You may recall that my Birmingham to Dalaman fight was cancelled last month due to poor sales. I was sent a letter from them with the following options
1 cancel altogether and get a full refund plus £10 per person compensation
2 Fly from Manchester no charge and £10 compensation each
3 Fly from Gatwick no charge and £10 compensation each
We opted to fly from Gatwick and I have my tickets, however this has meant that I have to drive to Gatwick pay for parking which my compensation would have helped towards. (if I had flown from Birmingham Nick would have taken us and picked us up)
I was just getting things sorted for the trip when I realised I had not received any compensation. I called them this morning only to be told that I have to request the compensation. The letter that they sent me says "If this is acceptable to you I would be grateful if you would complete the attached form to show your choice and return it to me as soon as possible. We will then send you £10 per person compensation."
The woman i spoke to was adamant that i needed to request it so I asked if she would consider changing the letter that they send out which seems to indicate that this compensation is automatic. No she said there is nothing wrong with the letter.
So those of you who have taken an alternative flight with Aegean and are assuming that the compensation will make it's way back to you- it won't.
I am told that this is because of the data protection act - companies are not allowed to hold information about our payment cards - They will send me a form which I will complete and then return to them - they will pass it on to the finance department who will pay me. That may well be the case but they should have sent me the form.
Be Warned.
Top marks to Aegean for the great customer service (not) firstly cancelling my flight secondly telling me there was nothing wrong with my flight, then the next day telling me there was a problem with my flight after all, then not bothering to send me a refund and lastly telling me that there was nothing wrong with the letter.
