Extra charges when booking holiday online

Hi there,

I'm all excited because I just booked a holiday online to depart this Saturday. But two little things bothered me when I was making the booking. Has anyone else paid these charges?

It's a holiday for two and I filled in our names and then it came to the total costs page. In addition to the advertised price of the holiday there was taxes (expected) but also a 'Fuel Surcharge' of €58 and a 'Ticket on Departure Fee' €20.

There is no mention on the website of any fuel surcharges until this page when your all excited about the resort and you have your card out to pay. I can understand that with oil prices on the up they probably have to charge extra, but how do I actually know that this isn't extra money just going directly to Sunway???

And when I asked customer service about the ticket on departure fee, they were like, oh well, as your leaving on Saturday your probably going to need to pick the tickets up at the airport so we just put that charge in. So if anyone else is booking with them, you have to call them, tell them that you'll pick up the tickets from them and to remove the charge. I know it's only €20 but i'm kind of on an anti-rip-off-Ireland buzz at the moment.

a

Just to clarify - the "ticket on departure fee" was notified to you before you executed the transaction to purchase the holiday, is that correct? And you managed to avoid the charge by calling them and arranging to pick up the tickets in person in advance, is that also correct? If so I don't see where the rip-off is here if people are notified of the charge in advance, are paying it for the convenience to them of picking the tickets up at the last minute at the airport and can avoid it by calling them and making alternative arrangements.

Yes Clubman it was just before you put in your card details.

But the reason I was booking online is because it's more convenient than calling up customer service. But I still had to call up customer service (and stay on hold) because there was no explanation as to what "Ticket On Departure Fee" was.

If it was an opt-in tick the box option then that would be fine. But it wasn't, it was in there by default with no explanation.

Can you post a link to the site in question please? Did you complain about the lack of an explanation about this charge and the ability to avoid it by making alternative arrangements to pick the tickets up in advance and, if so, what did they say?

www.sunway.ie

You have to select a booking, put in your names, and then it will come to the summary costs page.

I didn't complain, do Irish people ever?

Thanks. I just tried it and found the Sunway booking system a bit difficult to navigate. I was not able to get to a screen on which the €20 charge mentioned above appeared. However I agree that some of the terms on the booking screens could do with better descriptions (in some case there are none).

ariidae said:

I didn't complain, do Irish people ever?

Click to expand...

Well a lot of them complain about "rip-off Ireland" but don't complain directly to the retailers/service providers/businesses/other agencies when they should.

If your departure date is fairly close to your booking date then the ticket will be set up as at the airport as a ticket on departure cos there may not be time to get the ticket out to you in the post. I personally would like to be offered the option to collect it at the travel agency tho and save the cupla euro if it was handy. E20 a ticket soon adds up.

emmt said:

I personally would like to be offered the option to collect it at the travel agency tho and save the cupla euro if it was handy. E20 a ticket soon adds up.

Click to expand...

I agree that an explanation of the charge and the possibility of avoiding it through other arrangements should be included on the website. I think it's €20 per booking and not per ticket but I could be wrong.

Looked at Sunway - booking flights only. Pretended I was buying to see the charges! It is specified that there's a ticket charge - €10 per person. The fuel surcharge seemed to be cancelled out by booking on line. (?) I've recently purchased two flights, one with Aer Lingus and the return from Dubrovnik with Joe Walsh. No fuel charge with either. I noticed recently fuel charges applied if booking with UK tour operators. We can expect to see more of this in the future. So, a benevolent Aer Lingus and Air Adriatica.

"If your departure date is fairly close to your booking date then the ticket will be set up as at the airport as a ticket on departure cos there may not be time to get the ticket out to you in the post. I personally would like to be offered the option to collect it at the travel agency tho and save the cupla euro if it was handy. E20 a ticket soon adds up"

On corporate travel they are now issuing 'e' tickets and as far as I know there is no extra charge for it. It actually saves the travel company the courier fee. Wonder why they cannot do this for all?

Sunway cancelled our family holiday to Menorca, no explanation, just a cancellation letter with 4 weeks to go, asked for an immediate refund and was lucky to get somewhere close by - Menorca - on another co.

Would not book with Sunway ever again, bad form, upon asking my travel agent was told they probably overbooked and had to cancel the holiday for some folk.