THE Sun’s Squeeze Team wins back money for readers who have had a refund or billing issue with a company and are struggling to get it resolved.
This week, we helped a man who paid twice for his luggage due to a booking error to get his money back after the airline refused to give him a full refund.
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I paid £255 to take three bags on my return flights from London to Sofia in Bulgaria, but they didn’t appear on my booking confirmation.
So I paid again, but when I discovered I’d mistakenly booked six bags, easyJet refused to refund me the full amount.
Can you get the airline to change its mind?
NASKO TODOROV, South Wales
You were excited to visit your family in Bulgaria last month as you hadn’t seen them since before the pandemic.
Because you were bringing gifts for your family, you paid a total of £255 for three hold bags each way.
But when the email confirmation came through, you noticed the baggage you’d paid for was only showing on the return leg of your trip.
Assuming you hadn’t added the bags correctly for your outbound flight, you went back online and paid again.
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You contacted easyJet’s customer service team to double check, but to your horror, the airline said you had now paid for six bags on each flight.
Even though you explained that the luggage hadn’t appeared on your booking confirmation, easyJet refused to refund you the full cost.
As a pensioner, you told me you couldn’t afford to lose that money after saving to pay for the trip itself.
Booking a flight has become a minefield and I sympathise with how confusing it must have been.
There are so many boxes to tick and untick before payment – as airlines try to flog extras every step of the way.
When I spoke to easyJet, it admitted that there was a technical error which meant your baggage hadn’t shown up on your booking confirmation.
They said it had already agreed to refund you £127.50, but there had been a misunderstanding by customer service about how much you had overpaid by mistake.
After going through everything again with easyJet, the remaining £127.50 has now been refunded.
A spokesperson for the airline said: “We are sorry that, due to an isolated technical error, Mr Todorov’s booking reference didn’t correctly show his booked baggage, and for the confusion this will have caused.
“We have been in contact to confirm he has been refunded in full and apologise for any inconvenience.”
Squeeze Team total: £115,597
What can I do if I overpay for flight extras?
If you find that you’ve overpaid by accident, the first thing to do is get in touch with the airline and explain what happened.
It’s a good idea to screenshot pages as you go as proof of what you could see on your screen.
Be vigilant when working your way through the options when booking a flight, as the extras on offer can end up costing you more than the flight itself.
For example, remember that if you have paid for a flight ticket, you have a seat – you don’t need to buy one for an extra cost.
Every airline includes free hand luggage, but the size and weight restrictions vary massively.
If you know you’ll need more luggage, think carefully about exactly how much as large, heavy bags can come with big price tags.
Make sure to check the size of your bag with your airline’s free limit before arriving at the airport, and do weigh your luggage before you leave to avoid being hit with hefty additional fees.
Some airlines or third-party travel agencies try to sell holidaymakers compensation help or extra insurance to cover issues with their flights, such as “flight delay cover”.
Remember that if the airline cancels your flight, you are automatically entitled to compensation if the following apply:
- The flight is cancelled less than two weeks in advance
- It’s the airline’s fault
- Any replacement flight they offer delays your arrival time by two hours or more.
If your flights to or from a European destination are delayed by two hours or more, you are also usually entitled to some sort of compensation.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
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