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Sarah HT Admin

Looking for a cheapish week in Turkey and Goldtrail came up; now I see the Goldtrail thread has been withdrawn for nigh on 10 months- reasons why please

we didn't have a dedicated goldtrail thread but if you put goldtrail into search there are countless individual threads.

Thanks Fiona - I just assumed from the previous post......

I can see why you thought it was a dedicated thread. There is a lot of info already in the forums but why not start your own thread?

we did have a very extensive goldtrail thread, if you use the search facility you will find lots of info,there are also several referances to them in the complaints forum

Goldtrail : note that customers who booked Monarch flights through this company, bookings made prior to Jan 2010 for travel in 2010 this year, are now on Viking flights. Lowcostholidays and Charter Flight Centre use Goldtrail, many others also for Greece.

Goldtrail for "commercial reasons" (the offer price was too high) - did not take a contract with Monarch. That was back in January, yet Goldtrail has yet to inform many customers that it's using Viking Airlines instead for most of its summer flying. Are you one of them? Flights that start MON to Corfu are now VIK.

I am due to go to Corfu with my fiance, my parents and my brother, we booked flights through Travel Republic with Monarch. We paid a bit more for the flights as they were departing a a nice time (8:30am-ish).
We have now received an email stating that we are now flying with Viking and 5:50am the same day. Upon contacting Travel Republic, they have passed the booking to Goldtrial so have nothing more to do with it. Upon contacting Goldtrail, they have advised that they have the right to change the flight as they see fit. We can find the same flight online for £70 less each and we have been offered no compensation or choice of alternative flights!
Can they do this????
Please help!

unfortunately yes they can, wiz

My mum has spoken to Monarch directly and they don't seem to think the flight ever existed when we booked it.
Is there no way we can sue them under the sale of goods act, seen as the product we bought never existed?

helsbells12000 Im in a similar situation, that's why I posted. The Monarch flight never existed, and this is nothing to do with Monarch. Some travel companies will charter a flight and share seats, so in theory it would be possible to have a flight that is not sold just through Monarch. I saw Travel Republic publishing and selling the same Monarch flight (you bought) I bought my tickets through another site and thought TR may have chartered it, now it turns out it never existed and we are all on Viking and having to arrive at least 3 hours earlier to get the flight.

Publishing flights that will never exist must be wrong on so many levels. This is to get people to book and then change the airline to suit, normally publishing a departure we would find most agreeable like 8.30am (vs not having to check in at 3.30am with 2 small children, thank you Viking). We are also about £20 per person worse off. Work that total out for all the passengers on the whole plane. It is GOLDTRAIL who have changed the flight and airline. GOLDTRAIL do not have a 2010 contract with Monarch to sell their flights. If I knew Goldtrail were the flight supplier I wouldn't have booked it in the first place.

If you want Monarch in the future, book direct or book your Monarch flights through one of their own ATOL ticket agents, Cosmos, or AVRO. Wish I had.

With all due respect, i think every tour operator works the same way and this is not something than is purely concentrated to Goldtrail.

I have had many flight changes with all the big operators recently. You say that Goldtrail have never had a contract or that that flight probably never existed.
Unless you work in the commercial departments for either monarch or goldtrail then i doubt you would know.
If you had tried booking extras for the monarch flight and they say they cannot find it or it doesn't exist, more than likely that any request are being done by the tour operator and not the airline, some operators wish for no extras to be sold on the flight (eg: exit seats etc)
I have operators that sell viking flights yet if i search on Kiss flights, who are the main selling agent for viking then it is no where to be found, probably because it is a chartered flight by one company who has then sold on to many other companies.

It may even be that whoever the tour operators were on the flight, some may have pulled out or transferred to another carrier and therefore all the other companies now have to be put on other flights which is why you flight time has changed and carrier.

Having use to work in a similar environment, this happened every season at the start and end, was a nightmare sometimes.

leisurelad: Unless you work in the commercial departments for either monarch or goldtrail then i doubt you would know

It's public knowledge as Gill has published it in the telegraph, ie; that no contract between Goldtrail and Monarch was renewed for 2010. Bob from Stoke-on-Trent is also confused.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/columnists/gillcharlton/7650490/Ask-Gill-flight-changes-ash-cloud-compensation-overland-to-Greece.html

leisurelad: chartered flight by one company

Yes this is what I thought as when I booked, as I could see TR and many others selling the same MON flight in Nov/Dec 2009. I suppose this was published flight feed from Goldtrail, did it ever exist? It didn' on Monarch or Avros site at the time as I checked Nov/Dec 2009.

I have actually worked in travel only longhaul with fights that operate (with published flights approx 9 months in advance). So please explain how you/travel agents can take a deposit and booking from a client on a flight that doesn't exist? Surely you would offer a refund first rather than transfer the passengers on to another airline, that would appear fair and logical? The T&C's on many sites (we can change your airline), appear totally unfair in my honest opinion.

For example, would Tescos say we can't deliver the Sony TV as we no longer use them, but we have delivered a Toshiba? Sorry no refund, it does the same thing, just a different label. Yes you can get it cheaper form Argos, but tough, we are keeping the difference. I don't think so.

As for airlines themselves, for example, if Virgin stop a route, they would offer a full refund if no alternative is suitable, either with a direct booking or through an agent. Why are the procedures so different?

It may never existed on their websites because it is a flight that neither avro/cosmos or monarch itself sells as there are alot of monarch flights that monarchs sister companies doesn't sell on.

As for Goldtrail saying it had hoped to fly with monarch this summer, i am afraid that this is a case for all tour operators and not just goldtrail alone.
Many operators programmes are drafted many months in advanced, it is impossible to confirm such timings as there are too many variables involved that could alter this, some which are completely out of the operators control which is why on many operators terms, it will state that final flight times will be published on their tickets.
Airline flight schedules, especially charter flights change all the time as operators juggle the aircraft around to get the maximum benefit of their aircraft, shifting a flight forward or backwards can create an opportunity to pick up extra work.

I understand where you are comming from but there are just too many factors involved to confirm a flight time soo many months in advance as operators programmes change from season to season which is why they have the right to change times/airlines etc, most companies say that any change under 8hrs is considered to be minor and therefore, no compensation or full loss if you decide to cancel, like it or not, they are the terms.

As for comparing airlines to Tv's, that is just a little silly really, TV prices do not change on a daily basis like airlines do.
Scheduled and charter airlines operate completely different as scheduled flights are generally more rigid when it comes to times, charter companies will operate whenever as to how they see fit and also at the demands of tour operators.

Just the way the world works, agree with it or not, thats the way it is.

We're in exactly the same situation with Flights to Rhodes. Booked Monarch Flights nice and early in October 2009 for a holiday August 2010 through Travel Republic with Goldtrail as the provider, 0830 out 1530 back (landing 1730), have now been told they are Viking Flights 0530 out 2330 back (lands 01.40!!!). I even queried the flight at time of booking as couldn't see it on the Monarch website but was told these companies have access to flights that aren't yet published and it would be fine. My complaints to date have been met with a response along the lines of sorry about that, but we can do what we like as the change is not more than 12 hours. Also, it is really annoying to see the Viking flights on sale for less than we paid - for what we were sold as Monarch ones (and even more annoying that I can get Easyjet flights there at almost the same price as I have ended up paying for this shoddy service, but they weren't available for booking in October!).

I totally agree with you Aliceadventures, in this day and age of consumer rights how on earth can companies be allowed to treat us like this (and the television scenario isn't far off in my opinion). If the changes were just a few hours I would accept it, but the homeward flight is 8 hours later, and they are making money out of it by offering an inferior product to that purchased. I was thinking of trying the office of Fair Trading & Watchdog to highlight this scandal, what does anyone think?

We are currently seeking legal advice and will update the thread once we have an update as to whether it is legal to sell a flight that doesn't exist.
My family and I will not give up without a fight.
We feel as if we have been conned!!

I too booked flights in EARLY January for an holiday to Kos in August, I only found out after phoning Monarch to book extra leg room, to hear the customer service operator announce these flights dont exsist! This was on Friday last week! After numerous phone call conversations with Travel Republic and one obnoxious sales assistant, I have now cancelled the whole holiday with them. Goldtrail need serious investigation. How long would it have taken them to inform me, the day the tickets didnt turn up! Shameful.

we have had the same problem with OTB and goldtrail flights we booked a non existant monarch flight last year for this sept to find they have put us on the cheapest viking option and pocketing them 144.00 in the process there response was they have the right to change carrier what they dont say is they never had the monarch flights in the first place
i have just sent my complaint to ABTA They are looking in to it i dont k now how they get away with such decietful practice

Maybe the mods could merge the two GOLDTRAIL threads so it makes sense.

It's very annoying about the flights. We have to get up very early now to get the Viking flight and leave the destination very early too. With small kids it's not much fun.

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=136993