Overbooked Flight Issue With Austrian Airlines And Trip.com

I am writing about a serious problem we experienced with a flight booking made through Trip.com for Austrian Airlines on 12 August, on the route Venice–Vienna (OS544) and Vienna–Ankara. The Vienna–Ankara segment was operated by another airline, AJet, and the whole journey was sold to us by Trip.com as a Self-Transfer/Smooth Travel itinerary with a “Safe Connection Guarantee”. We had already checked in for the Venice–Vienna flight, but our boarding passes showed “Waitinglist – OS544”. At the gate, the airline staff confirmed that the flight was overbooked by four passengers. Only one seat became available for the two of us, and it was not specifically assigned to either passenger. We did not volunteer to give up our seats and did not sign any waiver or voluntary agreement. We explicitly asked the gate staff about our options, but no refund option or passenger rights were explained to us. We were told that they had to rebook us to Vienna, otherwise the €250 compensation would not be provided, and the only written document we received was the €250 compensation voucher. Both of us were then rebooked via Munich to Vienna, with an arrival time around 20:30, while our onward Vienna–Ankara AJet flight was scheduled to depart at 18:30. This made our original connection impossible to catch. At that point we immediately contacted Trip.com. During a recorded call, Team Leader Vanessa repeatedly confirmed that approximately 50,000 TRY refund was shown as available in their system for this booking. We asked several times whether she was sure, and she confirmed this each time. Relying on this information and on the confirmation that this was not a voluntary cancellation, we did not take the rebooked connection to Vienna and instead purchased new flights to Turkey ourselves, paying 70,389 TRY. As a result of the missed connection and the uncertainty, we also had to stay overnight at the airport under very rough conditions. Later, Trip.com confirmed in writing that this was not a voluntary cancellation. However, afterwards another representative informed us that the mandatory cancellation request had been rejected and suggested proceeding with a normal cancellation instead. We had originally paid 38,074.84 TRY for this two-person Self-Transfer/Smooth Travel itinerary with Safe Connection Guarantee. These contradictory instructions, the lack of clear information about our rights at the airport, and the incorrect and repeatedly confirmed refund information provided by Trip.com, on which we relied when buying new tickets, are the main reasons for our complaint. In light of the above, we request that Trip.com pay us 70,389 TRY, representing the total cost we incurred for the replacement flights we had to purchase after relying on the information given by Trip.com. If Trip.com is not willing to cover this full amount, then at the very least we expect payment of the approximately 50,000 TRY refund amount that Team Leader Vanessa repeatedly assured us was available in their system. We expect Trip.com to review the call recordings and written correspondence, recognize that this was not a voluntary cancellation, and resolve this matter without further delay.