Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

n65uk

Hi all,

I just got back from a holiday in Disneyland Paris.

It was a nightmare using Easyjet flights
My flight to Paris was cancelled Thurs 17/09 due to the french strike, and re-arranged for Fri 18/09. As such, I lost out on a half board rate for 2 people, room rate and park ticket for this one night. I pre-booked the shuttle service from CDG airport to the park itself. When I arrived I was told that my ticket was invalid as I was 1 day late, I had to pay 36EUR again.

Coming back to England, my flight was also cancelled on Thurs 23/09 due to the strike action. Easyjet offered me the next flight (on Fri 24/09) but it was unacceptable as I had arrangements and work commitments which I needed to keep.

I then looked at the Eurostar to get back into England. This cost me 310EUR, as well as £40 to get back from London to Bristol. The eurostar directly from Disneyland was full, and as such as I had get into Paris Du Nord, which cost about 15EUR (and a 1 hour waiting for a train), and then from Paris Du Nord to London. However, this was an early train (one of the only ones with seats left apparently), and as such my half board ticket for my final day (as my original flight was due to leave late evening, I was still going to use my half board ticket for my final day) was useless, I couldn't use it as I was gone from the hotel by 7am, to ensure I got the 8.30am Eurostar.

Therefore, I lost a little bit as I was not there to use it, and had to pay out a lot to get back on Thursday.

My question is this, my travel agents have said Easyjet will pay for at least some of what I have lost/not used/had to pay out - do you think the same? If so, whats the best way? As I've heard so many stories about letters going unanswered.

Thanks for any advice.

danwalks

I was recently caught up in the French air strike during a short break away with family. I booked through Ryanair and my Sister-in-law through Easyjet. To cut the story short both airlines grounded all their flights home to Liverpool and the Uk on the 23rd Sept due to an air strike in france but whilst Easyjet accomodated all their passengers with transfers and accomodation until the next available flight free of charge Ryanair only offered a refund on the return flight or said could book you onto the next available flight which was at the earliest a week plus after the original departure date (30th onwards). Ryanair did not offer any accomodation at all until the date of flight as they said "it wasn't their fault". How can two low budget airlines differ so differently in their standards for customers who have given them their money ???

The ryanair passengers had to wait in a queue for over 3 hours to be told this as nobody had the deceny to inform people standing in the queue of the situation. Many people including my wife and I had to sort ourselves out with accomdation if we decided to stay for the next available flights which by the time i got to the front of the queue had gone back to the 3rd October. I presume there wouldn't have been many complaints if all you needed was your spends for an extra weeks holiday !!!

I received no joy from Ryanair themselves nor with the package deal operators Lowcost Holidays as they said the airline needed to sort it out.

So basically I was left to book alternative flights home at a cost of over £700 the next day and stay in the airport over night with no refreshments/vouchers/bed/cleaning facilities from Ryanair while my sister-in-law went off to her new hotel for an extra week. I found this situation completely disgusting and would like to know am I entitled to any compensation at all from either the airline or package operator ?

n65uk

Cityboy wrote: »

Did you, for instance, ask the airline whether they would accept the cost of alternative travel? Did you give them the opportunity to offer alternatives of any sort after you refused the offer of the flight the next day? If you have just taken it upon yourself to do this without giving the airline notice of having done this then you are on shaky ground.

What time were you notified of the cancellation of your return flight?

Thanks for the advice.

I asked about any alternatives they could give me, and he said he was unavailable to do much other than offer the next available flight or a refund. I said I'd be looking to go on the Eurostar, and he promptly told me to keep the receipts and tickets and claim from them when I got back - I did write down his name also, so is this something I could use?

danwalks

My route was the return from Palma to Liverpool which was cancelled along with every other Ryanair and Easyjet flight as the strike was due to end 06:00 hours 24th Sept. My main vent of anger is towards the difference between the way Easyjet accomodated their passengers whilst ryanair just left the likes of me plus several hundred others stranded to make their own arrangements until a flight was available (some days later at least). I enquired about accomodation plus any compensation towards booking another flight myself and was told no along with several others. The only thing offered to the passengers was either a return flight when available or you could be transfered FOC to another city (not even specified) that had an airport available via rail and given a flight when available but no accomodation included. I was due to depart my hotel at 15:00 hours for the airport and up till 13:30 my flight still wasn't cancelled. Whilst in the queue I either had an option to wait for a flight over the next 7-10 days or find my own way back home to see my children and take a refund. You would think between the airline and package operator that something would have been done to help those stranded.

Thanks for replying Cityboy originally.

nwolsten

Cityboy wrote: »

Neil

You are in the right! EZ should have refunded your rail fare due to this cancellation under Article 9:

Article 9
Right to care
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge:
(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;
(b) hotel accommodation in cases
- where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or
- where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary;
(c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).

Since your earliest available re-route meant that you had to travel from a different airport, then the airline is responsible for this rail fare.

You should also write to the airline in respect of the compensation due under article 5 & 7, since you have a legitimate claim in that respect too since the reason for the cancellation appears to be insufficent replacement crew.

Send the claim RM special delivery to the co sec at their registered offices in Luton. Give them a set deadline to respond to your claim (14 days) before you will commence legal action to recover the compensation of 250 euros per passenger.

EZ are in the habit of claiming ATC are responsible for cancellations so don't be surprised when this stance is repeated in your case.

As a prelude to possible legal action, check out your household contents insurance policy to see whether you have legal expenses cover included since many policies now offer this as standard. This would mean your legal expenses and costs would be covered and you would have access to legal advice should you need to commence a claim.

Hi Citiboy

I sent a letter to Easyjet Airline co. ltd at the approved address by SD and it was received the next day (1/7/10).

I've not heard a thing from them, no letter, nothing.

Where do I go from here?

thanks

nwolsten

Hi

I dont have legal protection.

I'm not overly worried about the train fare, I did claim the 250 euros in the letter though

Having just been the victim again last week of another cancellation I really would like see some justice for Joe Punter.

nwolsten

On a similar theme has anyone noticed that Easyjet now require you to go to the desk in the event of a cancellation and claim a hotel voucher which then also results in restricted meal options on the hotel.
Even the website has now changed requiring you to upload written permission from an Easjyet member of staff to claim your own hotel compensation.

I thought anyone who has suffered a cancellation could book a reasonable hotel and meals off their own back and claim a refund?

nwolsten

Great for some I agree. My problem is that I didnt know so I have feeling that now I will have an uphill struggle to obtain a refund

bdmum1

Would someone be good enough to offer some advice?

My friend booked a 5 night flight / accommodation deal with Ryanair at Palma and was due to fly back into Liverpool on Thursday 23rd September. She received a text and email on 21st advising the return flight had been cancelled due to to Air Traffic Controllers strike. This offered a refund for the flight or a seat on the next available flight.

The first available flight back to Liverpool would have been Tuesday 28th, meaning a 6 day delay, which wasn't feasible due to commitments at home.

We checked online and discovered that, despite the strike, Jet2.com were flying into Manchester on 23rd; although the cost was £250 she decided to go for this as it offered the only chance of getting her near to home for almost a week. The cancelled leg of the original Ryanair return flight would probably only generate a refund of around £20 but the priority was to get home and deal with the refund / compensation from there.

She's having no joy at all trying to get through to Ryanair for the refund, but what I wondered was whether she would be entitled to the 250/400 Euros compensation, or whether ATC strikes are excluded?

To add to her difficulties, she then had her bag, with purse, cards, phone and passport snatched the day before she returned home, so things became pretty frightening, but that's another story.

Can anyone advise on the compensation issue please?

Many thanks

teeb

Hi there thread, I was wondering if you could help.

My partner and I were booked onto a Ryanair flight, due to fly to France on the 7th of September. Cancelled due to the ATC strike, so we got our money back. No problems.

We then booked onto a BA flight that was still scheduled to leave - on the same day - from a different airport at 7pm. Unfortunately, once we arrived and checked in, the flight was delayed due to technical problems (they had to get a replacement plane from a hangar) and didn't take off until 11.30pm, 3 and a half hours later, and arrived in France at 2am local time.

I ended up paying for an airport hotel on arrival (at 2am all you want to do is sleep and there was no public transport option), as well as rearranging (and re-paying for) our travel plans significantly.

I wrote to BA with supporting evidence but they sent back a polite "Nope, sorry, nothing we can do". Is that the case? As it's a delay of more than 3 hours I thought compensation would be possible.

Alternatively, we booked travel insurance with Virgin. Is it worth getting in touch with them?

Thank you,

-teeb