Fly to Gatwick rather than Heathrow? That’ll be an extra £3,000, says Lastminute.com

Exclusive: Cuba holiday couple face huge bill to avoid M25 rush-hour flight connection

Distant dream: if the couple fail to make their connection to Havana, they may spend three days at Gatwick (Simon Calder)

A Scottish couple who bought a Cuban holiday through an online travel agent were surprised to see they were routed from Edinburgh to Heathrow, even though the transatlantic flight to Havana was departing from Gatwick.

With less than four hours in which to collect their luggage at Heathrow, wait for a bus for a 35-mile journey around the M25 at rush hour and check in for the Havana flight at Gatwick, Andrew and Jacqueline Latto asked to switch their southbound flight. Lastminute.com agreed it could be changed – but demanded almost £3,000 for the privilege.

In November, Lastminute sold Mr and Mrs Latto a holiday from Edinburgh via London to Havana in Cuba, costing £2,100 each for a fortnight.

Mr Latto said: “As I booked the entire holiday as a package through Lastminute.com, I presumed the connecting flights in London would be from the same London airport.” The Virgin Atlantic flights were from Gatwick, which has a connection from Edinburgh. But instead they were booked on a flight 15 minutes later to Heathrow.

The time allowed between the British Airways flight arriving at Heathrow and the Virgin Atlantic departure from Gatwick is three hours, 40 minutes. Were the couple to miss the connection, Virgin Atlantic would re-book them – but the next flight to Havana is three days later.

BA is currently selling the Edinburgh-Gatwick flight at £45, compared with £68 for Edinburgh-Heathrow. On the return trip, flying back from Gatwick is £7 cheaper.

Mr Latto said: “When I spoke to Lastminute’s customer care team and explained the problem, the response I expected would have been, ‘Sorry, our website should have automatically given you the same airport for your connecting flights, we’ll arrange the change with the airline at no cost to you and email you with the new schedule’.

“Instead I’ve was given no apology, a ridiculously overpriced alternative and told I can take it or leave it.”

The online travel agency, which promises “huge savings on hotels, flights, holidays …”, said Virgin Atlantic was charging a penalty of £300, along with a “price adjustment” of £2,548. Lastminute itself is taking a £26.50 handling fee. In total, the cost for amending the airport from Heathrow to Gatwick is £2,874.50.

An obvious solution presented itself to Mr Latto: that they should book their own flights from Edinburgh to Gatwick and pick up the Virgin Atlantic connection there. But he was told the entire holiday would be cancelled without refund if they were “no-shows” for the first leg.

High cost: Andrew and Jacqueline Latto face a bill of nearly £3,000 to change a domestic flight from Heathrow to Gatwick (Andrew Latto)

After considerable negotiation, Lastminute said Virgin Atlantic has offered to allow the couple to drop the Scottish connections, and re-book them at extra expense, for a fee of £1,094 plus the cost of new flights.

Mr Latto then appealed to Virgin Atlantic to reduce the penalty. He was told that the connection was “legal” – ie more time was allowed than the officially stipulated Minimum Connecting Time: “As the time you have available for your connection exceeds the time needed, any changes to your ticket have to be made as per your ticket’s terms and conditions,” he was told.

Virgin Atlantic’s customer service agent also told him: “I hope that you and Jacqueline are excited and looking forward to your upcoming holiday.”

Mr Latto said: “I’m now contemplating whether to cancel the entire holiday and lose my £1,000 deposit or run the risk of missing my connection and possibly starting my holiday with a three-night stay at the Costa del Gatwick.”

Lastminute.com placed the blame firmly on Mr Latto, for failing to notice that he had been assigned flights to Heathrow. A spokesperson said: “We offer a wide range of flight combinations as part of our dynamic packaging product offering. We allow customers to select the most suitable flight combinations subject to their individual needs.

“The airport is made clear throughout the booking process and the customer has the opportunity to change the flights before booking.

“The change quote subsequently provided to the customer was based on fare rules. The price difference comes because the package itineraries are tied together to give the customer the best deal and these would have to be entirely recosted based on availability at the time of the customer’s change request.

“We aim to make all details as clear as possible throughout the booking process, and urge all customers to double check travel details before booking.”

Lastminute said that 99 per cent of the £2,874 change fee would go to Virgin Atlantic.

The airline told The Independent: “We’re investigating and will find a resolution for the customer as soon as a possible.”