Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Easyjet ONLY

JPears

Its an interesting one, I faced a similar situation weeks ago with a 24 hour notice cancellation.
The argument, a correct one I believe, is that had the strike gone ahead you may have arrived at the airport, in chaos, and with far less options and opportunities for re-routing.
HOWEVER, I suspect easyJet didn't give you the option of re-routing with a different airline at their expense and your convenience? No, I thought not.
This is your right and their legal obligation.
Instead they misinformed with the only option of a totally unacceptable flight or a refund.
Unfortunately taking the refund allows the airline to wash their hands of you.
I suspect if you took this to court, there is a possibility of a judge finding in your favour for a refund of your additional flight expenses.

NoviceAngel

Hmmm, that’s a tough one Mike,

I can obviously see the dilemma, first thing I would do is put your claim into Botts and EU Claim flight checker, then tell us your results.

This all hinges on wether or not planned industrial action is a good enough LEGAL reason to deny compensation.

I must admit, I can understand EasyJet’s reasoning but like you said they could have waited.

I’d like to hear other views on this, I’m really on the fence with your dilemma but my gut would say you had a valid claim because like you point out - there was NO industrial action.

Good luck, let us know how your progress

Cheers,

NoviceAngel

NoviceAngel

JPears wrote: »

The argument, a correct one I believe is that had the strike gone ahead you may have arrived at the airport, in chaos and with far less options and opportunities for re-routing.

I was writing my reply as you posted, I understand Mike lost out on ‘Right to care’ costs. But I take it from your reply that planned industrial action will get Easyjet off the hook in terms of a compensation claim ?

I agree, an interesting one that doesn’t come up routinely.

MikeJO

JPears wrote: »

Its an interesting one, I faced a similar situation weeks ago with a 24 hour notice cancellation.
The argument, a correct one I believe is that had the strike gone ahead you may have arrived at the airport, in chaos and with far less options and opportunities for re-routing.
HOWEVER, I suspect easyJet didn't give you the option of re-routing with a different airline at their expense? No, I thought not.
This is your right and their legal obligation.
Instead they misinformed with option of a totally unacceptable flight or a refund.
Unfortunately taking the refund allows the airline to wash their hands of you.
I suspect if you took this to court, there is a possibility of a judge finding in your favour for a refund of your additional flight expenses.

You suspect correctly and I can understand the point of airport problems if the strike had gone ahead. Maybe I should just try a speculative email pointing out the re-routing option failure and saying that if I don't get a response I'll go to the ombudsman which is CEDR in easyJet's case I believe. Thanks for the quick reply.

JPears

There is a specific webform for claiming expesnses on the EJ website. I would submit on there - its a pain in the butt to use.
When you get a response via email just use the case ID/reference numbers to email directly.
As you say CEDR maybe useful here.
I will be completing an MCOL this time next week unless I've received my expenses back

MikeJO

JPears wrote: »

There is a specific webform for claiming expesnses on the EJ website. I would submit on there - its a pain in the butt to use.
When you get a response via email just use the case ID/reference numbers to email directly.
As you say CEDR maybe useful here.
I will be completing an MCOL this time next week unless I've received my expenses back

Already done that and got a "do not reply" response so sent the email I quoted above to customer services ten days ago; no recognition.

System is ridiculous really; because they turned me down for this I put in a claim for another flight that arrived more than three hours late due to a tech issue but inconvenienced me not at all, they agreed to pay virtually immediately. I wasn't going to bother because it just meant I was sat in a very comfortable airport bar for a few hours so considered Martin's point on the "morality" of claiming and potential impact on price structure and put it down to experience.

So they've cost themselves just as much as they would've done anyway, possibly more if I can squeeze some out of them.

JPears

Does anyone know if easyJet pay by cheque? Signed for special delivery letter waiting for me at post office.
Or it's an airline suing me for libel...!!!55358;!!!56596;

NoviceAngel

JPears wrote: »

Does anyone know if easyJet pay by cheque? Signed for special delivery letter waiting for me at post office.
Or it's an airline suing me for libel...!!!55358;!!!56596;

Well J2 do, but they don’t pay for special delivery let alone recorded delivery, hmmm, fingers crossed.....

Tyzap

MikeJO wrote: »

Opinion of whether I should take this refused claim further would be appreciated.


Do I have a case? Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Hi Mike,

IMO there are three aspects to look into.

1. Whether you qualify for EC261 compensation.

2. Whether you qualify for re routing.

3. Whether you qualify under the duty of care regs.

Firstly tho, how were you informed of the cancellation and what was the actual wording? Please post if you have an electronic copy.

Good luck.

NoviceAngel

Tyzap wrote: »

Hi Mike,

IMO there are three aspects to look into.

1. Whether you qualify for EC261 compensation.

2. Whether you qualify for re routing.

3. Whether you qualify under the duty of care regs.

Firstly tho, how were you informed of the cancellation and what was the actual wording? Please post if you have an electronic copy.

Good luck.

I’m going to have a go at this because as today has panned out, my opinion has changed somewhat, but it may change several times again, I’m open for persuasion and discussion.

1) This to me is the main question. Is Mike entitled to compensation under EC261/2004 for an expected event that didn’t actually happen ?

To draw a parallel, if you expect bad weather at an airport, flight subsequently cancelled but other flights run with a minimum of delay, because airport manages to cope. Is the passenger entitled to compo? Well I personally hear of a few cases very similar to that scenario that we’re settled out of court.

2) I think Mike did, but they denied him that - no surprise there - I’m sure there’s another parallel there!

3) I think Mike did, but as soon as he agreed to a refund of flight, then all right to care ends.

Like I say these are my personal understandings and are not gospel by any means.

I still would urge you Mike just to run your details through some NWNF Solicitors - I’m not saying you should use them, but at least get an initial professional opinion and we can go from there ...

Good luck

NoviceAngel