but due to a much needed vacation in Hawaii, you will be unable to attend... Stick to your flight plan NO MATTER WHAT! (and stop complaining...you were supposed to READ that contract you signed when you bought the damn ticket, and stick to its' provisions, or you WILL be charged a lot more money, which defeated your original purpose of getting cheap ticket. Airline tickets are only cheap if you stick to your original flight plan...) The airlines DO offer tickets that are free to change, but they are expensive, so you can't say you had no choice in changing your ticket...The airlines are saying "Hey! We offered you a more expensive ticket that is free to change with no penalties, but since you're not a wealthy person, you opted to buy the cheap tickets that have change fees and add collects, and it's not OUR fault that your Uncle Ernie died, so don't come whining to us...you had the option to buy a "refundable ticket," but since you wanted to save money, you opted to buy the "non-refundable" ticket that has penalities, so you made your bed, now you have to lie in it!" (I was the complaint manager of a major airline for 14 years, and I NEVER had to change my ticket, because I planned my life around my trip dates, NOT the other way around, and I simply said NO whenever aunt Edna requested I change my plans...emergency or not...capiche?!?)