My strategy for 2009?

[Avitor]

Like everyone who is liable to lose jobs, I have much empathy with airline employees and their welfare but...

...I see charter flights to Greece and nearby holiday locations are presently priced at around £270 return.

Last year, regrettably, I fell foul of the XL collapse and lost money (visa debit card)

I am going to wait, with the state of our economy and the drastic fall in the euro/sterling exchange rates, I feel that charter flight prices will reflect the state of the economy and become more competitive.

Right...or wrong?

[gdiphil]

also playing a waiting strategy

I too will wait until the new year to see what is going on, particularly with the scheduled airlines. I see QF have this weekend come to their senses and have made a very decent offer of 2 for 1 on flights LHR to SYD over Easter for instance. If they are now hurting then some others will soon become more competitive.

But, the one thing I would like to see is an overall major economic jolt to the whole travel industry. I mean not just the airlines but the airports security people, the shops and other facilities airside, and the the airports generally. It is time that they realised without people travelling they will not have a job, or it will at least mean they will feel insecure. For too long there has been an arrogance in this industry generally that has resulted in stress and a general feeling of unpleasantness when all one wants to do is to get from A to B.

[James 1077]

Last year, regrettably, I fell foul of the XL collapse and lost money (visa debit card)

I was under the impression that VISA covered their debit cards with their guarantee as a goodwill gesture. You need to talk to your bank to access it but it is there!

[Avitor]

Originally Posted by James 1077

I was under the impression that VISA covered their debit cards with their guarantee as a goodwill gesture. You need to talk to your bank to access it but it is there!

Thanks James, I will look into it again. Originally I was told to contact ABTA (if that is the correct abbreviation) but, that could have been a junior answering the phone!

[VAFFPAX]

ABTA only covers travel packages booked with an ABTA-registered tour operator, not direct flights with airlines.

Visa debit cards are generally NOT covered because they are debit cards. Credit cards on the other hand are not a problem and you can claim back without any issues.

S.

[raffele]

If you purchase something with a Visa Debit card - yes, a Visa Debit - you have a similar level of protection to what you have if you use a credit card. It's called Visa Chargeback and it's written into Visa's internal rules and regs.

Banks pay to use the Visa scheme and so the banks can recover funds through this scheme. There are a couple hurdles though - firstly, not all bank staff know about the scheme. The second one is there is a 120 day limit to using it, and the third hurdle is it isn't legislative - if it doesn't pay out, you can't go to court and claim against Visa or your bank.

Have a read of this article Section 75 refunds: Free protection for ALL spending...

It's nowhere near as strong as credit card protection (because of the lack of legislation) however it does work in some cases so you might as well give it a try

[VAFFPAX]

You will also notice that Martin Lewis specifically states that Visa Chargeback only works for amounts under 100 GBP. So if you bought a 270 GBP ticket to Larnaca and get stranded, Visa is NOT obliged to refund you. Neither is ABTA (unless you booked an ABTA-underwritten tour).

S.