Manuel Patarroyo

I booked a TUI fly flight via the online travel agency BudgetAir, for the route Amsterdam–Cancun–Bogotá. On the day of departure I was asked to pay €525 (originally €900) for one additional checked bag, which is more than the price of the ticket itself. Because of this excessive and unexpected charge, I was unable to travel and the ticket remained completely unused.

BudgetAir told me that these conditions “come from the airline”, so I tried to contact TUI fly directly to ask for clarification and a fair solution. This has been extremely frustrating:

The online complaint form does not accept my booking number, because the trip was booked through BudgetAir.

I have received no meaningful response from TUI fly customer service by other channels.

Whenever there is any answer at all, the message is simply that “everything must be handled by BudgetAir”, without any real attempt to investigate or help resolve the problem.

In practice, TUI fly is happy to operate the flight and apply the baggage rules, but when a serious issue arises they hide behind the intermediary and refuse to engage with the passenger. There is no real ownership of the problem and no willingness to help.

I understand that I booked through a third party, but the flights were operated by TUI fly and the baggage policies are theirs. As a passenger, I feel completely left alone between the airline and the agency, with both sides pointing at each other and nobody taking responsibility.

Based on this experience, I cannot recommend TUI fly. If something goes wrong, do not expect their customer service to be responsive or helpful.

I booked a TUI fly ticket through BudgetAir (booking BA-20571237) for the route Amsterdam–Cancun–Bogotá. At no point during the booking process was it clearly stated that one additional checked bag could cost an extremely high amount.
On the day of departure, at the TUI fly check-in desk, I was informed that one single extra suitcase would cost €525 (This after a discount, because at the beginning they were charging me €900), which is more than the price of the ticket itself. If I had known this in advance, I would never have chosen this booking or this fare. Faced with this unexpected and disproportionate charge, I was unable to travel and the ticket went completely unused.
I contacted BudgetAir to request at least a refund of unused taxes and fees or some form of compensation. Their response was that the ticket is “non-refundable” and that even the taxes cannot be refunded because, according to them, cancellation penalties “exceed the value of the ticket”. They have not provided a clear breakdown of these supposed charges and have taken no responsibility for the lack of transparency regarding baggage costs.


In summary:


Essential information about baggage charges was not transparently disclosed at the time of purchase.


When the problem arose, BudgetAir simply repeated the ticket conditions and offered no practical solution or goodwill.


I lost the entire value of the ticket without flying a single leg of the trip.


I do not recommend using BudgetAir. If you still decide to book with them, double-check all baggage costs directly with the airline before paying, because afterwards no one takes responsibility.