Flight delay compensation, all other EU airlines

Reji79

I was travelling back from Mallorca to Stansted via Cologne with my family(wife and two kids). Few hours before my scheduled departure I got email and text message informing my flight is cancelled. I've approached the airline helpdesk at the airport and they offered a flight for next day. I declined that offer and they advised me to book with another airline as they don't have a flight to UK on the same day and I can claim from airline later. I've called their contact centre who also gave similar advice. So I've booked with another carrier to LHR which costed more than my cancelled eurowings flight ticket.

Then I've sent compensation claim to their email address and after 17 weeks they have responded agreeing to pay the compensation. But they have declined to my rerouting expenses and instead agreed to refund my cancelled flight ticket. Please see their response below

We were unable to operate your flight as scheduled and to offer you our usual service. We genuinely regret this situation and can well understand your disappointment.

Without recognition of a legal obligation we will process the requested refund of 1.000,00 EUR (250,00 EUR per person) compensation to the account specified and kindly ask for your IBAN/BIC in order to arrange a payment. As soon as we have your bank data, we will instruct the payment without further correspondence within 14 working days. Thank you for your patience in advance. Nevertheless, we must reject any further reimbursement. According to the wording of the Regulation EC 261/2004, the direct airline distance between the departure and arrival airport is decisive. It is determined by the large-circle-method. A summing of connecting flights does not take place (ECJ C 559/16).

We will certainly refund you for the costs of the cancelled flight EW591. Kindly be informed that the credit will be made to the mode of payment registered when making the booking.

If you decide on your own on taking a self-organised substitute transportation, there is no obligation to bear the costs. Alternative transportation is only due to the affected airlines' operated flights. In case of (reasonable) capacities being unsufficient, the claim is limited to the reimbursement of the original airfare paid (cf. LG Potsdam 13 S 89/10 Rn. 16 et seq.).

Since you have withdrawn from this flight due to the lack of rebooking in our system and have thus left the relationship of care, we cannot offer you a refund of the further costs (food & drinks, transfer).

My cancelled flight ticket was €518 where as the alternate flight costed me €2088. In addition it costed extra to go travel to Stansted from Heathrow's to get my car in the airport parking. So if I accept the refund I would be loosing huge sum. Do I have another option. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

JPears

Were both your flights with eurowings and on a "single ticket"?
Did you request a refund before booking alternative flights?

If the answer is yes and no then Eurowings are probably wrong. They are responsible for your additional costs of re-routing.
Here is a link to the regulation governing the airlines legal responsibilities and obligations:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261&from=EN


You need to quote the relevant parts of the regualtuion at them, contained in article 5 and 8.
Are Eurowings signed up to an ADR?

patch9495

Good Morning All,


We have booked a flight to within the EU departing in 2 weeks through a package holiday.
Yesterday whilst checking an issue with the hotel (completely separate issue) a sales rep of the travel agency said to me "I assume you know your flight has been changed." This was the first I had heard of this issue with no previous communication from the travel agent. The alternative flight offered is a full 24 hours after, and will not be suitable as the city break was only for 3 days now cut to 2.


People have booked transport from all over the country to attend this event.


There is a different flight on the same day stated, however with a different airline. The hotel transfers and return flights remain unaffected. Holiday was paid for on a Credit Card with 25% deposit on a debit card.


What rights if any do I have and how do I approach this with the travel agent, as they have stated they may well issue a response only 3 days before we fly!!


Thanks in advance

jpsartre

You're probably entitled to rerouting but I expect you will have troubles arranging it since airlines are generally hesitant to offer it on other airlines and in your case you will need to go through the agent which won't make things easier. You could book the new flight yourself and seek reimbursement from the airline later or request a refund of the changed flight. If you tell us where you're flying to/from someone in here may be able to suggest alternatives as well.

patch9495

Thank you for the response, we are flying from London Gatwick to Prague, there are alternative flights available with alternative airlines on the same day which we require


Additionally the package holiday contains ATOL protection and we all have valid travel insurance


Many Thanks

jpsartre

Assuming you were originally scheduled to fly out on January 24 you may consider simply booking a new easyJet flight yourself and getting a refund for the (I presume?) changed Smartwings flight. They're pretty reasonably priced.

patch9495

That is exactly what we were considering doing, however were unsure how we go about this especially as through a travel agent.


Only the outbound leg of our flight has been cancelled, not the return leg. Would it be possible to book an alternative outbound flight (only get refund for this) and still used the booked planned return flight?


Many Thanks

jpsartre

patch9495 wrote: »

Only the outbound leg of our flight has been cancelled, not the return leg. Would it be possible to book an alternative outbound flight (only get refund for this) and still used the booked planned return flight?

You'll need to talk to the agent about that. In theory it should be possible.

JPears

The responsibility for this lies both with the airline and the travel agent.
You need to push them very hard to make alternative arrangements that are suitable to you, at their expense.
Both have failed in their obligations to inform you of the change. Who ultimately pays is not your concern.
You are almost certainly entitled to re-routing at a time convenient to you, including alternative airlines. Make both the airlinie and the agent fully aware of your rights under regualtion 261/2004, irrespective of any rights under ATOL or package holiday benefits.
You may have to pay for the flights and then reclaim fromn airline or agent. Its a complicated area and we don't have much info on ATOL or package holiday rights on this particular forum.
Also if you have been given less than 2 weeks notice of the cancellation then youo may be due compensation.

legal_magpie

So far as I know, ATOL only applies if the airline goes bust. The package holiday regulations make it clear that if there is a breach by one party, the tour operator is liable. The usual scenario is where the hotel is deficient in some way, in which case you can sue the tour operator. In this case, you should follow the advice of JPears (post immediately before this one) and make it clear that if they can't or won't reroute you, you will make your own arrangement for the flight and claim the cost from them. Put it in writing and do it quickly. Also make sure that the airline does not cancel your return flight. Some airlines do this if the passenger isn't on the outbound flight.