Air Berlin - unfairly charging me for a flight they cancelled

decbrad

Hey!

Does anyone have any good advice on this. Apart from don't ever fly with Air Berlin again!

I needed to get from Sardinia in Italy to Munich in a hurry. The only direct flight was with Air Berlin. So I logged on and booked a flight. Everything went smoothly, I got the booking confirmation and thought everything was fine.

The next day I got an email from Air Berlin saying that they were not able to charge my credit card. (I tried to pay with a Visa Electron, Air Berlin only accepts standard Visa.) So in a hurry I booked another flight to Munich with good aul Ryanair. (Absolutely nothing wrong with my credit card) I also emailed the Air Berlins customer service and politely asked them to cancel the flight. Within an hour I got a reply saying that I had to pay the full price of the ticket €206 anyway.

This is when I start to get annoyed with them! I emailed them back and told them that there was no chance! How can they expect me to pay for something that they were never able to charge me for? Surely there was never any contract / transaction?

So, now they have hired a collections company who are threatening all kinds of nasty things. So my question is... should I pay them? If you think I shouldn't pay them, what other options do you think I have?

Looking forward to hearing some good advice

cheers!
DB

The Lovely Muffin

I would imagine that you do have to pay, considering it is not their fault you (tried) to use a card that they do not accept to pay for the flight.

I am assuming it was a saver fare you booked? Apologies if I am wrong.

From their website

Booking
Can I cancel a flight?
Saver fare: If a passenger cancels or fails to travel on a short-haul or medium-haul flight » booked as a saver fare, the airline’s claim for payment continues to apply.
If the passenger cancels or fails to take a booked long-haul flight », the Airline is entitled to charge the following amounts:
- Up to 21 days before departure: 20 % of the fare
- Up to 14 days before departure: 30 % of the fare
- Up to 7 days before departure: 40 % of the fare
- Up to 1 day before departure: 50 % of the fare
- On day of departure: 100 % of the fare (net)
Furthermore, a handling fee of 25 EUR per passenger and booking applies.

How long before the flight did you cancel/ask them to cancel the booking?

You could try phoning them or writing to them and appealing to their good nature, but to be honest, if they do give a refund, it would be a goodwill gesture and not because they are legally obliged to.

As far as the airline is concerned, the cards they accept for payment are listed clearly on their website, if you didn't see/look at them before making a book it's not their fault, it's yours, so you are liable for any and all charges that apply.

As for the debt collection agency - have no dealings with them, any and all contact should be made with the airline directly. As far as I am aware, debt collection agencies have absolutely no powers or rights within Ireland. I may be wrong on this though, maybe someone else could clarify.

jimmycrackcorm

Send them back a copy of the email you received stating that they refused your visa card. I presume that you entered your credit card details online and they accepted them then. You made the transaction in good faith with their booking confirmation as an indication of acceptance.

If you can show that the same card was accepted by Ryanair for an alternative flight then tell them to go sing.

jor el

Since they never accepted payment, I assume the flight was never going to be yours to take. As such, it's hard to see how they can charge you for it now. If payment was never accepted, then the booking was never real. They're trying to charge you now for something that was essentially their mistake - they didn't immediately refuse the Visa Electron card, and only afterwards told you it wasn't valid.

Write to them, explaining that since they never accepted your payment, then the booking was never finalised. There was therefore nothing for you to cancel, so the cancellation policy doesn't apply.

ScouseMouse

That's a great one. I have to agree with Jor El. Unless German law is different, if they never took the cash, there was no contract so tell them to take a hike.

Paulw

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

I would imagine that you do have to pay, considering it is not their fault you (tried) to use a card that they do not accept to pay for the flight.

As far as the airline is concerned, the cards they accept for payment are listed clearly on their website, if you didn't see/look at them before making a book it's not their fault, it's yours, so you are liable for any and all charges that apply.

I'd have to agree with that. You entered in to a contract to buy the flights. The fact that they couldn't get the money is why they are now chasing you. This is more likely due to your bank, rather than Visa.

It would see like you are liable for their costs.

You should have sorted things out with them, before you went and booked another flight.

P. Breathnach

superscouse wrote: »

That's a great one. I have to agree with Jor El. Unless German law is different, if they never took the cash, there was no contract so tell them to take a hike.

A contract exists when an agreement is made. The fact that OP attempted to use a method of payment that the airline does not accept does not change that fact.

ejmaztec

Those Visa Electron cards seem to be a grey area. I always thought that they were all debit cards, but apparently, depending on the bank linked to them, they can also be credit cards. Perhaps that's the problem with their acceptance.

From the website FAQs
http://www.airberlin.com/site/faq.php?LANG=eng&et_cid=128&et_lid=183&et_sub=eng_header_faq

By credit card: AirPlus Karte, American Express, Diners, MasterCard and Visa (we do not accept Visa Electron). The AirPlus Card may only be used for online payments.

Thoie

I don't know any airline that issues online tickets without having taken payment.

Did you get an actual ticket number (as opposed to a booking reference number)?

I'd ask AirBerlin to prove that they issued the ticket and sent the details to you.

daheff

i would think that the fact they refused to take your visa electron card as payment would mean that no contract was entered into. dont pay them a penny

Zab

You're saying that they "cancelled the flight". Did the email they sent you actually say they cancelled the booking?