Not upheld: chargeback and Section 75 claim handling; airline no-show policy application complaint against Lloyds Bank PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs M booked flights for herself and her husband with airline B using her Lloyds credit card. When her husband did not take the outbound flight, B automatically cancelled his return flight without prior notification. Mrs M was forced to purchase a separate one-way ticket for £837.96. She requested that Lloyds raise a chargeback and pursue a Section 75 claim, but Lloyds declined both. The ombudsman found that Lloyds acted fairly because B's no-show policy, clearly stated on their website, provided a valid defence to both a chargeback and Section 75 claim, and there was no evidence of breach of contract or misrepresentation by B.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Lloyds could have better identified the true nature of Mrs M's dispute, this did not affect the outcome. For a chargeback, there was no reasonable prospect of success because B's no-show policy, which automatically cancels remaining flights when an outbound flight is missed, provided a valid defence. For a Section 75 claim, the technical criteria were met, but there was insufficient evidence of breach of contract or misrepresentation by B. Mrs M was only informed B at check-in that her husband would not travel, and B's policy was clearly stated on their website. The fact that Mrs M could later check in online and receive a boarding pass likely resulted from B's internal error rather than a breach of contract. Therefore, Lloyds acted fairly in declining both the chargeback and Section 75 claim.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website