When an Aussie couple booked a dream holiday, including scoring business class flights for just $1,000 ($644 USD) each through a travel site owned by Qantas they were ecstatic – but things took an unexpected turn after they later learned an additional $5,000 ($3,200 USD) may very well be added to their bill.
Rod Gaynor had booked a vacation with travel website TripADeal, which included three nights in Fiji, an 18-day cruise through the islands right down to Sydney and business class flights back to their home town of Perth.
In total, the retirees paid $12,000 ($7,700 USD) for the trip, which included $2,000 ($1,300 USD) for the business class seats.
“I said to them: ‘That’s ridiculous, that’s dead low cost,” Gaynor recalled, but is now warning people to at all times read the tremendous print in terms of some of these deals.
When the couple’s flight details dropped two weeks after booking their August holiday, they were shocked to find that they had been dumped in economy class seats on the Qantas flight back to Perth.
“Naturally I contacted TripADeal and so they were unsympathetic and quoted from the T&C’s that they were capable of do that,” he told news.com.au.
Gaynor was told by TripADeal any upgrade purchases are subject to availability and aircraft configuration.
However the Perth man investigated the aircraft and discovered there have been 12 business seats available on that flight.
Still the 68-year-old said TripADeal wouldn’t put them in business class and initially flat out refused to even refund the fare difference.
He was then told by the corporate: “Because the business class upgrade for the Sydney to Perth flight was over the online pricing built into the deal, unfortunately this was an element of the explanation we weren’t capable of provide the upgrade for this flight”.
But when the retired schoolteacher identified the failure to supply a refund was “actually illegal” after in search of advice from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions, he said the corporate suddenly “backflipped”.
He was told he would receive a refund as a “gesture of goodwill”, despite the corporate stating it had honored two other flights in business class.
“TripADeal modified their tune and said we will provide you with a refund of $350 ($225 USD) each and we understand you’re upset,” he said.
“But they said your costs went above net pricing, it’s built into our deals and flight pricing might be quite volatile and is subject to what is obtainable on each airline.
“The corporate used net pricing as an excuse as an alternative of configuration once they got busted for that.”
While he has now received the $700 refund, Gaynor claims TripADeal never intended to honor the business class flight deal and believes he isn’t the one customer who has been caught out.
He said TripADeal offered the couple business class seats on the Qantas flight for an additional $2,377 ($1,500 USD) each or through Virgin for $1,266 ($815 USD) per person.
“That’s $500 ($321 USD) extra with Virgin in order that they already knew from the very starting that it might be economy on way back,” he claimed.
He said the deal from the beginning seemed “silly”.
“It’s not a lot the difference between economy and business class, it’s the thought they’re deliberately cheating, which upsets me,” he claimed.
“I can’t imagine how may times it’s happened and each time I’ve pushed them and shown my research and maths they backflip. I feel they assume you accept it.”
The offer to pay extra money for business class seats even made him “laugh”, he said.
“That’s just rubbish,” he said.
“TripADeal never ever had any intention to supply what they promised. It’s just like the old days when Qantas were selling seats on planes that were never going to take off and so they got busted as well.”
But after news.com.au contacted TripADeal, the couple were issued business class seats for the Perth flight.
A TripADeal spokesperson said the corporate sincerely apologises to Gaynor for what has been a frustrating situation.
“On account of a servicing error Mr Gaynor’s booking was not ticketed accurately. We’ve got since confirmed his seats in business class and can ensure the remaining of his experience with us is seamless,” they said.
But Gaynor said after TripADeal’s “blatant” disregard for patrons, he would never use a travel deal website again.
“I had to maintain pushing each time over every detail,” he added,
“At the top, I asked in the event that they can arrange seating so I can get extra legroom and so they said no you’ve to go to airline after which the airline said you’ve to get the travel agent to try this and we went back to them again. So its like extracting teeth, every little little bit of it, they make it harder.”
News.com.au understands TripADeal doesn’t offer seat selection and where possible a customer is inspired to administer their booking through the airline directly to pick out their seats.
Gaynor said he had made a grievance to the Airline Customer Advocate, a resolution service for patrons of major Australian airlines, and had left negative social media reviews after his “frustrating” experience.
Qantas acquired a majority stake of the Byron Bay born business TripADeal in 2022, enabling its Frequent Flyers to earn and use their Qantas Points, before snapping up the remaining of the business in the midst of 2024.
On the time it said it wanted continued exposure to the growing $13 billion ($8.3B USD) online holiday packages market.
When an Aussie couple booked a dream holiday, including scoring business class flights for just $1,000 ($644 USD) each through a travel site owned by Qantas they were ecstatic – but things took an unexpected turn after they later learned an additional $5,000 ($3,200 USD) may very well be added to their bill.
Rod Gaynor had booked a vacation with travel website TripADeal, which included three nights in Fiji, an 18-day cruise through the islands right down to Sydney and business class flights back to their home town of Perth.
In total, the retirees paid $12,000 ($7,700 USD) for the trip, which included $2,000 ($1,300 USD) for the business class seats.
“I said to them: ‘That’s ridiculous, that’s dead low cost,” Gaynor recalled, but is now warning people to at all times read the tremendous print in terms of some of these deals.
When the couple’s flight details dropped two weeks after booking their August holiday, they were shocked to find that they had been dumped in economy class seats on the Qantas flight back to Perth.
“Naturally I contacted TripADeal and so they were unsympathetic and quoted from the T&C’s that they were capable of do that,” he told news.com.au.
Gaynor was told by TripADeal any upgrade purchases are subject to availability and aircraft configuration.
However the Perth man investigated the aircraft and discovered there have been 12 business seats available on that flight.
Still the 68-year-old said TripADeal wouldn’t put them in business class and initially flat out refused to even refund the fare difference.
He was then told by the corporate: “Because the business class upgrade for the Sydney to Perth flight was over the online pricing built into the deal, unfortunately this was an element of the explanation we weren’t capable of provide the upgrade for this flight”.
But when the retired schoolteacher identified the failure to supply a refund was “actually illegal” after in search of advice from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions, he said the corporate suddenly “backflipped”.
He was told he would receive a refund as a “gesture of goodwill”, despite the corporate stating it had honored two other flights in business class.
“TripADeal modified their tune and said we will provide you with a refund of $350 ($225 USD) each and we understand you’re upset,” he said.
“But they said your costs went above net pricing, it’s built into our deals and flight pricing might be quite volatile and is subject to what is obtainable on each airline.
“The corporate used net pricing as an excuse as an alternative of configuration once they got busted for that.”
While he has now received the $700 refund, Gaynor claims TripADeal never intended to honor the business class flight deal and believes he isn’t the one customer who has been caught out.
He said TripADeal offered the couple business class seats on the Qantas flight for an additional $2,377 ($1,500 USD) each or through Virgin for $1,266 ($815 USD) per person.
“That’s $500 ($321 USD) extra with Virgin in order that they already knew from the very starting that it might be economy on way back,” he claimed.
He said the deal from the beginning seemed “silly”.
“It’s not a lot the difference between economy and business class, it’s the thought they’re deliberately cheating, which upsets me,” he claimed.
“I can’t imagine how may times it’s happened and each time I’ve pushed them and shown my research and maths they backflip. I feel they assume you accept it.”
The offer to pay extra money for business class seats even made him “laugh”, he said.
“That’s just rubbish,” he said.
“TripADeal never ever had any intention to supply what they promised. It’s just like the old days when Qantas were selling seats on planes that were never going to take off and so they got busted as well.”
But after news.com.au contacted TripADeal, the couple were issued business class seats for the Perth flight.
A TripADeal spokesperson said the corporate sincerely apologises to Gaynor for what has been a frustrating situation.
“On account of a servicing error Mr Gaynor’s booking was not ticketed accurately. We’ve got since confirmed his seats in business class and can ensure the remaining of his experience with us is seamless,” they said.
But Gaynor said after TripADeal’s “blatant” disregard for patrons, he would never use a travel deal website again.
“I had to maintain pushing each time over every detail,” he added,
“At the top, I asked in the event that they can arrange seating so I can get extra legroom and so they said no you’ve to go to airline after which the airline said you’ve to get the travel agent to try this and we went back to them again. So its like extracting teeth, every little little bit of it, they make it harder.”
News.com.au understands TripADeal doesn’t offer seat selection and where possible a customer is inspired to administer their booking through the airline directly to pick out their seats.
Gaynor said he had made a grievance to the Airline Customer Advocate, a resolution service for patrons of major Australian airlines, and had left negative social media reviews after his “frustrating” experience.
Qantas acquired a majority stake of the Byron Bay born business TripADeal in 2022, enabling its Frequent Flyers to earn and use their Qantas Points, before snapping up the remaining of the business in the midst of 2024.
On the time it said it wanted continued exposure to the growing $13 billion ($8.3B USD) online holiday packages market.
