Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Easyjet ONLY

eskbanker

When the original flight was curtailed, the airline was obliged to offer her the choice between a refund or rebooking.

Having already accepted the rebooking, if she then unilaterally chose not to travel, simply on the basis of a short delay to the flight's advertised departure time, then the airline has no liability to offer a refund or vouchers (no harm in asking, but she has no actual rights here).

Beyond the airline's lack of liability for flight costs, there won't be any recovery of other costs if she had no meaningful insurance coverage, and likewise card providers won't be responsible for any reimbursement for what is ultimately a disinclination to travel. 

Lost_in_translation

eskbanker said:

When the original flight was curtailed, the airline was obliged to offer her the choice between a refund or rebooking.

Having already accepted the rebooking, if she then unilaterally chose not to travel, simply on the basis of a short delay to the flight's advertised departure time, then the airline has no liability to offer a refund or vouchers (no harm in asking, but she has no actual rights here).

Beyond the airline's lack of liability for flight costs, there won't be any recovery of other costs if she had no meaningful insurance coverage, and likewise card providers won't be responsible for any reimbursement for what is ultimately a disinclination to travel. 

Thanks, eskbanker, I suspected that but hoped maybe I was wrong. I'll talk to her about proper insurance in a while. Also, I guess she could look into rebooking the later flight for a fee rather than lose it entirely. That's worth checking to see how much she loses.

Screwdriva

Greetings All,

This is my first post on this subforum so apologies in advance if I get any protocols wrong. 

My partner and I had our EasyJet flight 8357 from LGW to NAP cancelled on the 10th of June '25. We were offered full refunds for our tickets which we accepted before rebooking flights with BA the following day (at a £650 premium + expenses). We filed claims for compensation and expense claims on our return and received the following in response to our 1) Expenses and 2) UK261 Compensation claims from EasyJet last week:

My questions are:

1) Do we have additional recourse? The reasoning provided below seemed weak at best. 
2) Would be great to know the exact text to include in our responses (assuming to their generic customer service email) to maximize our odds of success. 

Thanks in advance! 


        1) Expenses Claim

Subject: [[ Ref: ]] << Case ID:  >> About your regulatory expense claim

Regulatory expense case reference ID: 
Date received: 26-06-2025

Dear,
Thank you for submitting your claim.

Our team has now reviewed your claim and can confirm that your flight from London Gatwick Airport to Naples International Airport was due to Flight cancellation.

Expense	Amount Claimed	Comments
Replacement Transport To Your Destination	946.24 GBP+ 150.00 EUR	As you already taken the refund you are not eligible for any expenses.

Please resubmit your claim with the correct receipts using the web form link given below:https://www.easyjet.com/en/claim/welfare

You can read more about our delays and cancellations policy here, which will hopefully answer any questions you may have.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused due to the disruption to your flight.

Thank you for choosing easyJet and we look forward to welcoming you on board again soon.

Kind regards,

Ritik
easyJet Customer Services

2) Compensation Claim

Subject: About your regulatory compensation claim

Compensation Claim Assessment

Claim received: 26-06-2025

Flight Number: 8357

Flight Date: 10-06-2025

Dear,

Thank you for getting in touch. We’re very sorry that your flight from LGW to NAP was CANCELLATION

We always review claims fairly and in keeping with EU/UK regulation.  When a flight is cancelled, all customers are entitled to switch to a new flight for free, request a full refund, or a voucher for future travel. However, as your flight needed to be cancelled for reasons outside of our control, unfortunately we’re unable to offer you compensation as well.

To further explain what happened on the day; There was a station radar failure at Naples, causing severe slots and preventing us from taking off and landing. Due to the System failure, there was no estimated re-opening time and as a result we unfortunately this delay pushed your flight into the curfew which meant we had no option but to cancel your flight. We do take reasonable measures to avoid delays and cancellations to our flights by having replacement crews and spare aircraft available in our network. However, in the circumstances, these options would not have helped as your flight was cancelled as a direct result of Airport system failure.

Claiming expenses

If you incurred additional expenses in LGW on the day when the flight was cancelled, delayed, or diverted. e.g you were asked to find a hotel room for the night of a cancelled flight, or onwards transport to your destination, then you may claim reasonable expenses, as set out in our expenses policy here.

Claiming through your insurance

Although, we don’t cover other costs such as, pre-booked hotel stays in your destination or pre-booked activities, your travel insurance may do. If you require a letter from us to make your claim, you can request this by completing our ‘contact us form’ and selecting ‘insurance claim’ from the dropdown menu.

You can find out more about your rights following a cancellation, delay or diversion on our delays and cancellations page here.

Thank you for your understanding and we hope to welcome you on board again soon.

Kind regards,

easyJet Customer Services

eskbanker

Not sure you'll get anywhere with this - compensation isn't payable if a cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control, so if the root cause was lack of slots at the destination airport then that's not something the airline can realistically be held liable for.

In terms of expenses, when cancelling, the airline must offer you the choice between a refund or rebooking onto an alternative flight (at the airline's expense), so if you accept the former, you can't claim for the incremental cost of arranging your own flights, hence "As you already taken the refund you are not eligible for any expenses".

Edit: you may be able to construct some sort of argument if they literally only offered a refund without directing you to their app or call centre to rebook, but they'd normally give such options, was there anything like that in the cancellation notification messaging?

Screwdriva

eskbanker said:
Edit: you may be able to construct some sort of argument if they literally only offered a refund without directing you to their app or call centre to rebook, but they'd normally give such options, was there anything like that in the cancellation notification messaging?

The call centre chap was very helpful but there were no flights available on the day or the next day to rebook to. We had no choice but to look elsewhere.

eskbanker said:

Not sure you'll get anywhere with this - compensation isn't payable if a cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control, so if the root cause was lack of slots at the destination airport then that's not something the airline can realistically be held liable for.

Their claim is the Naples airport had a radar failure which led to the delay. Not the same as lack of slots but I suppose this can also be argued as out of EasyJet's control?

Hoenir

Screwdriva said:

Their claim is the Naples airport had a radar failure which led to the delay. Not the same as lack of slots but I suppose this can also be argued as out of EasyJet's control?

Would amount to the same outcome. Air Traffic Control would have defaulted to a totally manual system i.e. ground to air radio. Reducing the number of incoming flights into the airport. 

eskbanker

Screwdriva said:

eskbanker said:
Edit: you may be able to construct some sort of argument if they literally only offered a refund without directing you to their app or call centre to rebook, but they'd normally give such options, was there anything like that in the cancellation notification messaging?

The call centre chap was very helpful but there were no flights available on the day or the next day to rebook to. We had no choice but to look elsewhere.

It's obviously much easier to say this with hindsight but in these situations it's best to remind them of their legal obligations under article 8.1 of the UK261 regulations to arrange rebooking at the earliest opportunity (and under comparable transport conditions) even if that means using another airline.  Realistically they won't book you on another airline, but if you make it clear (on the call) that you're holding them liable for their failure to do so, and that you'll rearrange the flights yourself and claim the costs back, it puts you in a stronger position than accepting the refund.

Screwdriva said:

eskbanker said:

Not sure you'll get anywhere with this - compensation isn't payable if a cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control, so if the root cause was lack of slots at the destination airport then that's not something the airline can realistically be held liable for.

Their claim is the Naples airport had a radar failure which led to the delay. Not the same as lack of slots but I suppose this can also be argued as out of EasyJet's control?

Yes, both are outside the airline's control so the difference is academic, although if you look at the arrivals at Naples that afternoon there were some delays and cancellations but plenty of landings, suggesting something other than a complete closure, e.g. slot restrictions....

https://www.flightera.net/en/airport/Naples/LIRN/arrival/2025-06-10 18_00?

ClareK_2

My flight from Bristol to Palma was cancelled on 24 July whilst we were at the airport.  We were due to fly at 2045,  at 1500 Easyjet text to say it was delayed and at 1745 they cancelled it.  I looked at the proceeding flight and it was delayed by 2 hours at Palma due to thunderstorms, which I believed then pushed the crew over their hours and I feel Easyjet confirmed it with their refusal of compensation -

"To further explain what happened on the day; air traffic control restrictions at Majorca Palma substantially regulated the air space due to adverse weather (thunderstorms)/capacity/staffing issues, which resulted in long delays to flights as aircraft waited for air space ‘slots’ to operate, sometimes for several hours. Ultimately and in the case of this flight, the delays pushed our crew into their maximum legal operating hours. There are strict industry wide rules on the number of hours our crew are allowed to work. To protect the safety of our customers and crew, these hours cannot be exceeded. We do take reasonable measures to avoid delays and cancellations to our flights by having replacement crews and spare aircraft available in our network. In the circumstances, these options were not possible as the cancellation to your flight was a direct result of air traffic control restrictions." 

My opinion is that they knew about the delays at least 6 hours before the flight, so should have been able to get standby crew with that notice.  Palma was back up and running at the time of our flight, our flight was only delayed due to a proceeding flight being delayed, the actual cause of cancellation was the crew not being able to work.  I have replied to them and their answer is still no compensation -

"Concerning the issue with our crew exceeding their legally permitted working hours, it might seem that this could have been managed beforehand. However, unforeseen delays earlier in the day or operational disruptions can unexpectedly impact these hours. While these disruptions might appear to be within an airline's control, they can sometimes be classified as extraordinary circumstances under the regulation. This legislation specifies that airlines must compensate passengers for cancellations unless it can be shown that the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures."  

Just looking for opinions on whether I submit an ADR claim form, or whether it's pointless!

eskbanker

ClareK_2 said:

Just looking for opinions on whether I submit an ADR claim form, or whether it's pointless!

Nothing to lose by submitting - the worst that can happen is that AviationADR side with the airline but they might agree with your argument.  EasyJet are likely to produce a detailed submission with details of their staffing rosters and so on, to support their assertion that they took all reasonable measures, but that's not necessarily enough to convince an arbitrator.