Christmas flight cancellations

MaxP

We have just learned that our holiday to New York has had the final leg of the return flight cancelled. We were due to fly on the 18th of December from Bristol > Paris > New York (JFK) and return on the 24th flying JFK > Paris > Bristol, to arrive on the 25th. All flights are with Air France.

Today we learned that the Paris > Bristol flight has been cancelled. There are no alternative flights that the tour operator (Expedia) can book on Christmas Day, so we have been offered alternative flights with Air France returning the day before - moving both legs - or the day after (with an overnight stay in Paris on Christmas day). Neither of the alternatives are at all attractive to us, since one makes the holiday shorter than we want and pushes up the daily cost while the other means we will miss Christmas with the family.

We have asked the tour operator if they can route us via an alternative route or back to another UK airport, but keep the dates. Apparently they are unable to do this.

I have spoken to Air France who have confirmed that the flight has been cancelled but are unable to say why. The person was unable to look into alternatives or compensation since the booking was made via a tour operator and you need to go through a particular helpdesk if you want to take things further. That is currently closed.

Realistically we are looking at cancelling the whole holiday and trying to book via another operator. We'll have to travel from an alternative airport and hope that it won't cost us appreciably more to do so. We have also learned that Expedia can't amend the booking, cancel part of the booking or charge the difference if we book again. The refund can take up to 12 weeks. So we may be paying out for over twice the cost of the holiday until the refund comes through - great.

What are our rights? Could we get any compensation from Air France, or are we best off just cutting our losses and trying again?

Thanks for reading.

Max (still fuming).

(Booking made by Amex, no holiday insurance yet, but have got European cover with my current account)

richardw

Anything on klm via AMS? Or AF to LHR?

MaxP

Expedia say they can't change the destinations, but maybe AF can. I need to speak to them tomorrow. Expedia have been very poor in their responses. They basically can change the flights to the day before or after, or we can cancel. That's it.

CountryGoose

Your rights are here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:046:0001:0007:EN:PDF

re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their
final destination at the earliest opportunity;

and

When, in the case where a town, city or region is served
by several airports, an operating air carrier offers a passenger a
flight to an airport alternative to that for which the booking
was made, the operating air carrier shall bear the cost of transferring
the passenger from that alternative airport either to that
for which the booking was made, or to another close-by destination
agreed with the passenger.

are applicable to you.

Technically, you could fight with AF to get you on another carrier on the same dates, but this may be a struggle. A reasonable compromise would be to get AF to fly you into another UK airport and pay to get you to Bristol (and/or use another carrier). Services are limited on Xmas day, but they do exist.

If they won't play ball, write to tell them that you'll make you own arrangements and will expect them to refund. You can also include your credit card (Sec 75 claim) if you paid with that.

No compensation as you've had two weeks notice.

->> Do your homework and explore your flight options with kayak.co.uk to

1) Find flights from CDG to the UK on Xmas Day
2) If it's worth exercising your right to cancel and a full refund and rebooking elsewhere. If you choose to fly then from Birmingham, you would pick up the transfer costs as it's a new booking.

malkie76

Can't you let them move the Paris-Bristol dates, but then sort yourself out an alternate travel plan for the final leg (rather than cancel) eg Paris to London then train to Bristol? Possibly even Eurostar?

Given the notice period they can move your flights without compensation, or provide a refund (which they've offered).

mad_rich

The trouble is, when you book through an agent (Expedia) as opposed to direct with an airline, the booking is 'owned' by the agent. The airline will generally refuse to touch it until they gain control (approx 24 hours before departure).

When there's a schedule change, they issue the agent with a commercial policy indicating how to handle rebookings. I suspect that policy is what's stopping Expedia from rebooking / rerouting at a more suitable time.

Not sure which department at Air France you will be talking to, and what options they will give, but I would be interested to find out.

Have you checked out what options & prices are available if you were to take the refund?

For what it's worth, AF should provide your choice of refund or 'rerouting to your final destination as soon as possible or, if you agree, at a later date'. See http://www.auc.org.uk/default.aspx?catid=306&pagetype=90&pageid=4410 . (And before anybody pipes up, yes, this applies even though you were notified more than 14 days in advance. The cash compensation element doesn't.)

Edit: Cross-posted with Country Goose, malkie76 and Cityboy (that's what happens when you put the kettle on halfway through a reply!)

mad_rich

CountryGoose wrote: »

If they won't play ball, write to tell them that you'll make you own arrangements and will expect them to refund.

You can expect all you like, but I wouldn't be confident that they (or a court, if it came to that) would agree.

Before calling them tomorrow, I would trawl through the flight timetables. Look for flights to any airport you can reasonably get back from (Exeter? Cardiff? Birmingham? Southampton? and of course London). In decreasing order of how likely they are to reroute you:

1. Air France
2. KLM
3. Other Skyteam airlines
4. Other airlines

mad_rich

Cityboy wrote: »

Then you clearly haven't digested Robins66 thread in which the AUC agreed that she should be refunded alternative re-routed flights on another carrier and BMIbaby refunded such once a court claim had been issued.

Yay for Robins66, but I still wouldn't be confident to risk my own money. Good for you if you are.

MaxP

Spoke to AF. The initial person I spoke to seemed quite helpful and said he would look at alternative routes and call me back. After I there was no call I then called them again. Second person I spoke to was much less heplful and said I could cancel and get a refund or change the dates, as already advised, but they would not reroute.

So looks like we will have to cancel the whole holiday and try to book somewhere else, no doubt at extra cost and inconvenience to us. Many thanks AF and Expedia. Nice Christmas present.

dmg24

I know it is not ideal, but rather than cancel your whole trip, why not fly back the day before? Seems silly to cancel the whole thing.

duchy

Air France code share with Delta-perhaps they could get you onto the Delta flight on the 25th JFK LHR ?
Just a thought