Maleth confirms end of P&O partnership

[Thaumas]

Here is my dilemma: 

My wife and I have cruised with P & O in the Caribbean on many occasions in the past - we are Mediterranean level Peninsular Club members. We’ve always elected to pay for Premium Economy as I view this as the minimum level of discomfort that I’m willing to put up with. Other people have different feelings about this - I’m only stating my preference here. 

Last March, I booked the Arvia repositioning cruise for next March. I booked directly with P & O over the phone, and I made it clear that the booking was conditional on PE flight seats being available. I was informed that they were indeed available, and paid the extra £200 per person premium.

We were, in fact, on the Arcadia when I received the infamous email regarding the change to Maleth Aero, cattle class only. This is simply not acceptable to us, but when I complained to P & O, I got the inevitable raspberry - nothing in our Ts & Cs specifies flight carriers etc etc. - if you want to cancel you’ll forfeit your deposit etc.

It seems to me that P & O are riding roughshod over basic contract law, and hiding behind their Ts & Cs. This is why I believe someone should stand up to them. The offer of PE was there (although who knows whether the person I was talking to knew about the forthcoming changes of carrier). I accepted their offer and paid the extra. This seems to me more than enough evidence to make a Section 75 chargeback claim as I used a credit card to make the booking. Additionally, I have made a Data Subject Access Request to P & O - requesting them to supply a recording of the booking phone call. They are legally obligated to provide this within one month. I believe this will be sufficient evidence to confirm that the booking was conditional on PE flight seats being available.

Will we be sailing with P & O again? Guesses on a postcard please!

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, kevboy said:

Been trying for 12 hours now to book flight seats on Maleth flights following notification email from P&O to do so if Wish. Cannot get through. Function unavailable due to a temporary issue. The help phone number supplied does not exist and P&O robot replier is neither use nor ornament. Travel agent cannot help either. Is anyone having any better luck in seat booking?   kev

This computer problem has been there since last Wednesday regardless of which airline.  I waited up all Friday night to book my friend on to her 30 December 2023 cruise (currently she is on Aurora so unable to do it herself) with absolutely no luck. Spoke to P&O on Saturday who advised to keep trying until Wednesday and then call again.  On Sunday I eventually got in on My P&O to see the Flights page but the seat selection was greyed out with availability after 14 weeks.  I left the screen open.  At 1.00am on Monday I got up to let the cat out and whilst waiting for him to return refreshed the flight screen. Surprisingly it opened with the green select seats button.  Going in I noted only 4 seats appeared to have been reserved but on picking s seat for my friend it reserved it and put it and the return in my bssked.  I paid and received a receipt. 

 

Reading of these continued problems I've just been back in. I am allowed to log in and get the flights screen.  It confirms the seat selection however it will not display the aircraft plan stating:

There are currently no seats available to be pre-purchased, please try again later.

 

I have the distinct impression I just was lucky. The social media pages are full of people on both airlines who cannot get access and once you're past the AI woman on the telephone they have a message stating they know there is a problem and wait times are currently in excess of an hour.

 

I can only suggest keep trying and if you get the flights page open keep trying.

[Thaumas]

Here is my dilemma: 

My wife and I have cruised with P & O in the Caribbean on many occasions in the past - we are Mediterranean level Peninsular Club members. We’ve always elected to pay for Premium Economy as I view this as the minimum level of discomfort that I’m willing to put up with. Other people have different feelings about this - I’m only stating my preference here. 

Last March, I booked the Arvia repositioning cruise for next March. I booked directly with P & O over the phone, and I made it clear that the booking was conditional on PE flight seats being available. I was informed that they were indeed available, and paid the extra £200 per person premium.

We were, in fact, on the Arcadia when I received the infamous email regarding the change to Maleth Aero, cattle class only. This is simply not acceptable to us, but when I complained to P & O, I got the inevitable raspberry - nothing in our Ts & Cs specifies flight carriers etc etc. - if you want to cancel you’ll forfeit your deposit etc.

It seems to me that P & O are riding roughshod over basic contract law, and hiding behind their Ts & Cs. This is why I believe someone should stand up to them. The offer of PE was there (although who knows whether the person I was talking to knew about the forthcoming changes of carrier). I accepted their offer and paid the extra. This seems to me more than enough evidence to make a Section 75 chargeback claim as I used a credit card to make the booking. Additionally, I have made a Data Subject Access Request to P & O - requesting them to supply a recording of the booking phone call. They are legally obligated to provide this within one month. I believe this will be sufficient evidence to confirm that the booking was conditional on PE flight seats being available.

Will we be sailing with P & O again? Guesses on a postcard please!

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, Thaumas said:

Last March, I booked the Arvia repositioning cruise for next March.

You booked in March 2023 for March 2024 or was it March 2022 for March 2024?

[Thaumas]

Yes, I booked in March 23 for the cruise in March 24 - sorry, i seem to have posted twice. There was a message about loss of connection, so posted again🙄

[kevboy]

Many thanks Megabear2 for the encouragement. at least I now know that the problem was not my PC.

kev

[jeanlyon]

5 hours ago, Thaumas said:

Here is my dilemma: 

My wife and I have cruised with P & O in the Caribbean on many occasions in the past - we are Mediterranean level Peninsular Club members. We’ve always elected to pay for Premium Economy as I view this as the minimum level of discomfort that I’m willing to put up with. Other people have different feelings about this - I’m only stating my preference here. 

Last March, I booked the Arvia repositioning cruise for next March. I booked directly with P & O over the phone, and I made it clear that the booking was conditional on PE flight seats being available. I was informed that they were indeed available, and paid the extra £200 per person premium.

We were, in fact, on the Arcadia when I received the infamous email regarding the change to Maleth Aero, cattle class only. This is simply not acceptable to us, but when I complained to P & O, I got the inevitable raspberry - nothing in our Ts & Cs specifies flight carriers etc etc. - if you want to cancel you’ll forfeit your deposit etc.

It seems to me that P & O are riding roughshod over basic contract law, and hiding behind their Ts & Cs. This is why I believe someone should stand up to them. The offer of PE was there (although who knows whether the person I was talking to knew about the forthcoming changes of carrier). I accepted their offer and paid the extra. This seems to me more than enough evidence to make a Section 75 chargeback claim as I used a credit card to make the booking. Additionally, I have made a Data Subject Access Request to P & O - requesting them to supply a recording of the booking phone call. They are legally obligated to provide this within one month. I believe this will be sufficient evidence to confirm that the booking was conditional on PE flight seats being available.

Will we be sailing with P & O again? Guesses on a postcard please!

You see I believe P&O are in the right here.  They never agree carriers, indeed how were they to know that they would have to use a different airline.  So you forfeit your deposit.  That's obvious.

[Thaumas]

“They never agree carriers”  - true, but isn’t it implicit that if they’re offering Premium Economy flight seats, they should be able to provide them, whatever the carrier? 
“How were they to know that they would have to use a different airline?” 
Airline plans will be determined months, if not years ahead. In fact it’s entirely possible that the plans for Maleth were known about when I booked the cruise. It’s bad business practice to offer something that you may not be able to deliver. It’s also potentially unlawful. If consumers from the USA were treated in this way, P & O would soon have a class action slapped on them.

[Winifred 22]

3 minutes ago, Thaumas said:

“They never agree carriers”  - true, but isn’t it implicit that if they’re offering Premium Economy flight seats, they should be able to provide them, whatever the carrier? 
“How were they to know that they would have to use a different airline?” 
Airline plans will be determined months, if not years ahead. In fact it’s entirely possible that the plans for Maleth were known about when I booked the cruise. It’s bad business practice to offer something that you may not be able to deliver. It’s also potentially unlawful. If consumers from the USA were treated in this way, P & O would soon have a class action slapped on them.

But we are not in the USA . 

[Thaumas]

So, Jean Lyon and Winifred 22, suppose you had booked a superior deluxe balcony cabin on a P & O ship, and some months before the cruise they informed you that cabin class was overbooked, and you will be in the smallest inside cabin, but they were going to refund you the difference. 
Would you be happy?

[terrierjohn]

I no longer do fly cruises, and since I am only just about  5ft 9in, I was always happy with economy when I did fly, so maybe I am not the right person to comment on this situation.

However I believe that P&O did hope that TUI would be able to supply all the flights needed, and only when it became apparent this was not going to be possible did they seek an alternative. And as the saying goes "beggars can't be choosers" and presumably available carriers did not have the PE or IE planes that would have been their preferred choice.  That's unfortunate but it is what it is.

[carlanthony24]

12 minutes ago, Thaumas said:

So, Jean Lyon and Winifred 22, suppose you had booked a superior deluxe balcony cabin on a P & O ship, and some months before the cruise they informed you that cabin class was overbooked, and you will be in the smallest inside cabin, but they were going to refund you the difference. 
Would you be happy?

Depends where you are in the T&CS. I may be wrong but they don't oversell cabins compared to airlines. Some posts back mentioned back it can vary by airline and may not always be possible. Airlines only announce 12 months in advance compared to cruises then P&O can give the dates once airlines announce and hopefully they fit in something like that. 

 

Every possibility Maleth could of been on the bottom of the list to choose from once they had tried every other option E.G Virgin since that happened last year only once a few cruises had been cancelled. 

 

Per the T&CS you get the money back for a premium not being offered.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by carlanthony24

[jeanlyon]

18 minutes ago, Thaumas said:

So, Jean Lyon and Winifred 22, suppose you had booked a superior deluxe balcony cabin on a P & O ship, and some months before the cruise they informed you that cabin class was overbooked, and you will be in the smallest inside cabin, but they were going to refund you the difference. 
Would you be happy?

No, but that is nothing to do with the flight to get to the ship!  It's totally different.  You have paid extra for PE on a flight that is no longer operating.  What is P&O supposed to do if they have to sub charter.

[Thaumas]

Yes I have had the cost of the premium seats refunded, but to the balance payable, not to my credit card. I’ve also been offered an additional £75 on board credit. So why am I not happy?

Just the prospect of a long flight (apparently 1.5 hours longer than more modern aircraft) with the absolute minimum legroom (I have two replacement knee joints), and with only 23kg hold luggage allowance per person for a three week cruise! 

[Winifred 22]

20 minutes ago, Thaumas said:

So, Jean Lyon and Winifred 22, suppose you had booked a superior deluxe balcony cabin on a P & O ship, and some months before the cruise they informed you that cabin class was overbooked, and you will be in the smallest inside cabin, but they were going to refund you the difference. 
Would you be happy?

 

23 minutes ago, Thaumas said:

So, Jean Lyon and Winifred 22, suppose you had booked a superior deluxe balcony cabin on a P & O ship, and some months before the cruise they informed you that cabin class was overbooked, and you will be in the smallest inside cabin, but they were going to refund you the difference. 
Would you be happy?

As long I was refunded and was still on a cruise I would make the best of it. I never book deluxe cabins anyone so not relevant to me. But the comparison doesn’t work . As I understand the flights / seats were not overbooked. P &O sourced what was available. They are getting you by air to your cruise which is what you have paid for. 

20 minutes ago, Thaumas said:

So, Jean Lyon and Winifred 22, suppose you had booked a superior deluxe balcony cabin on a P & O ship, and some months before the cruise they informed you that cabin class was overbooked, and you will be in the smallest inside cabin, but they were going to refund you the difference. 
Would you be 

[Megabear2]

This is interesting.  Yesterday from the trade.

 

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/po-cruises-apologises-to-trade-over-flight-charter-issues

[majortom10]

11 hours ago, Winifred 22 said:

But we are not in the USA . 

But that is no excuse for P&O to treat their customers as they do often on a regular basis. It need a number to take action on there own and the press get hold of it. They deserve all they get.

 

[Eglesbrech]

8 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

This is interesting.  Yesterday from the trade.

 

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/po-cruises-apologises-to-trade-over-flight-charter-issues

Very interesting reading Megabear. Thanks for posting.

[Interestedcruisefan]

12 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

This is interesting.  Yesterday from the trade.

 

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/po-cruises-apologises-to-trade-over-flight-charter-issues

There is no doubt it's been handled very badly

 

Even if there were no alternatives but to use these planes

 

Bad communication for sure

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 hour ago, Thaumas said:

Sorry, I didn’t mean to be disrespectful Interestedcruisefan. As I said before, there is plenty of scope for differing opinions with regard to the level of discomfort we’re all prepared to put up with.
It seems I’ve come to the wrong place for sympathy, so I shall head off to the CAB instead 

If you didnt mean to be disrespectful (which I'm sure you didn't) I apologise back. It just came across like that when I read it.

 

And I actually think based on you specifically insisting you only want to book if you could get premium economy you should not lose any deposit if P and O can't now deliver that to you

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

Just now, Interestedcruisefan said:

If you didnt mean to be disrespectful (which I'm sure you didn't) I apologise back. It just came across like that when I read it.

 

And I actually think based on you specifically insisting you only want to book if you could get premium economy you should not lose any deposit if P and O can't now deliver that to you

 

 

I would agree with that assessment ICF.

 

I find the lack of sympathy for those affected by some on here quite harsh given that those booking have had the goal posts moved, they did nothing wrong but are financially penalised. It appears from the article Megabear posted that many more are not happy and voting with their feet by cancelling.

 

 

[zap99]

12 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

You see I believe P&O are in the right here.  They never agree carriers, indeed how were they to know that they would have to use a different airline.  So you forfeit your deposit.  That's obvious.

If they sell you premium economy and can't provided you should have the right to cancel the contract and have all monies refunded. When I booked P&O said... yes lots of PE available, so we booked. If the Lady at Southampton had said...sorry, we don't have a clue what aircraft, or carrier we will be using..depends on what we can find. We wouldn't have booked.

Edited September 30, 2023 by zap99

[zap99]

11 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

No, but that is nothing to do with the flight to get to the ship!  It's totally different.  You have paid extra for PE on a flight that is no longer operating.  What is P&O supposed to do if they have to sub charter.

Give you the option to cancel the booking and have all money refunded.

[terrierjohn]

15 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Give you the option to cancel the booking and have all money refunded.

I think I agree with you, however I imagine that P&O are concerned that if they allow a refund for PE passengers, then very likely those in economy without in flight entertainment will also be clamouring for refunds.

[Presto2]

39 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

If you didnt mean to be disrespectful (which I'm sure you didn't) I apologise back. It just came across like that when I read it.

 

And I actually think based on you specifically insisting you only want to book if you could get premium economy you should not lose any deposit if P and O can't now deliver that to you

 

 

Am with you on this one as that's the only reason we booked and would be gutted if we found out we were not getting what we told we would have when booking. I suppose it is easier to be objective of it isn't you affected and for those who are is emotion clouding our judgement somewhat. Perhaps the truth of how PO should have handled it lies somewhere in the middle. We are all a little right !