I have just returned from a trip to New Zealand with one of my sons that was extended by a few days by having our return flights cancelled. Here is the relevant timeline:

• July 2025 book return flights to Auckland, via Dubai, with Emirates airline, through FlightOffice.co.uk (part of Travelopedia Ltd.), for February into March 2026.
• February 28^th, 2026, USA and Israel start war with Iran.
• March 1^st sees Emirates suspend operations as regional airspace closures are put in place.
• Emirates immediately cancel the daily flights from Auckland to Dubai up until, and including, March 4^th. My flight remains scheduled on the 5^th.
• March 3^rd Emirates cancel my flight on the 5^th.

Having booked through an agency rather than direct (something I will try to avoid in the future!), Emirates gave me two options:

1. Allow them to rebook me onto one of their flights once available (but unlikely to be before 20^th March!)
2. Accept a paltry refund (c.£600) and get my agent to rebook an alternative route home.

The first option really wasn’t an option, so it had to be the second one. Before speaking to the agency, I had a quick look at what was showing as available options on Skyscanner and Google Flights. This showed multiple options via Singapore, China and USA at prices around the £800 each mark for departures on the 5^th.

Armed with this information I ring FlightOffice and get through to one of their ‘senior travel consultants’ called Jimmy Stokes. He sounds like a very nice guy, empathetic with my plight and seemingly keen to help me as best he could.

He suggests that my best option is a departure on the 5^th that goes via Honolulu and US mainland city (I forget which) at a cost of around £1200 each. I ask him about the fact that I’ve seen multiple options advertised at around £800 and he advises me that he doubts that they will prove available and/or will be at hugely inflated prices once you get to the checkout point. I’m feeling a bit sceptical, so tell Jimmy I’ll have a go at securing a cheaper deal and get back to him if he is right. He’s fine with that.

Sure enough, he proves right. Already, in the space of about 10-15 minutes, all the Singapore options have gone. Wary of going via remote Chinese airports, I try a route via USA at around £800 each that seems to be ok, but as I get to checkout it informs me that it has just sold out. I try a route via China showing at £850 each and as I get to the checkout the price rockets to about £6850!!

So, I quickly get back to Jimmy via his direct line. He tells me that the £1200 option on the 5^th has now gone too. He now tells me that the best he can secure right now is an option via Los Angeles that departs on the 8^th for £1050 each. Starting to feel a sense of rising desperation, I agree, and with emails exchanged, the deal is secured. I thank Jimmy and feel a sense of relief more than anything, despite having just forked out £2100!

This new route home means I will be circumnavigating the world and will have enough time in LA to go and check out Santa Monica and Venis Beach. Every cloud …

The flights are with Virgin Atlantic (LAX-LHR) and their partner airline, Delta (AKL-LAX), and having used them before and having their app, I log in to choose seats, and then relax into 3 ‘bonus’ days in Auckland. I didn’t take any real notice of the email from Virgin Atlantic that arrived on 6^th March confirming my seat reservations.

A day or two after finally getting home I set about seeing if there is any chance of our travel insurances coughing up. I’m not optimistic, given general exclusions around war disruptions, but the websites suggest it is worth putting in a claim in this particular case.

It’s a labourious task but the salient point is that I get to the point of wanting to list the modest fee I paid directly to Virgin Atlantic for the privilege of choosing seats (£34 each) and I dig out the email they sent me on the 6^th. I am gobsmacked as I scroll down to find not just the amount I paid for selecting seats buy a full breakdown of the fares for the flight ……

The price of the flights was not the £2100 I had been charged by Jimmy at FlightOffice, but a fraction under £1200!!!

The feckers had ripped me off to the tune of just over £900!!!

Had I not separately purchased seat selection direct with Virgin Atlantic I do not think I would have had any direct communication from them at all and I would have never become aware of this huge rip-off.

I email, message and call Jimmy to ask for an explanation and what he proposes to do about it but get absolutely no response despite seeing ‘read’ against the messages. I send further messages stating that if I don’t get a response and some recourse, I will go public with this blatant rip-off of desperate customers. No response so here goes.

I am emailing this article to Simon Calder, Martin Lewis and a around 300 news desks of TV, radio and press (both national and regional), courtesy of ChatGPT. It will be interesting to see if any want to run with this story. Failing that, I hope my regular blog followers will learn the lessons of this story.