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JULIA SOMERVILLE: We asked you who's left you feeling ripped off | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
when it comes to your holidays, | 0:00:04 | 0:00:05 | |
and you came back with a catalogue of travel disasters. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
I thought it was a joke, I really did. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
You know, I started laughing. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:12 | |
I said, you cannot be serious. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:14 | |
They were saying it was not their fault. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
It was unbelievable. I can't even explain. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
-ANGELA RIPPON: -So whether it's a deliberate rip-off, | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
a simple mistake, or a catch in the small print, | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
we'll find out why you're out of pocket, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
and what you can do about it. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:30 | |
-GLORIA HUNNIFORD: -Your stories, your money, | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
this is Rip-off Britain. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
Hello, and welcome to a particularly jet-set edition of Rip-off Britain. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
Not just because we've come all the way to sunny Tenerife | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
to investigate your stories, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:45 | |
but because today we are focusing on | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
the problems many of you have had with airlines. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
And our investigations have revealed some surprising secrets | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
about the way they do business. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:54 | |
We're also going to be finding out the answers to questions | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
that anyone booking a flight has probably wondered about | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
at some stage or another. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:02 | |
Such as, when is the right time to bag the best fare? | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
Is it by booking early or last-minute? | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
And should we really be swayed | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
by what looks like to be the cheapest deal in the first place? | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
That's the dilemma. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:14 | |
Well, on top of uncovering some surprising new facts, | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
we'll also be resolving some real old chestnuts. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
So, as we prepare for takeoff, | 0:01:20 | 0:01:21 | |
fasten your seat belts and stand by for some especially useful advice, | 0:01:21 | 0:01:25 | |
because, after all, spending time with us | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
could mean that you end up spending less on a flight | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
that just wasn't what you'd hoped for. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
Coming up, after one takeoff was held up for 40 hours, | 0:01:33 | 0:01:38 | |
will you get a bigger delay if you choose a smaller airline? | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
It was so deflating | 0:01:41 | 0:01:43 | |
to know that we'd lost so much time off the holiday. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
We just thought, "Is there any point in bothering?" | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
And how you could end up with fewer rights, | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
not to mention hundreds of pounds out of pocket, | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
if your flight turns out not to be with the airline | 0:01:55 | 0:01:57 | |
you thought it was. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
We had to pay for our own hotel, | 0:01:59 | 0:02:01 | |
the food in the hotel. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
Just more expense on top of the holiday - | 0:02:03 | 0:02:05 | |
more expense we didn't expect to pay, | 0:02:05 | 0:02:07 | |
and I would expect the airline who made us late to pay for that. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:11 | |
Now, let's face it, long gone are the days | 0:02:14 | 0:02:17 | |
when it was just the big names that ruled the airways. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
The skies are now crowded with dozens of other airlines, as well. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:23 | |
Some of the names you might recognise, others, perhaps not, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
but while all of that extra choice can be a good thing for our pockets | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
in terms of driving down prices, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
can those smaller companies really compete | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
when it comes to service, and, of course, reliability? | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
Well, some of those new kids flying over the block will say | 0:02:37 | 0:02:40 | |
yes, they definitely can, | 0:02:40 | 0:02:41 | |
but you have been telling us quite a different story. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
So, we set out to investigate | 0:02:44 | 0:02:45 | |
if choosing a smaller airline could mean | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
that you're laying yourselves wide-open to much bigger problems. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:52 | |
And more than 100 passengers are unwittingly became headline news. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
Now, they should be relaxing on a beach in Corfu by now, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
but a plane-load of passengers is still waiting at Manchester Airport. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:09 | |
Due to technical problems, their flight to Corfu was grounded, | 0:03:09 | 0:03:13 | |
so the passengers had to sit and wait, and wait. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:17 | |
We've been at the airport since 9am Monday morning. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:21 | |
No water, no drinks being brought down. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
At 39 hours, it was to become one of the worst delays | 0:03:25 | 0:03:29 | |
in the British civil aviation history. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
We just had a lot of misinformation, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
and people feel they've been lied to | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
by the holiday company and the airline. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:39 | |
Now, could it be that choosing to fly on a small airline | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
was at the heart of the problem? | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
Andrew Stafford from Stalybridge, in Greater Manchester, | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
was in the thick of it, | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
travelling with his son and friends and family. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
We noticed the flight had been delayed by an hour, | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
but as the next hour passed, it went back an hour, | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
and then, obviously, as the day went on, it got worse and worse. | 0:03:56 | 0:04:01 | |
Andrew and his fellow passengers | 0:04:01 | 0:04:02 | |
were flying with a company that, chances are, you've never heard of - | 0:04:02 | 0:04:05 | |
Small Planet Airlines, | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
which has a fleet of 21 planes across Europe. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:11 | |
With its main office being in Lithuania, | 0:04:11 | 0:04:13 | |
Small Planet makes a big noise about its punctuality. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:17 | |
We are not some average company, | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
so we experience far fewer long delays than average. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:24 | |
Unfortunately, on this occasion, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:26 | |
the plane had a fault and just couldn't take off. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
The 144 passengers were going nowhere | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
and were taken to a local hotel. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:34 | |
These aren't the type of holiday photographs we paid for. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:40 | |
Having already lost a day of their holiday, the next morning | 0:04:40 | 0:04:43 | |
the passengers were all shipped back to Manchester Airport | 0:04:43 | 0:04:46 | |
only to discover that their plane still wasn't fixed. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
Small Planet Airlines contacted very frustrated customers | 0:04:49 | 0:04:53 | |
via its Facebook page. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
"Dear passengers, we sincerely apologise | 0:04:56 | 0:04:58 | |
"for the inconveniences and stress | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
"the current flight delays have caused you. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
"We have never had such a difficult situation before." | 0:05:03 | 0:05:06 | |
With only a relatively small fleet, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
Small Planet wasn't able to schedule a replacement flight. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:13 | |
And as the day went on, | 0:05:13 | 0:05:14 | |
with no idea of when the broken plane could be fixed, | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
the exhausted passengers started to lose hope | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
that they'd ever get to Corfu. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:22 | |
At this point, some people were actually going home. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
We were only going for a week, | 0:05:27 | 0:05:28 | |
we didn't know whether we were going to go that day, the next day, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
or if we were going to be there for three or four days at this point. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
It was really an anxious time for everyone. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
Like Andrew, fellow passenger Tim Hewitt | 0:05:38 | 0:05:41 | |
also started to take snaps of the whole saga. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:43 | |
This was the departure board in Manchester Airport. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:49 | |
Obviously with the delayed flight, | 0:05:49 | 0:05:50 | |
telling us that it's next information at six o'clock. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
People hanging around in the airport, | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
I think we were starting to lose the plot a little bit, | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
because we found this one quite funny, | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
it's the advertise that Manchester Airport, | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
"Your holiday starts here." | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
I get the point. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:08 | |
And at the end of day two, | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
the passengers were once again taken to a hotel. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
It was so deflating | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
to know that we'd lost so much time off the holiday. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
We just thought, "Is there really any point in bothering?" | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
Tim was travelling with his fiancee, Holly, | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
they'd paid nearly £2,500 for this trip | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
in order to plan their wedding. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:30 | |
We had meetings booked with wedding planners, florists, bakers. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:36 | |
We had quite a tight schedule | 0:06:36 | 0:06:38 | |
where we were going to try and fit everything in. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
But by the early hours of next morning, | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
a replacement plane had been sent from Poland, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
and Tim and the others were at last allowed to board. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
But due to a further delay, | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
they had to sit on the tarmac for a couple of hours. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
But in the end, what's two hours | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
when you've already been waiting for 37? | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
The moment that those wheels left the tarmac at Manchester Airport | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
there was cheering, there was clapping, | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
and it was a really nice atmosphere amongst the plane. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:10 | |
OK, three days late, mind, but we were actually on our way. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:14 | |
Now, airlines of any size can, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
of course, experience technical problems, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
but a situation like this exposes a particular issue | 0:07:20 | 0:07:24 | |
when that happens with smaller ones. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
Sure, these carriers have often wonderfully cheap fares, | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
and they may fly to places that the bigger airlines don't, | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
but if there is a delay, it could be more significant | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
because an operation that's leaner all around | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
is unlikely to have the ability to deal with the resulting logistics. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:42 | |
If you don't have very many planes | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
and something goes wrong with one of them, | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
you are immediately in some serious trouble | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
because your whole fleet planning is based on the fact that | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
the aircraft on the ground in Malaga is expected to be in Manchester, | 0:07:55 | 0:08:00 | |
and from there it's going to fly to Faro in Portugal, | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
and there's people waiting there to fly back to Gatwick. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
So it's this huge jigsaw puzzle | 0:08:07 | 0:08:10 | |
that you need to have plenty of resources for. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
If you don't, or if you simply decide | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
"We're going to sweat our assets as much as we possibly can," | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
then that can expose some very serious problems. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
To see just how serious those problems might be, | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
we took a closer look at flight delays | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
on all routes flying in and out of the UK. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
We wanted to know if delays tended to be longer | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
on routes operated by smaller airlines. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
And to find out, | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
we looked at the data from the Civil Aviation Authority. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
Now, of the 5,055 routes in and out of UK airports in 2015, | 0:08:45 | 0:08:50 | |
only 1,153 were operated by smaller airlines. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:55 | |
But perhaps surprisingly, | 0:08:55 | 0:08:57 | |
given the very small share of the market that these airlines hold, | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
when it came to keeping you waiting on the tarmac for longer, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
they played a much larger part. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:06 | |
In fact, of the 50 routes that had the longest average delay, | 0:09:06 | 0:09:10 | |
more than half of those were run by smaller airlines. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:14 | |
Now, that doesn't mean that if you fly with a smaller airline | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
that you're more likely to be delayed, | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
but it does suggest that if and when a delay happens, | 0:09:19 | 0:09:22 | |
it is likely to be longer. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:24 | |
And one name that just kept cropping up | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
on routes that had experienced the longest delays was... | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
You guessed it - Small Planet, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
an airline that's very familiar to this legal firm | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
in Wilmslow, Cheshire. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:35 | |
Hello, Bott and Co. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:36 | |
You're through to Candace and the flight delay team. How may help you? | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
If your flight is delayed over five hours, | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
then you are entitled to compensation. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
And litigation executive Kevin Clarke says | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
the number of claims for delays on all smaller airlines has shot up. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:51 | |
2016 has been a bad year for some of the smaller airlines. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:55 | |
Airlines that, this time last year, we were seeing | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
claims for, maybe, a couple of hundred passengers a month. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:00 | |
We've seen a 500% increase with those airlines. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
And Kevin says that especially applies to Small Planet. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
It's been a particularly bad summer for Small Planet. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
They like to have the aircraft in the sky as much as possible, | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
and they don't have the capacity to deal with these issues. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:17 | |
So what you will find is that the knock on effect | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
of a seemingly routine incident can run through days and weeks. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
And there's been a number of lengthy delays, | 0:10:23 | 0:10:25 | |
particularly at Manchester, | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
in excess of 20 hours, | 0:10:27 | 0:10:29 | |
culminating in this monster delay. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
That particularly bad delay | 0:10:31 | 0:10:34 | |
is a flight that the team here has taken a very close interesting. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
I've personally corresponded with all 144 passengers | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
and asked them to tell me their experiences. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
We've had people who are going for business, | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
we've had people who were going to plan weddings, | 0:10:46 | 0:10:48 | |
we've had people who were going to scatter ashes of their loved ones, | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
we've had people who've lost car hire bookings. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:55 | |
We'll work out exactly how much they are entitled to, | 0:10:55 | 0:10:57 | |
but I wouldn't be at all surprised | 0:10:57 | 0:10:59 | |
if the total sum exceeds six figures. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
But as Small Planet airlines doesn't have offices in the UK, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
getting it to actually pay that money out may not be plain sailing. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
Last year, Kevin had to go to court | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
to demand that the airline pay a huge compensation bill | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
for delayed flights, | 0:11:14 | 0:11:16 | |
which involved bailiffs seizing one of their aircraft. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
So with the court order, | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
the High Court enforcement officer attended the airport, | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
walked onto the runway, | 0:11:24 | 0:11:26 | |
and took ownership of the aircraft as it landed. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
At that point, the airline owed | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
somewhere in the region of about £16,000 in court orders. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
And they were told that the aeroplane would remain there | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
until such time as it was paid. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
That is an extreme example, | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
but those are the lengths we have to go to. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:43 | |
I must say, I haven't heard of that before. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:46 | |
But when we contacted Small Planet Airlines, | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
it told us that the delay on the Manchester to Corfu flight was, | 0:11:48 | 0:11:52 | |
"One of the most difficult technical situations that it's experienced, | 0:11:52 | 0:11:56 | |
"with the plane's crucial hydraulic system needing immediate repair." | 0:11:56 | 0:12:00 | |
Engineers made every effort to fix it as quickly as possible, | 0:12:00 | 0:12:03 | |
while the company attempted to source a replacement aircraft. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:07 | |
It reiterated that, in the meantime, | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
it did take care of affected passengers, | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
including organising hotels and meals. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
The airline went on to say | 0:12:14 | 0:12:15 | |
that "while its services may sometimes be delayed, | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
"it has never cancelled even a single flight, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
"and always carries out its responsibilities | 0:12:21 | 0:12:23 | |
"in accordance with UK law." | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
It acknowledges it's difficult to put a price on | 0:12:25 | 0:12:28 | |
the "stress and frustration" caused by a long delay, | 0:12:28 | 0:12:31 | |
but says it's always willing to cover negative experiences | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
to some degree. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:35 | |
As for other recent delays, | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
it says that late delivery of aircraft | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
and the knock-on effect on training | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
are amongst factors that have caused problems in summer 2016. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:45 | |
But it says for future summers, | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
among other considerable improvements, | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
it will have "two stand-by aircraft with dedicated crews | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
"to cover delayed flights." | 0:12:53 | 0:12:55 | |
Even so, after experiencing such a long, long delay, | 0:12:55 | 0:12:59 | |
Andrew says he is more likely to fly with a bigger name | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
when he next goes away. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:04 | |
I'll certainly have a look | 0:13:04 | 0:13:06 | |
at which airline's are servicing that holiday, | 0:13:06 | 0:13:09 | |
and we'll probably make a decision based on that airline. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:11 | |
We'll probably move away from the smaller airlines | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
and stay with the bigger ones now. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:16 | |
And Tim feels exactly the same way. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
After all, the next time he goes to Corfu, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
it will be for his wedding, | 0:13:22 | 0:13:23 | |
and that's one flight he cannot afford to be late. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
Come April when we fly out for our wedding in Corfu, | 0:13:26 | 0:13:32 | |
we will certainly be using a large airline | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
and not a smaller one. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:37 | |
We feel at least then we have a fighting chance | 0:13:37 | 0:13:42 | |
of actually getting to our wedding on time! | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
Booking a cheap flight has never been easier. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:53 | |
Instant access to the internet means that, frankly, any of us can | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
straightaway compare prices right across the entire market. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
But while, understandably, it is the fare that most of us focus on, | 0:13:59 | 0:14:04 | |
there may be other details that you'll want to look for, as well, | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
particularly if it turns out that the airline with which you've booked | 0:14:07 | 0:14:12 | |
is not the actual one with which you're going to be flying. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
Now, that could make a difference in all sorts of smaller ways | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
from the legroom and seat pitch to whether or not you get a snack. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:22 | |
But more fundamentally, if something goes wrong, | 0:14:22 | 0:14:26 | |
then you may find that you simply have not got the rights | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
that you would have expected, | 0:14:29 | 0:14:30 | |
which could leave you hundreds of pounds out of pocket. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
Right, so where have we been? | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
Jeff and his wife, Karen, from Wakefield | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
have been taking their granddaughter Paige on holiday with them | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
since she was three years old. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:47 | |
-To Majorca. -Yeah. -Yeah. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:48 | |
Minorca. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
And after ticking off over a dozen destinations across Europe, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
the then 11-year-old Paige wanted to spread her wings | 0:14:54 | 0:14:57 | |
and go a little further for their 2015 holiday. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:02 | |
We'd taken Paige away, but never to America. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
This was the big thing. This was the thing she'd always spoke about. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
"Can we go to America? Can we go to Orlando?" | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
Jeff and Karen didn't take much persuading | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
and had soon booked a two-week trip to the Sunshine State. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
A few weeks before we went, everyone was really excited. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:22 | |
Paige was telling her football coach, | 0:15:22 | 0:15:24 | |
telling everybody at school. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:26 | |
The family flew with Virgin Atlantic, | 0:15:26 | 0:15:28 | |
and to make their trip even more memorable, Jeff paid a bit extra, | 0:15:28 | 0:15:32 | |
£25 each, | 0:15:32 | 0:15:33 | |
to make sure that their seats would be reserved | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
on the top deck of the plane. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:37 | |
The flight from Manchester to Orlando was brilliant. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:42 | |
I mean, on the top deck, we felt like royalty. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
Climbing up the steps, the three of us. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
And it was a fantastic flight. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:48 | |
It was what we expected from Virgin. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:52 | |
The family touched down in Orlando | 0:15:52 | 0:15:54 | |
and enjoyed the holiday that they'd always dreamed of. | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
Paige even managed to get her grandma, Karen, on the big rides. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
I liked seeing Grandma nearly have a heart attack on all the rides! | 0:16:00 | 0:16:05 | |
Every helter-skelter, | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
anything that were going, she was on it, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
and Grandma had to go on, too. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:11 | |
But all too quickly the holiday was over. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
And it was time for the family to head back home to Manchester. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:18 | |
Their return, unlike the outbound flight, wasn't direct. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:22 | |
Instead, it involved a connection in Atlanta, and the family noticed | 0:16:22 | 0:16:26 | |
that the internal leg of the journey wasn't with Virgin | 0:16:26 | 0:16:29 | |
but the American airline Delta. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
Virgin had said that it were their sister company in America. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
So, if it's their sister company in America, | 0:16:36 | 0:16:38 | |
we expect the same kind of service from Delta as from Virgin. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
Timings with the connection were tight, | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
but providing there were no hold-ups, | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
they would have just enough time | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
to make the onward flight to Manchester. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:49 | |
Mother Nature, however, had other ideas, | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
and as a hurricane swept into Orlando, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:54 | |
the family's flight was delayed. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:57 | |
We were really getting concerned, weren't we? | 0:16:57 | 0:16:59 | |
We knew we had an hour and a half to get our connection. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
When they finally touched down in Atlanta, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
there were only ten minutes to spare, | 0:17:05 | 0:17:07 | |
but the family hoped they might just make it. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:10 | |
We made good time on the flight, I think we saved half an hour, | 0:17:10 | 0:17:15 | |
and people were still saying, "If you rush, and you run, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:17 | |
"you can get that flight." | 0:17:17 | 0:17:19 | |
But Jeff, Karen and Paige weren't the only ones hurrying | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
to try and catch that Manchester flight. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
Everybody were up, out of their seats, ready for rushing. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
We went up to the guy that was telling people what to do | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
and he just said, "Don't ask me, just go to the gate. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
"If you've got the gate number, just go. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:35 | |
"Don't bother checking in, | 0:17:35 | 0:17:36 | |
"you've still a chance of catching that plane, it is there." | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
The family was moments away from reaching the gates, | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
and their plane was in sight. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:44 | |
As we got to the gate, we were told it had been closed, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:49 | |
we couldn't get on the plane. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:50 | |
We asked them why, we said, "The plane's still there." | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
They said, "International rules." Heart sank. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
So Jeff joined the queue of other disgruntled passengers | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
waiting for advice on what to do next. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:02 | |
After three hours, we eventually got to speak to a customer service rep. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
She tried to find us flights for that day, that night, | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
couldn't do it, couldn't do it for the next day. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
The best they could offer us was the Saturday, | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
which was in a couple of days' time. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
At that time, we started to panic, | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
not knowing if we'd get back on time for school or work. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
Jeff and Karen had no option but to accept the flight two days later, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:27 | |
which involved another connection, this time in New York. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
We just wanted to go home. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
Instead we had to go to a small motel, | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
we were just shattered, | 0:18:36 | 0:18:37 | |
in the same clothes we'd been in all day, | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
and I guessed we would be for the next two days. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
They weren't able to change their clothes | 0:18:42 | 0:18:44 | |
because their luggage was kept at the airport. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
Check-in staff told them it would be forwarded on | 0:18:47 | 0:18:49 | |
to their connecting flight, | 0:18:49 | 0:18:51 | |
whichever that turned out to be. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
But for Jeff, what was most concerning about all of this, | 0:18:53 | 0:18:57 | |
was that instead of a rep from Virgin Atlantic | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
dealing with his queries, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
it was Delta that he was now having to deal with. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
It turned out that was because | 0:19:04 | 0:19:05 | |
he'd booked what's known as a codeshare flight, | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
which means the journey he'd bought through one airline | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
was actually operated by another, in this case, Delta. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:15 | |
It wasn't something he'd really been aware of, | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
and he certainly hadn't realised | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
what significance it would come to have. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:21 | |
This is the Virgin Atlantic booking. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:25 | |
This shows that it's a VS number, | 0:19:25 | 0:19:27 | |
which is a Virgin code, | 0:19:27 | 0:19:29 | |
from Manchester to Orlando. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
Then coming back, Orlando to Atlanta, | 0:19:32 | 0:19:34 | |
and then Atlanta back to Manchester. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
These are all VS codes. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:39 | |
Even though that was a Delta airline that we ended up catching. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
When all goes well, | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
codeshare agreements can mean more choice for customers, | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
allowing airlines to coordinate luggage handling, for example, | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
leading to a smoother onward journey. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
But if anything goes wrong, | 0:19:54 | 0:19:56 | |
don't assume the airline with which you booked | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
has any obligation to sort it out. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
And the other company | 0:20:02 | 0:20:03 | |
may not have any responsibilities to do that either. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
In Jeff's case, the Delta representative told the family | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
that it wouldn't cover the extra costs | 0:20:09 | 0:20:11 | |
involved in staying those additional two days. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
Instead, all it offered was a discount voucher for a nearby hotel. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:18 | |
To be told that we'd have the pay for everything ourselves, | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
they wouldn't help us at all with nothing, | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
we were really frustrated. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:26 | |
The least we expected was to be put up in a hotel. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
The family spent an extra £340 over the two days | 0:20:30 | 0:20:34 | |
whilst they were waiting for their flight home. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:36 | |
We had to pay for our own hotel, the food in the hotel, | 0:20:36 | 0:20:40 | |
just more expense on top of the holiday, | 0:20:40 | 0:20:42 | |
more expense we didn't expect to pay, | 0:20:42 | 0:20:44 | |
and I would expect the airline who made us late to pay for that. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:49 | |
After arriving back two days later than planned, | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
Jeff put in a complaint to Virgin. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
I wrote to Virgin, I complained, | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
and asked them to do something about our delay. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
They wrote back to me, | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
and basically said I should get in touch with Delta. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:06 | |
At this, I was incredulous. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
I'd booked with Virgin, | 0:21:08 | 0:21:09 | |
and expected them to do something about it. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:13 | |
And when, as instructed, Jeff did get in touch with Delta, | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
the news was no better. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:18 | |
Delta told us at the time that they had no responsibility | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
as it was due to bad weather, | 0:21:23 | 0:21:24 | |
and they are not covered for bad weather. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
But in any case, as far as Jeff is concerned | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
it should be Virgin that's liable for all this, | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
because that's the company with whom he booked. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
We booked these flights through Virgin, | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
I really think they're responsible for this. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
At least they could have done, whether it's legal or morally, | 0:21:40 | 0:21:44 | |
they could have paid our expenses for the hotel, | 0:21:44 | 0:21:48 | |
the transport and the meals. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
But as our travel expert Simon Calder explains, | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
it's not that simple. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:54 | |
And the nationality of the airlines involved can have a major impact | 0:21:54 | 0:21:59 | |
on the treatment you receive. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:00 | |
Codesharing was invented to enable airlines to pretend | 0:22:00 | 0:22:05 | |
they flew to more places, more often than they actually do. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
And so therefore a typical airline will have relationships | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
with a number of other partners and apply its code to those flights. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:17 | |
A single flight can be pretending to be half a dozen different flights | 0:22:17 | 0:22:22 | |
on different airlines. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:24 | |
The worst case is when things go wrong with a flight, | 0:22:24 | 0:22:28 | |
and if you are on a codeshare flight with an airline from | 0:22:28 | 0:22:33 | |
outside the European Union, | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
then if you are flying from outside the European Union, | 0:22:36 | 0:22:41 | |
your rights are effectively wiped out. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
So, if Jeff's delay had been on the outward leg of the trip | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
on Virgin, based, at least for now, in the EU, | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
the airline would have been required by law to pay compensation. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:57 | |
But because it occurred on his flight with Delta, | 0:22:57 | 0:22:59 | |
based in the US, no such laws apply. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:02 | |
It's really frustrating that Virgin being an EU carrier, | 0:23:02 | 0:23:06 | |
if we'd have gone with another EU carrier, | 0:23:06 | 0:23:08 | |
we'd have got some compensation, | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
but with then passing it on to Delta, | 0:23:10 | 0:23:12 | |
which is an American airlines, | 0:23:12 | 0:23:14 | |
we're not getting any compensation at all, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
either from Delta or Virgin. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:19 | |
With Jeff frustrated at the response that he's had from both airlines, | 0:23:20 | 0:23:24 | |
we tried them again on his behalf. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:26 | |
But in a joint response, | 0:23:26 | 0:23:28 | |
while apologising to the family for the inconvenience | 0:23:28 | 0:23:31 | |
on their journey home, | 0:23:31 | 0:23:32 | |
the airlines stuck to what they'd previously said, | 0:23:32 | 0:23:35 | |
telling us that "with safety always the number one priority, | 0:23:35 | 0:23:40 | |
"if there's bad weather, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:41 | |
"such as hurricanes, snow or thunderstorms, | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
"flights may have to be delayed or cancelled. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
"And in such cases, airlines are not obliged to offer compensation." | 0:23:47 | 0:23:52 | |
They went on to say that | 0:23:52 | 0:23:53 | |
"alternative flight options were looked into, | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
"and hotel discount vouchers were issued for a local hotel." | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
The companies also pointed out that | 0:24:00 | 0:24:02 | |
because the customers didn't request their bags back in Atlanta, | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
they remained in the system, | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
and were placed on the customer's flight home. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
And they stressed that while a number of airlines | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
have codeshare agreements in place, | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
it's always made clear during the booking process | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
who the operating carrier is. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:20 | |
Oh, I'm useless at these. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
But after this experience, | 0:24:22 | 0:24:24 | |
Jeff is going to try and avoid codesharing flights in the future | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
by asking whoever he books with | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
exactly who will be operating his flight, | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
and therefore, who will be looking after him should things go wrong. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
I try and ensure I knew about the codeshare flight thing. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
Didn't mean anything to me at the time, | 0:24:39 | 0:24:41 | |
now I know exactly what it means, | 0:24:41 | 0:24:42 | |
I would definitely want to know if it was a codeshare, | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
and if there was any problems, would we get compensated? | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
Still to come on Rip-Off Britain, | 0:24:55 | 0:24:57 | |
are the airlines really snooping on your online searches | 0:24:57 | 0:25:00 | |
so they can hike up the fares? | 0:25:00 | 0:25:03 | |
There must be something that ties in, | 0:25:03 | 0:25:05 | |
-that you've looked for that flight before. -Yeah. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
So when you eventually do go in to book them... | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
-They hike it up. -..it becomes dearer. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:12 | |
Our travel expert Simon Calder has all the secrets | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
to save you money on your travels. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
He's full of tips on everything from how to avoid the crowds, | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
to the best way to steer clear of those tourist traps. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:27 | |
This time, seven-star hotels, | 0:25:27 | 0:25:29 | |
eight-lane highways and the world's tallest building. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
It could only be Dubai - | 0:25:33 | 0:25:34 | |
destination for more than a million Brits this year. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:37 | |
To me, it can feel like Las Vegas on sea. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
But unlike that desert city, | 0:25:43 | 0:25:45 | |
Dubai has a long and distinctive history. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:48 | |
And if you follow my advice, | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
I hope you'll agree it's a place with both spice and soul. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
Simon says that to make contact with the real exotic Middle East, | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
you need to leave the air-conditioned shopping malls | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
behind and head to the large waterway of Dubai Creek. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:05 | |
From there, you can get a shuttle back and forth to the souks | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
for about one dirham, the equivalent of around 20p. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:11 | |
The souks - big, chaotic markets - | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
are full of noise, colour and commerce, and very few fixed prices. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
When you're haggling, you'll never outsmart a merchant, | 0:26:21 | 0:26:25 | |
but don't feel pressurised to buy unless the price is right. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:29 | |
Keep smiling and don't hesitate to walk away. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:33 | |
The United Arab Emirates is a deeply Islamic nation, | 0:26:33 | 0:26:37 | |
and visiting the vast Jumeirah Mosque provides | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
a fascinating insight into the religion's philosophy and rituals. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
Tours take place every day at 10am except Fridays | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
and cost 20 dirham, around £4, | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
which includes water, dates, tea and pastries. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
Close to Dubai Creek, | 0:26:55 | 0:26:56 | |
you can escape from the heat and clamour of the city. | 0:26:56 | 0:27:00 | |
Simon recommends heading into the Al Fahidi historical neighbourhood, | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
filled with art galleries, cafes and hotels. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:06 | |
They don't have seven stars, | 0:27:06 | 0:27:08 | |
but they do boast plenty of character. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
And finally, as ever, Simon recommends local transport | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
to get the real feel for the old Dubai. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
You won't be in town for long before someone tries to sell you a tour | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
to the mountain fortress town of Hatta, | 0:27:21 | 0:27:23 | |
but just catch local bus number E16 instead and you'll save a fortune. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:28 | |
Now one of the complaints we hear time and again | 0:27:33 | 0:27:35 | |
involves the apparently sneaky way that airlines are said to keep tabs | 0:27:35 | 0:27:40 | |
on the visits you make to their websites | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
as you search for fares. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
The theory goes that if you're using the same computer or tablet | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
to check back to see if the price has changed, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:49 | |
the site will recognise it's you and bump up the cost | 0:27:49 | 0:27:53 | |
so you feel under pressure to book right away | 0:27:53 | 0:27:56 | |
in case the cost goes up even more. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
Now, it might sound like some far-fetched conspiracy theory, | 0:27:58 | 0:28:02 | |
but so many of you have now come to us with the same suspicion, | 0:28:02 | 0:28:05 | |
we were curious to find out whether this really is what's going on | 0:28:05 | 0:28:09 | |
or if it's just an urban myth. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:11 | |
So, we've done our own test to discover the truth once and for all. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:15 | |
For many of us, the days of walking into our local travel agent | 0:28:19 | 0:28:23 | |
to book a simple flight are a thing of the past. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:25 | |
More often than not, we just open up a laptop and do it ourselves online. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:30 | |
Like millions of us, frequent flyer Margaret Durnin from Glasgow | 0:28:32 | 0:28:36 | |
has become a dab hand at searching out the best bargains. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
I think because we fly quite often, I think I'm quite savvy | 0:28:39 | 0:28:43 | |
around how to book flights and how to get the best deals. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:48 | |
So, when Margaret received an invitation to her friend's wedding | 0:28:50 | 0:28:53 | |
on the Amalfi Coast in Italy, | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
she got straight on to her trusty laptop | 0:28:55 | 0:28:57 | |
to check out the flights. | 0:28:57 | 0:28:59 | |
We had looked to see who flew from Scotland directly to Naples, | 0:28:59 | 0:29:03 | |
and the only flight we could find was from Edinburgh direct to Naples. | 0:29:03 | 0:29:09 | |
But with the wedding still over a year away, | 0:29:09 | 0:29:12 | |
flights for the dates she needed hadn't yet been released, | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
so Margaret kept checking back on the airlines website | 0:29:15 | 0:29:18 | |
to see if they'd become available, | 0:29:18 | 0:29:19 | |
hoping that by booking as early as possible, | 0:29:19 | 0:29:22 | |
she'd get the lowest price. | 0:29:22 | 0:29:24 | |
On the morning that we found out they were released, | 0:29:24 | 0:29:26 | |
we were so excited | 0:29:26 | 0:29:28 | |
because we were desperate to go and enjoy the wedding, | 0:29:28 | 0:29:32 | |
and we knew that as soon as the flights were released that | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
that would be the cheapest time. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:37 | |
And we went on the laptops as quickly as we could. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:42 | |
Margaret selected return flights for herself and her husband. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:46 | |
Happy with the price, she proceeded with the booking. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:48 | |
But when she clicked onto the payment page | 0:29:48 | 0:29:51 | |
her bargain fare no longer seemed quite such a good deal. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:55 | |
I keyed in the card details and pressed send, | 0:29:55 | 0:30:00 | |
and at that point, a screen popped up to say, "Do you wish to continue? | 0:30:00 | 0:30:04 | |
"Just to advise you that the flight prices have changed." | 0:30:04 | 0:30:09 | |
And at that point, I noticed that the flight had gone up | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
in a total of £100. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:13 | |
In just the few minutes in which she'd been making the booking, | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
the two seats she'd chosen had each gone up by £50, | 0:30:18 | 0:30:22 | |
and Margaret wasn't impressed. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:23 | |
I was extremely angry. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:26 | |
I just couldn't believe that they could do that - | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
change it without giving you prior warning. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
Even if there was an indication beforehand, | 0:30:33 | 0:30:36 | |
before you put your bank details, | 0:30:36 | 0:30:37 | |
because to me that means they know you definitely want those... | 0:30:37 | 0:30:41 | |
You want that flight, so you're prepared to pay for | 0:30:41 | 0:30:44 | |
whatever price they put on that screen. | 0:30:44 | 0:30:47 | |
More than a little miffed that the price had changed mid-booking, | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
Margaret contacted the airline to ask them why. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:54 | |
She was told that only a limited number of seats had been available | 0:30:54 | 0:30:57 | |
at the original price, | 0:30:57 | 0:30:59 | |
and as prices aren't locked during payment, | 0:30:59 | 0:31:02 | |
on this occasion once those had run out, the cost went up. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:06 | |
But Margaret has her own theory as to what had gone on. | 0:31:06 | 0:31:08 | |
I think their website has some kind of knowledge, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:12 | |
that it knows that you've gone through this booking procedure, | 0:31:12 | 0:31:15 | |
and it knows that you are definitely wanting to buy this, | 0:31:15 | 0:31:20 | |
and you're not just browsing. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:22 | |
They definitely know that you want this flight, | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
and I feel that they just automatically increase the flight | 0:31:24 | 0:31:28 | |
behind the scenes. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:30 | |
And Margaret wasn't the only wedding guest to share those suspicions. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:34 | |
Her daughter, Lisa, and family friend, John, both also found | 0:31:34 | 0:31:38 | |
that during the course of booking their flights, | 0:31:38 | 0:31:39 | |
the seats increased in price. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:43 | |
There must be something that ties in, | 0:31:43 | 0:31:45 | |
that you've looked for that flight before. | 0:31:45 | 0:31:47 | |
-Yeah. -They must have some kind of system on their website, | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
so when you eventually do go in to book them... | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
-They hike it up. -..it becomes dearer. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:55 | |
For it to jump 50... | 0:31:55 | 0:31:56 | |
Well, in my case it was £60, for me and Kate, it was just... | 0:31:56 | 0:32:01 | |
-In a matter of a couple of minutes, is... -No. -It's ridiculous. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:04 | |
Aye, it's ridiculous. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:06 | |
Margaret, Lisa and John are all convinced | 0:32:06 | 0:32:08 | |
it's more than just coincidence that the flight prices went up | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
just before they were about to pay. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
They firmly believe that the airline had been monitoring | 0:32:14 | 0:32:16 | |
their previous interest in those flights, | 0:32:16 | 0:32:18 | |
so that knowing they were set on that particular journey, | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
it could bump up the price just as they were about to book. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:25 | |
And their suspicions are shared by plenty more of you, too. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:29 | |
Over the years, we've often heard from people claiming | 0:32:29 | 0:32:32 | |
that once you've done a number of searches | 0:32:32 | 0:32:34 | |
to keep tabs on a particular fare, | 0:32:34 | 0:32:36 | |
the airline will nudge up the price to subtly pressure you | 0:32:36 | 0:32:40 | |
into finally making the booking. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:41 | |
The concern is that your online activity is being somehow tracked | 0:32:41 | 0:32:46 | |
in order to squeeze more money out of you. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:48 | |
It's a theory we've now heard so many times | 0:32:50 | 0:32:53 | |
that we thought it was about time we put it to the test. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
So we set up an experiment, | 0:32:59 | 0:33:01 | |
monitoring the price of two specific return flights | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
with airlines we've heard this allegation levelled against | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
at regular intervals over the course of the month. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:10 | |
Crucially, each time we checked the prices, | 0:33:10 | 0:33:13 | |
we did so on two different computers. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:16 | |
One of them was wiped clean of all our browsing history, | 0:33:16 | 0:33:19 | |
searches and stored information before we looked at the fares, | 0:33:19 | 0:33:22 | |
so in effect, each time we checked, we were starting afresh. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:26 | |
But on the other computer, | 0:33:26 | 0:33:28 | |
we didn't get rid of any of our previous search details, | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
so all our online activity | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
and the digital footprint we'd left behind remained. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
The theory goes that if airlines really are watching | 0:33:37 | 0:33:40 | |
your movements online, | 0:33:40 | 0:33:41 | |
tracking your behaviour so they can sneak up prices accordingly, | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
then this second computer would carry all the information | 0:33:45 | 0:33:48 | |
they'd need to help them do it. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
However, our results suggest | 0:33:50 | 0:33:52 | |
we can knock this particular conspiracy theory on the head | 0:33:52 | 0:33:55 | |
once and for all. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:57 | |
We found that though prices did fluctuate, | 0:33:57 | 0:33:59 | |
they did so entirely consistently across both computers. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:03 | |
We were quoted the same fares on each device, | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
and it made not a jot of difference | 0:34:06 | 0:34:07 | |
whether the airline could tell from our browsing history | 0:34:07 | 0:34:11 | |
that we'd made the same search before. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:13 | |
And though just a small snapshot of what may or may not be going on | 0:34:13 | 0:34:17 | |
across the wider industry, | 0:34:17 | 0:34:18 | |
our findings certainly ring true with pricing expert Oliver Ranson, | 0:34:18 | 0:34:22 | |
who's worked with some of the world's leading airlines | 0:34:22 | 0:34:25 | |
as a revenue specialist. | 0:34:25 | 0:34:26 | |
It's a bit of an urban myth that airlines put up the prices of seats | 0:34:26 | 0:34:29 | |
just because you've looked at one before. | 0:34:29 | 0:34:31 | |
It doesn't make good business sense to put up prices | 0:34:31 | 0:34:34 | |
when passengers come to your website for the second time. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:37 | |
If you do that, you'll make them angry, | 0:34:37 | 0:34:39 | |
you'll make them upset, and people will fly with your competitor. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:42 | |
Interestingly though, | 0:34:44 | 0:34:45 | |
while Oliver says it just isn't in the airlines' interest | 0:34:45 | 0:34:47 | |
to behave in this way, | 0:34:47 | 0:34:49 | |
it is entirely possible for them to do it. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:51 | |
The technology to watch passengers' online activity exists. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
There are rumours that some airlines in the UK | 0:34:55 | 0:34:58 | |
have trialled this unsuccessfully. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:00 | |
So, Oliver has a much simpler explanation | 0:35:00 | 0:35:03 | |
as to why Margaret's fare went up | 0:35:03 | 0:35:06 | |
within moments of starting to book it. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:08 | |
I think Margaret's been a bit unlucky. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:11 | |
Airlines only have a limited number of seats to sell at the lower fares, | 0:35:11 | 0:35:14 | |
and on the busier flights, sometimes they close out those fares entirely. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
It's all worked on the basis of something called demand to come. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:21 | |
If the airline's expecting a lot of passengers to buy, | 0:35:21 | 0:35:23 | |
the price is probably going to be a bit higher. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:26 | |
Margaret could even have been competing against | 0:35:26 | 0:35:28 | |
her own friends and family going to the same wedding, | 0:35:28 | 0:35:30 | |
who might have been able to snap up the seats | 0:35:30 | 0:35:32 | |
just in the minute or two before | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
she had the chance to press the buy button. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:37 | |
Well, Oliver might be confident that we're not being watched | 0:35:37 | 0:35:40 | |
in the way that was feared... | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
..but he soon found some of you who aren't convinced. | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
Do you think that airlines monitor your buying behaviour online | 0:35:48 | 0:35:51 | |
and increase the prices when you come back the second time? | 0:35:51 | 0:35:53 | |
Yeah, 100%. I've noticed that so many times happening to me. | 0:35:53 | 0:35:56 | |
Oh, yes, I'm sure that's the case. | 0:35:56 | 0:35:58 | |
I've sometimes been back and had another look at the price, | 0:35:58 | 0:36:01 | |
only a few minutes later, and it can be several pounds more. | 0:36:01 | 0:36:06 | |
When you go back and look at the flights | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
for the second or third time, | 0:36:08 | 0:36:09 | |
do you think that the airline increases the price? | 0:36:09 | 0:36:11 | |
Yeah, I've heard something about that. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
That you're meant to browse privately or something, | 0:36:14 | 0:36:16 | |
so that they don't know that you're shopping around. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:19 | |
But suspicions of Big Brother type observations aside, | 0:36:21 | 0:36:25 | |
all any of us wants is to get the very best deal. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:27 | |
So, come on, Oliver, you're the expert - | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
how do we beat the system and get the best bargains? | 0:36:30 | 0:36:33 | |
Would you stay up a little bit late at night | 0:36:33 | 0:36:35 | |
to save a couple of hundred pounds on your airfare? | 0:36:35 | 0:36:37 | |
-He would. -I would. -THEY LAUGH | 0:36:37 | 0:36:39 | |
Airlines often release their cheapest seats late at night. | 0:36:39 | 0:36:42 | |
12 o'clock midnight, or one o'clock in the morning. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:44 | |
If you stay up to catch this, | 0:36:44 | 0:36:45 | |
then you'll be buying the cheapest seats on the flight. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
OK, that means I'm going to have a late night. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
If you... | 0:36:49 | 0:36:51 | |
..they'll be able to get the special offer straight to you. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:53 | |
That's very interesting. I shall try that next time. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
Don't always book a year ahead travel, | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
wait and see if the airline has a sale. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
And Oliver's final tip to get the very best deal, | 0:37:01 | 0:37:04 | |
regardless of whether or not the airlines are watching you, | 0:37:04 | 0:37:07 | |
make sure you're always keeping a close eye on them. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:11 | |
Spend just five minutes a week looking at their website | 0:37:11 | 0:37:14 | |
and seeing when they have their sales, | 0:37:14 | 0:37:16 | |
recording it in a document on your computer. | 0:37:16 | 0:37:18 | |
You'll then be able to know in the future | 0:37:18 | 0:37:20 | |
whether or not you're getting good value for money | 0:37:20 | 0:37:22 | |
on flights that you're buying. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:23 | |
And for just five minutes a week of effort, | 0:37:23 | 0:37:26 | |
you can potentially save £1,000 a year for the rest of your life. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:28 | |
Meanwhile, back in Glasgow, | 0:37:30 | 0:37:31 | |
even if they're not being watched, | 0:37:31 | 0:37:33 | |
Margaret, Lisa and John still don't think a price should change | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
once you've clicked to buy it. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:38 | |
It's definitely made me, like, more wary | 0:37:39 | 0:37:41 | |
about booking things like plane tickets and trains. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:45 | |
Why and how do they put up the prices? | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
It's not transparent. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:49 | |
The price that you start with doesn't finish. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:53 | |
It's just not right. | 0:37:53 | 0:37:54 | |
Once again, we took Rip-Off Britain on the road, | 0:38:03 | 0:38:06 | |
setting up our pop-up advice clinic | 0:38:06 | 0:38:08 | |
in one of the UK's biggest shopping centres, | 0:38:08 | 0:38:11 | |
the Trafford Centre in Manchester. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:13 | |
It's a great way to meet as many of you as we can, | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
and give on the spot advice on all your consumer troubles. | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
We've been watching you for many, many years! | 0:38:20 | 0:38:23 | |
-Oh, that's kind of you to say so. -And you look amazing! -Thank you! | 0:38:23 | 0:38:25 | |
Holiday questions have been top of the agenda here at our pop-up shop, | 0:38:28 | 0:38:32 | |
and so many people have been coming to see our lovely travel expert, | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
Simon Calder. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:38 | |
Yours is the kind of story | 0:38:38 | 0:38:39 | |
that I know Simon likes to get his teeth into. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
In January 2015, | 0:38:42 | 0:38:44 | |
Christine and John Davies from Crewe booked a big trip to Turkey | 0:38:44 | 0:38:48 | |
with 11 members of their family. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:50 | |
But after paying a deposit of £2,200, | 0:38:50 | 0:38:53 | |
some unexpected news meant they'd no choice but to cancel. | 0:38:53 | 0:38:56 | |
How come you didn't go, what happened? | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
Unfortunately, in the March, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:04 | |
I had to have surgery, | 0:39:05 | 0:39:07 | |
followed by chemotherapy, | 0:39:07 | 0:39:09 | |
followed by radiotherapy. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
Christine was too poorly to go on holiday, | 0:39:12 | 0:39:14 | |
and even though the travel firm had offered to delay the trip | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
by six months, | 0:39:17 | 0:39:18 | |
Christine didn't think she would be well enough by that time, either, | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
so they cancelled the whole thing. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:24 | |
But Christine's travel insurance company made clear | 0:39:24 | 0:39:26 | |
they wouldn't be getting back all of the deposit. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:30 | |
-What happened? -Well, they e-mailed and said, | 0:39:30 | 0:39:32 | |
the only people that were covered was myself and my husband. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:36 | |
-Not all 11 of you? -Not all 11 of us. | 0:39:36 | 0:39:38 | |
They said that the others would have to claim under their insurance, | 0:39:38 | 0:39:43 | |
on their travel insurance. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
-Oh... -Had they booked travel insurance? | 0:39:45 | 0:39:47 | |
One had, one hadn't. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:48 | |
But the one that had, they wouldn't pay him out | 0:39:48 | 0:39:51 | |
because he hadn't paid the holiday. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:54 | |
Plus, they said there was no reason why he couldn't go | 0:39:54 | 0:39:58 | |
on the holiday, anyway. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:00 | |
So how much did you finally get back? | 0:40:00 | 0:40:02 | |
We got back £295. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:04 | |
-Instead of 2,200? -Yes. | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
-Ooh. -That sounds like a really bum deal, Simon. -Right. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:09 | |
Well, especially since there you were, | 0:40:09 | 0:40:12 | |
going through this awful treatment with all the health worries, | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
you know, really alarming time for the whole family, | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
and suddenly, you're told, "Oh, by the way, | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
"we're hanging onto your money | 0:40:20 | 0:40:22 | |
"and you can't claim it back on insurance." | 0:40:22 | 0:40:24 | |
Had you asked me before you made that booking, | 0:40:24 | 0:40:27 | |
I would have told you two things. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:29 | |
First of all, if you're going to buy a £12,000 holiday | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
and put down, what, a £2,000 deposit, | 0:40:32 | 0:40:35 | |
then take out travel insurance for the whole thing at the same time. | 0:40:35 | 0:40:40 | |
As we've said before, | 0:40:40 | 0:40:41 | |
taking out travel insurance | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
to cover you from the point of booking your holiday, | 0:40:43 | 0:40:45 | |
and not just for the period while you're way, | 0:40:45 | 0:40:48 | |
means that in the event you have to cancel, | 0:40:48 | 0:40:50 | |
you won't lose any money you've already paid. | 0:40:50 | 0:40:53 | |
And Simon has another tip for avoiding losing out | 0:40:53 | 0:40:56 | |
should you need to change your travel plans.' | 0:40:56 | 0:40:58 | |
To avoid all of that pain, | 0:41:00 | 0:41:01 | |
I would have said, "When are you going? | 0:41:01 | 0:41:03 | |
"September? Don't even think about booking it yet." | 0:41:03 | 0:41:07 | |
I would've said, "Maybe have a look in June, July." | 0:41:07 | 0:41:10 | |
You'll still be able to get a great place to go on holiday, | 0:41:10 | 0:41:13 | |
you just won't have that risk exposure, | 0:41:13 | 0:41:15 | |
for so much money over such a long time. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:18 | |
Well, I'm pleased to say that Christine is making a full recovery. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:22 | |
But instead of rebooking the same holiday, the couple decided | 0:41:22 | 0:41:25 | |
to take their four grandchildren to Cyprus instead. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:28 | |
And there's one more bit of advice | 0:41:28 | 0:41:30 | |
that's key to protecting themselves in the future. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
Pay part of your deposit with a credit card, | 0:41:33 | 0:41:36 | |
even if it's only £1 or a fiver. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
The fact that you've paid £1 or £5 on your credit card | 0:41:38 | 0:41:41 | |
means that the whole sum is covered. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
-Are you doing my job for me? -No, I'm not! | 0:41:44 | 0:41:46 | |
It's what I've learnt by listening to you, Simon! | 0:41:46 | 0:41:49 | |
I'm just sorry, | 0:41:49 | 0:41:50 | |
and I do hope you get to have a holiday with the family. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:53 | |
But get in touch, tell me when you're travelling, | 0:41:53 | 0:41:55 | |
and I will tell you the best time to book. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:57 | |
You couldn't ask better. | 0:41:57 | 0:41:58 | |
Don't go to your travel agent, go to Simon Calder. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
He'll sort it out, then you write the cheque or pay. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:04 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:42:04 | 0:42:06 | |
If you've got a story you'd like us to investigate, | 0:42:10 | 0:42:13 | |
you can join in the conversation on our Facebook page, | 0:42:13 | 0:42:16 | |
just look for BBC Rip Off Britain. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:18 | |
Or you can log onto our website, bbc.co.uk/ripoffbritain. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:23 | |
If you'd like to send us an e-mail, then our address is... | 0:42:23 | 0:42:25 | |
Or if you want to send us a letter, then our new address is... | 0:42:28 | 0:42:32 | |
Well, I'm afraid we've reached the end of the journey for today, | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
but on the way, with any luck, | 0:42:46 | 0:42:47 | |
you've learned a few tricks of the airline trade | 0:42:47 | 0:42:49 | |
that even if they don't save you any money, | 0:42:49 | 0:42:52 | |
could well save you a bit of time the next time you go abroad. | 0:42:52 | 0:42:55 | |
I was particularly interested in hearing how airline pricing works. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
And while we might think that there's | 0:42:59 | 0:43:00 | |
a touch of the dark arts about it, | 0:43:00 | 0:43:02 | |
in fact, it seems that the secret really is | 0:43:02 | 0:43:05 | |
just to use your common sense! | 0:43:05 | 0:43:06 | |
And if you can, keep an eye on the ups and downs in pricing | 0:43:06 | 0:43:10 | |
over the months before you book. | 0:43:10 | 0:43:12 | |
And that way, you will get | 0:43:12 | 0:43:14 | |
a sense of what is likely to be the lowest price. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:16 | |
Well, with the huge number of airlines we have these days, | 0:43:16 | 0:43:19 | |
it's very hard to believe that once there were so very few of them. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:23 | |
But while things may have seemed a lot simpler back then, | 0:43:23 | 0:43:26 | |
it was also a lot more expensive to fly. | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
So in the end, all of that choice is really good for consumers. | 0:43:29 | 0:43:32 | |
But at that point, that's where we have to leave it for today. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:35 | |
Hope you've enjoyed the programme. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:36 | |
And we'll be back with more of your stories very soon. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
So until then, from all of us, happy landings and bye-bye. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
-Goodbye. -Goodbye. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:44 |