direct holidaze are messin' me around

hi folks,

to say

"i'm mad as hell......etc"

would be a huge understatement.

just some background:

way back in Feb 2004, i booked a holiday to Fuengirola with DH.

the invoice stated departure time of 08:35 22nd August from Dublin, same as brochure.

six weeks later got a letter stating "operational changes within our flying programme" flight time changed to depart at 17:20, nine hours later than what was in the brochure. also flight number changed to JKK3990, which is cheapo Spanair.

i checked live flight details from Dublin Airport that Sunday, only to discover that the above flight was scheduled for 21:15. i did'nt pursue this with DH, as i thought, oh well, can't be helped, etc, etc. anyway, DH have told me 17:20

imagine my consternation, when flight tickets, etc arrive today, to find that our flight time IS 21:15 and not 17:20, or even 08:45, as originally advised.

DH have not had the decency to inform me of this further flight time-change, no apology, no nuttin.

i think they are being a little too clever here, as when i checked the flight time in March, it said 21:15, not 17:20.

i don't think there ever was a 17:20 flight.

they have delayed my departure by in excess of 12 hours, in two stages, one entirely fictitious.

what can i do??

it's a bit too late to cancel, but can i complain, and can i claim compo of some kind.

all i know, is that i will never book with DH ever again

If you feel that you have a valid complaint then you should definitely raise it with the company in question.

Anything useful here in terms of your statutory rights/entitlements?

[broken link removed]


Check your travel insurance in case it covers inconveniences such as the flight time changes above (doubt it but no harm in checking...)

does anyone know of any internet site where flight times of SpanAir Charter Flight JKK3990 from Dublin to Malaga can be checked.

this would be a help.

Not sure if this is any use but when the date for the outbound flight nears you should be able to check it here:

[broken link removed]

dh holidays

dh state in their brochure that a change of departure time by more than 12 hours is a 'major' change and you are entitled to cancel the holiday without any penalty. In this neck of the woods what they are doing by changing the time by less than 12 hours 'officially' and then adding the next few hours later would be classed as a 'smuggle'
I used to get the dh brochures through the post regularly and in 2002 booed a holiday with them. There was a few of us and we booked one of those villas in san pedro near luz with a private pool etc. Lovely little villa, lovely pool, great little bar on site and excellent restaurant. Totally and utterly enjoyed the holiday. Were familiar with the area from previous holidays so knew what to expect locally.Our courier handed out 'feedback' questionaires and on the return to the airport collected them. we had binned ours ( as usual) but she dug in and insisted. So Cu and the rest completed the test. Pointed out that though Luz was about 2 kms away it was impossible to walk on the road to it as it was too narrow and positivately dangerous. The satellite tv was in German only ( with a few near to blue channels freely available so not exactly suitable for families) and finally that the car hire we were offered by Dh was way over the top and we hired a car far cheaper in Lagos. Also pointed out that as it was dangerous to walk on the road, and Lagos ( main town) was about 6kms away a car hire was essential and should have stated so in the brochure. Guess what? Never received a brochure since by post.