Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Easyjet ONLY

Tyzap

VHL1981 wrote: »

Due to fly to Iceland this week- but whilst in rejkajavic airspace- we were told we couldn’t land and we were being returned to Bristol. Easyjet then cancelled flights. Refund given.
However, our travel insurance are saying that our accomdation is not covered??
What do people take our travel insurance for of the likes of this isn’t covered??
Anyone experienced similar ?
Thank you

This sounds very unusual.

Why did the flight return to the UK?

Did EJ offer you an alternative flight?

Did you ask for a refund?

How long was your trip for?

It sounds like flight only and accommodation booked separately?

What were your flight details date etc?

Please read Vaubans great guide for lots of info, see below.

VHL1981

Thank you. I’ll have a read.
We were rerouted to Bristol due to weather in Iceland. No alternative flights offered when ours cancelled. We are on half term and they said no flights for a week.
Easyjet were not the problem as they refunded our flights almost instantly through our online travel agent ‘travel republic’- which we booked flights, accomdation and transfers through as a package.
Travel republic facilitated our refund from
Easyjet but said they were unable to get a refund from our hotel as we were classed as a no show. ( we did contact the hotel and let them know we couldn’t come). Anyway travel republic told us to contact our insurance to get our money back from hotel. Our insurance ‘coverwise said we are not covered! Because and I quote “even though it doesn’t say you’re not covered for cancellation due to weather, it doesn’t say you are covered”...
What??
So far I have gone back to travel republic as some people have said that what we booked counted as package and they should refund us? I’m
Also trying my credit card that I booked on.
But I feel really really let down by my travel insurance- and there just be millions of people
Who take insurance out under the illusion they are covered for these things!

jpsartre

The elements you've booked from Travel Republic are entirely separate and will each have their own T&C. You'll need to pursue this with your travel insurance.

JPears

I recently renewed travel insurance for my older kids. Both had exisitng policies but the renewals were more expensive AND had numerous important benefits removed or amounts insured reduced.
Travel insurance is a nightmare, unfortunately you have to read the small print very carefully to ensure you are covered for what you need.
You need to badger the insurance company and use any complaints service and ombudsman available.

Tyzap

VHL1981,

This is quite a confusing situation for which Easyjet are fully responsible, there are other airports in Iceland where they could have diverted to if they had wanted to. Had this been a technical emergency they would have diverted to the nearest appropriate airport. They would not have returned all the way back to where they had departed from in the UK. Whatever it took to get you to your destination, EJ should have done it as that is their responsibility, even if that meant flying you on another airline at a later date. To just abandon you and walk away from the situation goes against the EU261 regulations, for which EJ are responsible.

It seems that the regs will be tightened up later this year.
In the mean time this is what the 261 regs say about packages...

2.2.6. Scope of the Regulation in relation to the Package Travel Directive
Article 3(6) and Recital 16 of the Regulation stipulate that it also applies to flights within a package tour, except where a package tour is cancelled for reasons other than cancellation of the flight. It is also stated that the rights granted under the Regulation do not affect the rights granted to passengers under the Package Travel Directive21. Travellers thus have, in principle, rights in relation to both the package organiser under the Package Travel Directive and the operating air carrier under the Regulation. Article 14 (5) of Directive (EU) 2015/2302 on package travel and linked travel arrangements, which will become fully applicable on 1 July 2018, also provides that any right to compensation or price reduction under that Directive does not affect the rights of travellers under the Regulation, but specifies that compensation or price reduction granted under passenger rights regulations and under that Directive shall be deducted from each other in order to avoid overcompensation.
However, neither the Regulation nor the Directive deals with the question of whether the package organiser or the operating air carrier ultimately has to bear the cost of their overlapping obligations22. Resolving such a matter will thus depend on the contractual provisions between organisers and carriers and the applicable national law. Any arrangements made in this regard (including practical arrangements to avoid overcompensation) must not impact negatively on the passenger's ability to address his claim to either the package organiser or the air carrier and to obtain the appropriate entitlements.

These details are from the Travel Republic website.

https://www.travelrepublic.co.uk/total-financial-protection

They suggest that they do not put packages together but I would double check this with ABTA and ATOL, whom they are members of.

Double check the responsibility of EJ before you chase your insurance company, it may be the best way forward.

Good luck.

carpy_uk

As an update to mine, both the insurance company and easyjet are refusing to pay anything. We were delayed by 13 hours because Bristol airport was closed, however the airport opened a good two hours before our flight was initially due to depart. Is it really the case that neither Ej or the insurance have to pay anything? That seems ridiculous.

jpsartre

You can't seriously expect operations to proceed as normal from the minute the airport opens after a long closure? Likely there was a massive backlog of flights that needed to depart, planes and crews may have been out of position, etc.

Caz3121

carpy_uk wrote: »

Is it really the case that neither Ej or the insurance have to pay anything? That seems ridiculous.

some insurance policies may have a payment for each period of delay - (£20 per 12 hours is not unusual) but the detail would be in the policy wording

RibZed

Hi all

So I have today received the "adjudication" from CEDR for my complaint in respect of the underpayment of reasonable expenses by EasyJet and I can honestly say that I haven't read such biased garbage in many a long year.

I would urge anyone considering whether to use the CEDR service or go via Money Claim Online to use the latter and not waste months and months with CEDR.

I have rejected the adjudication and would absolutely never consider using CEDR again for any type of resolution/mediation/adjudication. The fact that the E in their name stands for "Effective" is truly laughable.

My primary issues with them are:

The adjudicator put in the "issues in dispute" section that "the airline denies liability". Excuse me? They deny liability (in their defence) for compensation which I didn't claim. Nowhere in their defence do they "deny liability" for reimbursing all of the expenses incurred NOR the reasons why they didn't pay them in full.

My claim was on behalf of a group of 6 of us - the EJ claims were logged as 3 separate case IDs for the 3 separate booking references. The adjudicator claimed that the other 4 needed to bring their own cases and I "did not have the right to claim compensation on their behalf" despite emails being included in my evidence from the other parties that I was dealing with these cases on their behalf.
Also - that word "compensation" was actually used by the adjudicator in their sentence. Absolutely NONE of my claim relates to compensation - it is all about the reimbursement of reasonable expenses and EJ under-reimbursing what we had claimed. This - to me - shows incredible bias, because EJ did not defend my expenses claim (i.e. did not give a defence as to why they had underpaid the expense claim), they gave a defence as to why they didn't pay compensation. I DIDN'T CLAIM ANY COMPENSATION!!!

Finally, the adjudicator awarded me £0 because I didn't include all of the receipts for which I was claiming and he "wasn't inclined" to ask me for them. Therefore - because I hadn' provided the actual receipts/evidence that I had incurred all of the expenses I was claiming - he couldn't award me anything. There was me thinking I wouldn't need to upload all of the receipts because EJ would explain - in their defence - what their justification for not paying them in full was. So - because EJ didn't file a defence to what was being claimed against them, but instead filed a defence as to why they didn't pay compensation. it was down to ME to prove that the expenses I claimed were reasonable. I just find it nonsensical that EJ can get away with not having to justify / defend why they hadn't paid the expenses claimed and, because of that, it is MY evidence that is lacking?

I would urge anyone reading this forum to not waste their precious time with CEDR and go straight for MCO.

Tyzap

Hi RibZed,

Thats another disappointing decision from CEDR. Their system displays a lack of flexibility and understanding, which is costing claimants cases that they should be winning

Having said that, it would have been prudent to have included all your claimable receipts, even if it was for nothing more than a 'belt and braces' approach.

I understand that CEDR are snowed under with claims and that quality may be being compromised for quantity. I'm gradually being turned off using CEDR because of this.

MCOL is still open to you and I'm sure this experience will stiffen your resolve if you decide to go down that route, I would.

Good luck.