by Andy W » 25 Apr 2015, 16:14
When did you book the package, Fina?
I produce Symi Visitor's tables of who flies to Rhodes and Kos and when and publish them on the SV Travel Blog, and did the initial research for the 2015 version back in October and early November 2014. By that point Monarch Airlines was not advertising any flights at all from Birmingham to Rhodes. During summer 2014 Monarch had announced that they were going to exit the charter flight market before the 2015 summer season started, and become a scheduled airline only. This got quite a bit of newspaper and TV coverage. In my opinion if you were sold the package after October the holiday company is guilty of misleading advertising or even false pretences, and if you booked through a travel agent, that agent is guilty of negligence.
If you booked before October, as soon as Monarch Airlines had cancelled its flight you should have been informed, by the travel agent unless you booked direct with the tour operator. If this was when you booked I'm sure we can guess why this wasn't done, to lock you in as a customer instead of allowing you to take your deposit back and go elsewhere. It is disgraceful not to tell you until after you've paid the deposit.
I think the airline is less to blame than you might think in this particular case, the package tour operator and/or the travel agent are the villains in the piece. The airline went public at least 6 months before the summer season starts, the others failed to pass this on and only told you a month before, after they' taken your money.
I think I can guess who the package tour company is (and it won't be any part of Thomson or Thomas Cook who both have their own flights from Rhodes to Birmingham you could have been offered instead). Would you like to tell us so others can learn?
I'm so sorry this has happened to you.