Opodo - paid for Premium Economy, got economy

[Danrees]

Hi,

 

I have an issue with Opodo - which I’ve tried multiple times over the last 6 months to resolve with them but it seems impossible to get anywhere with them.

 

In December I booked two return flights with them from London to New York. I booked and paid for Premium Economy seats (clearly selected when booking and confirmed in emails). When I arrived at the airport I was told they weren’t premium economy seats but “economy delight” - basically a slightly upgraded economy seat - in economy - but with a pillow. 
 

I raised this issue with Opodo before the return flight but they never responded.

 

when I returned, I raised the issue with them again. They blamed the airline and insisted they had booked premium economy seats but the airline had changed them. I checked with the airline and this wasn’t the case, of course.

 

Further emails to opodo go unanswered.

 

What are my rights in this situation?

 

thanks 

[BankFodder]

I suggest that you start gathering information. Send an SAR to OPODO and one to the airline.

 

[Kyosanto]

1. What was the travel class on your Opodo booking? It should be indicated on your confirmation email you received from Opodo, see arrow below:

 

 

 

2. What was your booking class (1 letter code). Unfortunately this one is a lot harder to find with Opodo, as they never make this information available to you in their confirmation docs. If you have saved your boarding pass the booking class may be written on it. Otherwise you will have to ask Opodo for your booking class.

 

You mentioned Economy delight so I have assumed that you flew with Virgin Atlantic. For Virgin the codes are:

Premium Economy: W, H, S, K, P

Economy: Y, B, R, L, U, M, E, Q, X, V, N, O

 

I suggest you use the Opodo online chat or a phone call to find out what class you were actually booked in. Forget emails, they always take ages to respond in normal times and with corona they are overwhelmed.

 

Once you find this out:

If you were sold Premium Economy tickets (in P for example), and Virgin put you in economy, you are entitled to 75% of the ticket price as compensation for involuntary downgrade under EU261, directly from the airline.

 

If however, you were sold these tickets as "premium economy" in your confirmation email, but your booking code was in Y, Opodo are the ones who mislead you. Others in this forum will have more insight on to how to properly claim from them. 75% of the ticket price would seem like a fair compensation to me.

 

If your confirmation email states "Economy Delight" then you probably have no chance. It's unfortunately rather common for misleading results/mixed cabins to appear in search results.

 

I do hope you enjoyed the trip to NY nevertheless! The price of flights is trivial once you see how much you have to pay for hotels over there 

 

Good luck!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Danrees]

Hi both,

 

Thanks for your replies.

 

1) Opodo booking says “Premium Economy” on all emails

 

2) Boarding pass says “S” and below it says “EDELIGHT”.

However, when I queried this with Virgin they said;

 

”Having checked your booking, I can confirm that your Travel Agent had booked you in Economy Delight 'V class' seats on both sectors and we did not change your tickets at the airport”

 

 

So I’m not quite sure who misled me?

 

And thanks - it was a great trip - managed to get a very reasonable hotel/serviced apartment near Central Park. They were called AKA - huge rooms and half the price of any equivalent hotels!

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Danrees

[Danrees]

To make it a little more complicated - Delta are somehow involved here also.

-I booked through Opodo

-The airline on the booking email from Opodo is Delta air lines

- I flew with Virgin

 

I have just found this post from 2018 - but worth noting my fares weren’t particularly cheap - maybe £100/200 cheaper than Virgin direct from memory 

 

https://pointmetotheplane.boardingarea.com/deltas-convoluted-comfort-scheme-causing-major-price-errors-editorial/

[Kyosanto]

26 minutes ago, Danrees said:

-The airline on the booking email from Opodo is Delta air lines

- I flew with Virgin

 

Aha, this starts making slightly more sense, as on Delta S and V are both used for discount economy class. I don't believe that Delta being your marketing carrier (issued your ticket) would be involved here as the liability is with your operating carrier.

 

However this gives you the convenient option to call Delta and look up the booking class details for you. Delta should be a lot quicker to pick up the phone and should be able to confirm whether indeed you were booked in V class. If that's true than it's 100% on Opodo to compensate you.

 

It doesn't matter if Opodo told the airline "we told the airline to book you in premium economy". Only the fare class matters, and if that's V it's not a premium economy product.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Kyosanto

[London1971]

4 hours ago, Danrees said:

Hi,

 

I have an issue with Opodo - which I’ve tried multiple times over the last 6 months to resolve with them but it seems impossible to get anywhere with them.

 

In December I booked two return flights with them from London to New York. I booked and paid for Premium Economy seats (clearly selected when booking and confirmed in emails). When I arrived at the airport I was told they weren’t premium economy seats but “economy delight” - basically a slightly upgraded economy seat - in economy - but with a pillow. 
 

I raised this issue with Opodo before the return flight but they never responded.

 

when I returned, I raised the issue with them again. They blamed the airline and insisted they had booked premium economy seats but the airline had changed them. I checked with the airline and this wasn’t the case, of course.

 

Further emails to opodo go unanswered.

 

What are my rights in this situation?

 

thanks 

 

You will never ever resolve anything with Opodo customer Service, they are outsourced , and terrible.  I got so frustrated with my issue, I emailed the CEO, forwarding on all correspondence and asked him to sort it out

 

[email protected]

 

Guess what, full refund given within 48 hours plus £150 off next booking!

[Danrees]

Thanks both - I have contacted Delta and await a response. Couldn’t get through today on the phone.

 

Have also sent out an email to the CEO 

[London1971]

Good, let me know how it goes. If there is no response you will need to re send the email.  Honestly, I think their customer service is one bloke answering the phone in Barcelona.

[Danrees]

9 hours ago, London1971 said:

Good, let me know how it goes. If there is no response you will need to re send the email.  Honestly, I think their customer service is one bloke answering the phone in Barcelona.

Well, after sending that email I had an email from someone today in Opodo customer care - first time they’ve responded since January;
 

“Thank you for contacting Opodo. 

We're contacting you from the Travel Experience Department and we will be managing the complaint that we have received from you. 

First of all, we sincerely apologise for the experience you have had with us thus far; we are currently experiencing an unprecedented volume of queries and we apologise for our delayed response, we truly appreciate how important this is for you. We would like you to know that we are investigating the matter thoroughly and will get back to you when we have further updates.”

 

I’ll see if it goes anywhere and keep you updated 

[London1971]

Good,

 

I mean my problem was way before the Covid Crisis, so got resolved ASAP. It  looks like a reasonable reply under the circumstances. Still , resend it in a week with a polite note that you are following up.

[Danrees]

So, an update;

 

Quote

 

Thank you for your patience.
 

Firstly, we do renew our apologies for the delay as we are experiencing an unprecedented volume of queries due to the Coronavirus crisis.

After reviewing your case accurately, we can confirm that our system issued an incorrect class due to a glitch generated during the pricing process. 

We have calculated the exact fare difference between the premium and economy class for the same dates and routes and concluded that a refund of 595.68 GBP shall be processed accordingly. Please allow about 3 business days in order to have it reflected in your account.

We remain at your disposal should you require further assistance.”

 

 

 

75% of the ticket price would have been approx £800. 
I’ve got £600.
What do you guys think?

[Kyosanto]

That's good news! They took responsibilty, and the reaction time as well as 3 days for the refund was quite fast as well give the current times so kudos to Opodo. (I'm having a lot more trouble with Lastminute atm...)

 

Whilst it may be true that you now got what you paid for, I think you could try turning the violin music on and say that you expect some additional compensation due to the upset caused by travelling in a cabin you did not want to travel into, all the stress this has caused you during your vacation and (violin music intensifies) the unspeakable humiliation suffered at the check-in desk. All of which the simple fare difference does not cover for.

 

An extra £200 as compensation would be a reasonable request, based on the regulations for involuntary downgrade - which in essence this is similar to. You could say this is the bare minimum you would expect. They may come up with a counteroffer such as an extra voucher for future travel.

 

I'd personally risk it and see where it goes (after I've waited 3 days and confirmed the money is in my account), but it's entirely up to you whether it's worth the extra hassle. I am really glad that at least you got some form of positive response.

[Danrees]

I think you’re right. I’ll wait until the refund is in and then raise the above points with them. I’ll see where it goes but won’t push it.

 

Hope they have their violin ready!

[London1971]

Great news !