LastMinute.com review: Avoid - flight booking gone wrong

If I can give you any advice, please DO NOT use this company. We booked a return flight home from Malaysia to Manchester via Doha. Our travel plans had changed for unforeseen circumstances and we couldn't travel to Malaysia and in turn headed straight out to Doha using a separate flight we paid for. Before making the decision to do so, we contacted lastminute.com on several occasions 10 days in advance of our departure date to seek guidance on changing our flights, understand what the cancellation and refund options are and obtain any other advice regarding our options. Firstly, half of the agents are home based agents, based worldwide and no two agents will tell you the same thing, we had calls with distractions such as loud TV in the background, screaming children - we heard it all - what was clear was the advice was very inconsistent. They lied on several occasions and stated that we wasn't able to have a 'full' refund on our flights just a refund of airport taxes only. They failed to advise that our tickets could be reissued from the airline to fly from Doha to Manchester back home for a small admin charge, this advice in itself would have saved us all the drama, hassle and money we came to lose. They were unhelpful and have cost us several thousand pounds in additional flight costs due to not understanding the procedures and terms of the flight company they represent and sold us tickets for. To add even more complexity to this unavoidable mess - the flight they sold was a codeshare which meant that the airline that sold the ticket i. e Malaysia airlines was not the actual airline that operated the flight i. e Qatar airways. Consequently, we were denied boarding from our flight and it took two days to return home via Paris with two children. Last minute.com were unhelpful before the departure date and even worse after the incident unfolded. I have managed to recovered £2100.00 after weeks of hardball complaining but that was only because guess what the airline did refund their tickets and would do so 90 days after the departure date of an unused ticket. All other out of pocket expenses they declined to cover sighting the most unjust reason I've heard of, we feel you could have been clearer with your request (I roll my eyes) as I clearly stated in a live chat that we cannot fly back from Malaysia as we will no longer will be travelling there. Clearly wasn't clear enough! AVOID there are plenty other travel companies that you can use, you will regret it if you use this company.