Vueling cancellation refund

joerugby

Any advice with this would be much appreciated

In January we booked return flights Cardiff to Barcelona for the end of June with Vueling.

This week they have cancelled the outbound flight and offered an alternative two days later which is unacceptable. I have asked them to cancel and refund the whole trip but they have refused saying that the return flight is unaffected and so they have only refunded the outbound journey

Their t&c's are very difficult to read and I am not sure if EU 261/2004 is helpful in this case. We are not asking for compensation, just a full refund of what we have paid.

Does anyone have any experience in this area?

Thank you

richardw

Anything suitable from BRS as an alternative outbound?

joerugby

richardw wrote: »

Anything suitable from BRS as an alternative outbound?

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes there is with Easyjet but that means flying out from BRS and back to CWL which is pretty inconvenient

richardw

Vueling have cancelled your flight so they must offer you a choice of

(a) - reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,
- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;
(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or
(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.

This is article 8 of http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

decide which one of a, b or c you want and then ask Vueling to comply with the regulation.

photome

Wouldnt the OP only be entitled to a refund of the outbound flight if the flights were bought as 2 singles ?

richardw

photome wrote: »

Wouldnt the OP only be entitled to a refund of the outbound flight if the flights were bought as 2 singles ?

2 singles on the same airline make a return, irrespective of how they were sold.

joerugby

richardw wrote: »

Vueling have cancelled your flight so they must offer you a choice of

(a) - reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,
- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;
(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or
(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.

This is article 8 of http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

decide which one of a, b or c you want and then ask Vueling to comply with the regulation.

I have done as you suggest and here is their reply

"Thank you for contacting Vueling. In response to your e-mail we would like to indicate that it is necessary, between the outbound and the return flight, 72 hours in order to refund the whole ticket. In this case, as here are more than 72 hours, it is not possible to refund the amount of the return flight."

They go on to describe the opportunities to change the return flight and the charges for doing so

I have replied saying that there is no reference to 72 hours in the EU regulation and await their further response

joerugby

I've finally received Vueling's considered reply

"Thank you for contacting Vueling. In response to your e-mail we would like to indicate that it is our standard procedure to only cancel the affected leg. We as a company make an exception to that with the 72 hour policy. In this case there are 7 days in between the flights, son unfortunately we can´t refund you for both ways. We apolgize for the incovenience.

"We hope to have informed you sufficiently, if you have any other question please don´t hesitate to contact us."

Centipede100

joerugby wrote: »

I've finally received Vueling's considered reply

"Thank you for contacting Vueling. In response to your e-mail we would like to indicate that it is our standard procedure to only cancel the affected leg. We as a company make an exception to that with the 72 hour policy. In this case there are 7 days in between the flights, son unfortunately we can´t refund you for both ways. We apolgize for the incovenience.

"We hope to have informed you sufficiently, if you have any other question please don´t hesitate to contact us."

Perhaps you could now send them your last and considered reply which should be a Notice before Action, giving them 7 days to make a full refund in line with Article 8 of Regulation 261/2004 or you will see them in court.

You might like to also refer the airline to its own Conditions of Carriage below which states pretty much the same as Art 8 (my bolding):


7.2.3: Measures for reimbursement and alternative transport: VUELING, in the event of cancellation or denied boarding, offers passengers the following options: In cases of cancelation or denied boarding, VUELING will offer Passengers the following options:

1. Refund within a period of seven (7) days of the full cost of the Ticket or Connecting Ticket at the price at which it was purchased, corresponding to the portion or portions of the journey not completed and the portion or portions completed, if the flight no longer is needed for the Passenger’s initial travel plans. Likewise, if necessary, a return flight to the initial departure point will be offered as soon as possible; or
2. Carriage to the final destination under comparable transportation conditions, as quickly as possible; or
3. Carriage to the final destination under comparable transportation conditions, at a later date arranged by the Passenger, depending on seat availability.

They seem to be contradicting the terms of their own contract so make this very forcefully to them! If you have paid using a credit card, you should also put the provider on notice that the airline have contravened the terms of the contract between you and you will add the card issuer to the claim if you pursue the legal angle.

WelshSun

Wow their English is poor lol. They also don't listen to what they are told.

Complain to Alex Cruz alex.cruz@vueling.com and CC. customer services.

If that doesnt work take them to county court. Hope they give you what you want though!!

joerugby

Thanks for the replies.

Taking them to court is not an option as legal juristiction according to their t&c's is the Spanish court in Barcelona ...... and we're talking about a £140 refund. So I don't think a letter before action is going to carry much weight.

However I thought the CAA had a role to play in policing the EU regulation - does anyone know about this?

Thanks also for the email address of the ceo - I'll pick my moment to use this

I'm also looking up the process for claiming against Visa.