Mrs P and I were supposed to go to the US last June. We didn’t, of course. Although our flight did. It was one of the few international flights that were kept going. This meant we weren’t due a full refund. We had to claim for the cost of the flights on our travel insurance. There was a bit of messing about, but our insurers paid up eventually. Minus the APD (Air Passenger Duty) which the airline needed to return to us.
Because we’d booked through an agent, Lycafly, we had to apply for the refund through them and wait for British Airways to process it. Weeks passed. Emails to chase it were sent. Months passed. More emails chasing it were sent. Lycafly were adamant that BA hadn’t given them the money. BA wouldn’t discuss the matter with me at all.
This puts one in a bit of a quandary. What to do? Who to sue? I simply could not know who had my money. So a couple of weeks ago, I sent Subject Access Requests to both LycaFly and British Airways. It’s similar to a Freedom of Information request. I’ll be honest, I am still not a hundred per cent certain what they are required to disclose to me. But at the very least, I liked the idea that I was making myself a bit of a pain to both of them.
I was owed £156 and I was going to get either my money, or my money’s worth of grief, out of them. It turned out to be the former. Within twenty four hours, I received an email from LycaFly agreeing to pay the refund. It hit my bank account today. And this finally concludes the saga of Cancelled 2020 Flights, Ferries, Festivals and Hotels.
The Mexile 
You old squeaky wheel, good job. I’m thinking my ski trip expense will be booted into next ski season. The Epic Pass people have been pushing me to use the pass this year but without a vaccination, I’m not standing in a lift line 22 times a day. I’ll take the hit if I have to but there will be a lot of squeaking . The plane ticket is good until December so maybe an early winter ski later this year.
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We still have plans. But we wait to see what Boris and co are planning for us. I read today that Turkey may permit tourists in this summer without needing proof of vaccination or a negative test….
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If a certain young prince had shown the same British tenacity that you exhibited, President-presumptive Andrew Lloyd Webber would not be measuring for drapes at the future Buckingham Condos, Concert Hall, and Chippy Shop.
While topically watching “To Play the King” last night, I discovered that I had misattributed a timely quotation. It was not Francis Urquhart, but Tim Stamper, who said: “Saves us the bother of electing some godawful president or something.” That makes it even more pleasant. That brings us right back to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
And here I was saying that I did not need to offer an opinion on everything — especially topics I avoid in my life.
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Well, the show is never over till the fat lady sings. It seems there may be an encore. I received a response yesterday from British Airways. It turns out that the APD refund was paid to LycaFly on December 9th. And it turns out the refund paid was £307.50, not £156. Further emails to LycaFly have been sent, needless to say.
The saga continues. But this was a worthwhile exercise, and I have good information to share with others in a similar fix.
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