No Plane, No Gain but Plenty of Losses

★★★☆☆
2.5
41.0% of users recommend this

backiej57's review of Bravofly

“No Plane, No Gain but Plenty of Losses”

★☆☆☆☆

written by backiej57 on 02/02/2016

Bravofly, Last Minute.com or whatever they call themselves, stink.
This is my story and some ideas you can try if you have suffered too.
Last February (2015) I booked a flight for myself and OH to go to Tenerife South from Gatwick. Unfortunately, we had to return from Tenerife North to take advantage of Bravofly's 'cheap' offer.
Our holiday started with a flight to Tenerife on 19th December 2015 and it was fine until we tried to come home. First we took a taxi from South to North for our early morning flight. However, when we got there we couldn't see our flight listed. This, we learned, was because it had been cancelled 3 months beforehand.
Bravofly didn't tell us.
So there we were with 48 hours until the next flight and no help whatever from Iberia. Stressed as we were we had to find a hotel that we could afford at the last minute; it wasn't easy or cheap in the capital of Santa Cruz.
When we returned home we asked Bravofly for our money to be refunded. They said it was the responsibility of the airline (Iberia) and refused to talk to us. They actually put the phone down on us on two consecutive days as soon as I said my booking reference.
So I thought I'd make a claim in the small claims court. I couldn't. Bravofly.co.uk's head office is in Switzerland which is outside the EU for legal purposes.
I phoned ABTA; Bravofly is not a member. I phoned ATOL re Iberia and ATOL told me that the fault lay with Bravofly.
So what could I do
Had I booked by credit card I would have had a redress against the card company but I booked by debit card so I have started a debit card dispute with my bank. After all I didn't get what I paid for.
Next I contacted the European Consumer Network who signposted me to the FCAB Switzerland. The FCAB said they knew of the company and were considering legal action but could not help me as an individual.
So as soon as I have heard from my bank re the dispute, I will be in touch with my insurance company.
What I do want to encourage is that people who are affected negatively by Bravofly or lastminute.com go directly to the FCAB via telephone or you can write to them at their postal address.or you can email them.I hope you will win out against these unfair practices. Good luck.

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