FLIGHT DISRUPTIONS: Volcano ash from Iceland hits UK flight plans

Pelican_eats_pigeon

They have to offer her accommodation & meals, there's no legal way out of that...

daveyjp

Not if you booked two singles as the 'return' counts as a new journey so you are deemed to be starting your new journey form somewhere you can return to.

Thats why low cost carriers offer single tickets, rather than returns - it reduces their liablity considerably.

alanrowell

UK Airspace closed until at least 6:00pm with it being virtually certain it will be closed for the rest of the day

BA have cancelled all flights today and may do the same tomorrow

Pelican_eats_pigeon

[STRIKE]If she presented herself at the airport in time for check-in, the journey is deemed to have started even if check-in didn't actually happen due to the flight being cancelled. [/STRIKE]
While the above is true for delayed flights, with cancelled flights there is no way of saying that the 'journey hasn't started' whatsoever. The EC regulations don't really leave much wriggle room for the airlines on this.

Edit: Oh, and nothing in the Regulation exempts airlines from having to care for passengers even if they are starting a journey from somewhere they can return to.

Second Edit: I missed a sentence in the Regulation, you don't technically speaking even need to present yourself at the airport, though if you didn't it would make it kind of impractical for the airline to do much to take care of you.

neilmcl

Cityboy wrote: »

For information to all those affected by this situation the airlines are obliged to 'care for' their pax no matter what the circumstances or reasons for the cancellation or delay.

This means that passengers are entitled to meals, refreshments and accommodation if an overnight stay or stays become necessary together with travel to/from that accommodation. 2 phone calls/faxes/emails should also be offered FOC.

In addition to the 'right to care' airlines are obliged to refund your fare or re-route you (at your option) in the event of cancellation and after 5 hours in the case of delay.

Full regulation here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...4R0261:EN:HTML.

Trust this is useful.

But you've missed out the following:

(14) As under the Montreal Convention, obligations on operating air carriers should be limited or excluded in cases where an event has been caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Such circumstances may, in particular, occur in cases of political instability, meteorological conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes that affect the operation of an operating air carrier.
(15) Extraordinary circumstances should be deemed to exist where the impact of an air traffic management decision in relation to a particular aircraft on a particular day gives rise to a long delay, an overnight delay, or the cancellation of one or more flights by that aircraft, even though all reasonable measures had been taken by the air carrier concerned to avoid the delays or cancellations.

Pelican_eats_pigeon

neilmcl wrote: »

But you've missed out the following:

The section you are quoting is not actually part of the regulation. It is just part of the preamble. The regulation itself makes it clear that only the compensation is excluded in case of extraordinary circumstances. Such circumstances do not exclude airlines from having to care for their passengers.

signs_of_recovery

I wondered if anyone can help. We are 2 adults two under 12s stranded in bologna. Turned up for checkout to be told our flight was cancelled due to ash. Ryanair staff had no answers so we went and rebooked our room for that evening so we would have somewhere to stay with the kids. The next scheduled flight is not until Tuesday, which I have booked (in case it disappeared or became full) and we got for "free" however I'm not sure where we stand with booking accommodation. (Bologna is really full just now due to trade fairs) Can I just go on late rooms and find something? The room we're in is only available tonight.
Also how do I go about reclaiming for food/accomodation etc. Do I just pay for it, and then submit receipts?
A bit stressed, so please forgive any mistakes, or unclearness. I'll check back on this later for replies.

Thankyou.

Pelican_eats_pigeon

signs_of_recovery wrote: »

I wondered if anyone can help. We are 2 adults two under 12s stranded in bologna. Turned up for checkout to be told our flight was cancelled due to ash. Ryanair staff had no answers so we went and rebooked our room for that evening so we would have somewhere to stay with the kids. The next scheduled flight is not until Tuesday, which I have booked (in case it disappeared or became full) and we got for "free" however I'm not sure where we stand with booking accommodation. (Bologna is really full just now due to trade fairs) Can I just go on late rooms and find something? The room we're in is only available tonight.
Also how do I go about reclaiming for food/accomodation etc. Do I just pay for it, and then submit receipts?
A bit stressed, so please forgive any mistakes, or unclearness. I'll check back on this later for replies.

Thankyou.

Ryanair are obliged to provide you with food & accommodation and I recommend you go back and hassle them for it. They cannot disclaim responsibility by saying your journey hasn't started. [STRIKE]as you turned up at the airport in time for check-in.[/STRIKE] In fact there is no basis for saying such a thing to ANYONE in the event of cancellation.

Although the EC Regulation does not specifically deal with passengers buying their own food/accommodation and reclaiming it, if Ryanair refuse to provide you with any assistance you should be able to reclaim the cost later. However, you should try to hassle them in the first instance.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML here is the EC Regulation for you to read/print off if you like. The regulation itself starts after the (25) and you can happily ignore anything up to and including that.

Voyager2002

Pelican_eats_pigeon wrote: »

Ryanair are obliged to provide you with food & accommodation and I recommend you go back and hassle them for it. They cannot disclaim responsibility by saying your journey hasn't started as you turned up at the airport in time for check-in.

Although the EC Regulation does not specifically deal with passengers buying their own food/accommodation and reclaiming it, if Ryanair refuse to provide you with any assistance you should be able to reclaim the cost later. However, you should try to hassle them in the first instance.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML here is the EC Regulation for you to read/print off if you like. The regulation itself starts after the (25) and you can happily ignore anything up to and including that.

I will just say, when I was stranded by the cancellation of a Ryanair flight, they gave me a piece of paper telling me to arrange my own hotel and send them the receipt for later payment. I was happy with this, and indeed they paid in full after perhaps three weeks. If they offer you a similar arrangement and you have credit cards with you, I suggest you enjoy your extended holiday rather than hassling them. While you may well have a legal right to get them to arrange accommodation for you, they may well not have systems in place for doing so and no-one enjoys extra hassle.

apt

Ryanair are obliged to provide care, but I expect you will have to find the accommodation yourself and claim for the hotel and food/drink on return. Keep the receipts. Ryanair fly from other airports in Northern Italy. You could try to get an earlier flight from one of these if you don't want to wait until Tuesday.