Cancellation with Booking on flight from the US to South America

[ohanssen]

Hi all,

I have a feeling I have no recourse with this, but thought to ask. I booked a flight with booking.com from Miami to Ecuador on Avianca yesterday (as the Avianca page pulled the old “change the fare when you go back to book after comparing fares across different websites trick) and got a confirmation email from them, but 3 hours later, I got an email my reservation (not flight) had been cancelled ‘for technical reasons’. They are refunding me the money, but I thought I could ask for something in compensation for this? Like the difference in the fare after the cancellation? The flight is within 7 days, but since it isn’t to/from the EU/UK or with an EU/UK operator, there isnt that kind of protection, but is a refund all I am entitled to get?
Would my travel insurance have some kind of compensation or is that also a likely dead end?

[Matt]

You can ask, but your chances of getting even a non-automatic response are approximately zero, which is still much higher than your chances of getting compensation from them.

Worth reading your travel insurance T+C I guess – policies differ, so generic advice won’t be much use.

[JDB]

@ohanssen – it would appear that Booking.com encountered the same issue with Avianca as you did which is why your reservation has been cancelled, so it shouldn’t be a total surprise.

I fear that as a practical matter there is little you can do about it, although you can try with Booking.com. They did notify you very quickly and were only the messenger!

I’m not sure you would have any better protections for a flight to/from Europe in these circumstances when you book with an OTA unless the flight is booked as part of a package. Your consumer rights (as opposed to separate or additional aviation rights) would depend on where the contract was executed. I’m not sure on what basis you could make an insurance claim.

[ohanssen]

Thanks both. I managed to chat to a booking.com agent who repeated the ‘technical problem’ answer, saying that the airline cancelled the reservation, which I found strange as the reservation got confirmed, and I got an itinerary, which I thought was when the airline couldnt just cancel again. Since it isnt actually a cancelled flight, I guess there isnt really anything I can expect, since what I see from my insurance company seems to cover that but not cancelled bookings.
Anyway, I re-booked with another travel agency, who purchased a ticket from Hahn Airways for the Avianca operated flights. Have I just stepped into a much much worse situation than I was originally in to ensure I got the original price?
I chatted with an Avianca agent who was able to see my reservation and tell me the ticket conditions and add a frequent flyer number, and I haven’t gotten a cancelation message yet (10 hours and counting vs 3 hours that passed before I got the cancellation message from Booking), but am afraid of what may be lurking around the corner.