My complaint:
I booked a travel trip to New Zealand in March 2023 which included return air tickets. 7 days before my departure, I received an email from GoToGate stating Unfortunately your flight(s) for booking XXXXXX has been either rescheduled or canceled by the airline. To ease the impact this has on your travels, we have found the following alternative options.
Please review your options below and select your preference within 5 days of receiving this email or 5 days before departure – whichever is earliest, or it might affect your refund possibilities.
Kindly contact us if you have already made your selection and depart within 72 hours and have not received our ation email.
The options they provided all alternated through the US which I didn’t wish to do so I cancelled. I received a email indicating they received my cancellation request and that a refund would be processed within 2-5 days. As a result of my belief in the cancellation, I rebooked new return flights from New Zealand to Canada which ended up costing me twice as much as the original flight home was. 2 days before my departure from Canada, I called the customer service help line about this flight and provided the reference number from the original booking in March 2023 and was told that the flight was cancelled because one of the destinations had a lay over less than 2 hours. There were 3 points of exit on this flight back to Canada. Nowhere in the original email from GoToGate was this ever mentioned. If I realized this, I would have booked a new ticket for the portion that was in question.
No refund ever was received but emails from Booking.com went back and forth. I went on my trip and the accommodations where fine, my departing flight from Canada was fine. I continued to check to see if a refund had come through my credit card but nothing. About 10 days before my return back to Canada, I inquired again to booking.com using the flight reference number provided on the original purchase if the cancel is valid. Again I received their automated response email. At this point I realized something was not right with what GoToGate did.
Upon arrival at the airport in Wellington, New Zealand, I approached the Air New Zealand kiosk to inquiry about my original booking using the airlines six digit reference code. I was informed that the flight is still valid. The customer service rep at Air New Zealand was able to use my original booking and when I indicated what had transpired, they seemed a little shocked and indicated I needed to get in touch with my booking agent upon return.
I called the customer service help desk at booking.com upon my return to find out why my original booking was valid with Air New Zealand. I spent 1hour on the phone going over and over what had transpired. The 2 flight where purchased through their platform for 1 person returning on the same day from the same departure city.
Upon reflection, I realized my error that GoToGate used the payment code from booking.com to initiate the email and try to collect a new booking. I explained this to the service rep at booking.com but to no avail. In the end, they told me that I was classified as a no show on my second flight. But of course I would be a no show. I cannot possibly be on 2 planes at the same time going in the same direction.
I feel the email is fraudulent from GoToGate and that Booking.Com is aware of this.
Suggested solution:
I realized my mistake and I asked for not a full refund on the second ticket purchased but the portion only that was purchased and not needed. Nowhere was I told to purchase a ticket for the layover that was less than 2 hours.
