Flights cancelled in December

NJBlayney

Hi! I’ve never posted before so not sure if I’ve done it right!

My husband and I got married on Saturday 18th December and travelled to Heathrow the following day to go on our honeymoon. Our flight from Newcastle to Heathrow was cancelled (Heathrow weren’t accepting flights) so we got the train. The train stopped as overhead lines were down around Peterborough so we got off and jumped in a taxi for the remaining 150 miles. When we finally reached our hotel we got an email from American Airlines telling us our international flight in the morning was cancelled. All to do with the snow / ice.

We couldn’t get into the terminal to speak to someone at the American Airlines desk as there was security on the door. We rang our insurance to see what we could do. They told us that if we decided not to go the cancellation insurance was £3000. We could not believe it as the honeymoon cost £10,000. Our travel agent helped us by rebooking flights on Christmas day, which was the earliest date with spaces. We lost 5 days of our honeymoon at a cost of over £3000. Hotels and subsistence at Heathrow for a week cost over £700. As soon as flights started getting cancelled, many hotels put their prices up overnight.

We thought the cancellation insurance would cover these costs as our flight had been cancelled. When we returned I rang the insurance to try and claim and they told us that because we did actually go, albeit 5 days late, we could only claim for delay (£240 max). We were gutted! We asked the travel agent and they said they weren’t insured for this sort of thing, we should claim from the airline. The airline wrote back to say they were not going to compensate us.

Where do we turn next? Someone told us that the travel agent should have cancelled the whole holiday and rebooked a few days later and claimed from their insurance. Does anyone know if this is true? Also, the travel agent told us that the airline are responsible for providing accommodation when flights are cancelled. Is this true? If it is, why did the travel agent arrange hotels for us rather than directing us to the airline?

We are so frustrated and not sure where to turn next. Can anyone help?

richardw

Was it a Package Holiday?

Did you have through air tickets from Newcastle to your final destination?

Which airline was it from NCL-LHR? What reason did they give for cancellation?

What reason did AA give for the cancellation?

jammin_2

NJBlayney wrote: »

Hi! I’ve never posted before so not sure if I’ve done it right!

You did it right.

NJBlayney

My husband liaised with the travel agent and chose all of the aspects he wanted - places, activities etc then everything was booked through the same travel agent - all flights, transfers, accommodation etc.

The flights were booked right through from Newcastle. Newcastle - London Heathrow - Miami, US - San Jose, Costa Rica. The NCL-LHR flight was British Airways and they cancelled as LHR was not accepting flights. The BA desk at Newcastle gave us a voucher for train tickets so we were reasonably happy with that as long as we got there.

The reason American Airlines gave in the letter they recently wrote was weather etc but they gave no reason for the cancellation on the day. We got the following message in an email:

American Airlines Flight 57
Date: December 20
Departing: London Heathrow
Arriving: Miami, Florida
Status: We are sorry this flight has been canceled
To make alternate flight arrangements, please call us at 1-800-433-7300

When we rebooked we were put on British Airways flights to San Jose via JFK. This annoyed us even more as it took longer and my husband chose American Airlines originally even though they were more expensive because the Travel Agent said they were better (more leg room etc).

richardw

Were there separate prices for the flights on the travel agents invoice?

NJBlayney

Yes all aspects of the holiday were listed separately. The travel agent has also given us a breakdown of the costs of the days of the honeymoon we missed.

Caz3121

Who rebooked you onto the BA flight? you mention that your travel agent helped with the rebooking.
American Airlines were responsible to rearrange your flight and cover your accomodation/meals until the time of the flight they arrange

richardw

NJBlayney wrote: »

Yes all aspects of the holiday were listed separately.

Please confirm if in the original invoice there was a separate price for the flight.

Alan_Bowen

I would start by asking why the travel agent sold you a policy of insurance that only covered cancellation charges up to £3000 when the holiday cost three times as much, that appears to be negligence, although you should have read the policy before travelling. American Airlines was responsible under EU261 to provide accommodation but I am afraid to say most US carriers ignore this law more often than comply with it. If you were on a package holiday where there was a named tour operator providing the holiday from London back to London, they would have looked after you but from what you say, it appears each of the elements was booked separately which makes things less clear. If it is any consolation, BA are generally much better than AA but AA are cheaper! The extra legroom that AA used to have was removed years ago so it sounds as though the agent was ratehr out of touch. You should make a formal claim to AA for your reasonable hotel costs quoting EU261/2004 and comment that as no passengers were allowed into Terminal 3 you could not speak directly to a representative and relied on their agent(your travel agent) to reconfirm the earliest departure

lfc84

which airline issued the ticket?

NJBlayney

Thanks for all your replies!

Yes flights were listed separately so we know exactly how much the flights for each leg cost.

The original ticket was issued by American Airlines.

The insurance was my mistake, the travel agent didn't sell it to us. We have a Barclays premier account and the insurance is with that. Being their super super insurance I assumed we were fully covered but I should have checked more closely.

It's disappointing about the leg room thing being out of date as the AA flights were actually more expensive than equivalent BA flights.

Thanks for the regulations to quote, I shall definitely make a further complaint!

Quote: 'If you were on a package holiday where there was a named tour operator providing the holiday from London back to London, they would have looked after you but from what you say, it appears each of the elements was booked separately which makes things less clear.'

...Everything was booked through one travel agent, nothing was booked independently. Does that make a difference?