Had to Return Home 10 days early

Jerseygirl55

Went to the USA on March 9th due to return home April 6th but due to FCO warning returned home  10 days early to Heathrow rather than Manchester.
Was advised by the airline that all Manchester flights were cancelled and if we did not accept the offered flight we would have to pay for a flight home.
We had prepaid for our hotel so lost 10 days at Hotel and 10 days pre paid Car Hire and had to pay to get from Heathrow to Manchester all in all total loss of about  £2000 
Contacted our Insurers who are saying we must claim from Hotel and Car Hire Provider  or failing that Credit Card neither have replied to my email
I feel they are passing the buck
Any advice appreciated
Thanks

gettingtheresometime

Well it's taken Barclaycard 17 days to respond to a secure message of mine so........

the question you have to ask yourself is do you think £2,000 is a small amount to pay given you could have be stranded state side, without insurance, & potentially with stateside medical bills?

I'm not saying that I'd be happy but in the grand scheme of things??

Nebulous2

I'm in a similar position, except I wasn't given a flight home and had to buy one, once my airline cancelled. 

My insurer was the only one I could actually get through to from abroad and I was glad to hear I had a valid claim, but I needed to get a response in writing from travel agent and credit card first. I think that is reasonable. It's a principle of claiming on insurance that you need to 'mitigate your loss' In other words don't pile on the cost just because you think the insurer will pay. 

In the current situation everyone is passing the buck. Insurer, travel agent, airline and credit card company all want to blame someone else. Don't expect this to be quick. I'm thinking I'll be lucky to get my money by Christmas. I'm happier with the insurer than anyone else at the moment though.

Birseh_

Hi JerseyGirl. Can you tell me the name of the insurer if you don't mind. If I know this I will write a response in detail to your inbox as a private message and explain what you have to do. They are passing the buck and if you have tried and failed to seek compensation elsewhere (i.e. your card company) then they have to pay. I can walk you through this if you like. 

bagand96

If the airline was British or European, then they are responsible for your costs to get you to Manchester from Heathrow.   This is law under EU261 regulations.  Yes, Covid19, especially at that time, was exceptional circumstances, but that only gets them out of paying you compensation, not your rights to re-routing.  If you have receipts for the cost of getting Heathrow-Manchester then get in touch with the airline, most have forms on their website for EU261.

Credit card have no liability here, your insurer are stalling.  Credit Card will help under Section 75 only when the supplier has failed to provide the service.  The hotel and car hire company did not fail to provide the service, you couldn't use the service due to Covid-19.

You could try and ask the hotel and car hire for a refund.  They might help they might not.  If they don't, then this is a travel insurance claim - assuming you have Cancellation/Curtailment cover, and it doesn't exclude pandemics.

Birseh_

Well done Bagand96. But I think she made it back to the UK so the flight issue is sort of dealt with unless I misunderstood.
The issue is curtailment and lost value. It should be covered by insurance unless of course you are dealing with a fraudulent entity. The Ombudsman says this as advice to INSURANCE firms

• We’ll consider foreign and domestic government information about travel restrictions in the same way as the FCO advice, taking account of policy terms.
• We’ll consider self-isolation and cancellations due to sickness in the same way as we do with ‘travelling against medical advice’.

• Lost time on holiday

  Sometimes a customer could have made an abandonment claim – but instead waited for the flight. By doing this, they’ve lost a day or more of their holiday.

  By choosing to go on a shorter trip, the customer has reduced your loss – if they’d not done this you would’ve been responsible for paying for the full cost of the abandoned holiday. 

  We might think it’s fair for you to consider covering any unused or additional costs up to the value of any abandonment claim.  For example, if the customer has lost a night in a hotel we might say you should cover that loss.

bagand96

Birseh_ said:

Well done Bagand96. But I think she made it back to the UK so the flight issue is sort of dealt with unless I misunderstood.

The OP had a ticket USA-Manchester.  Even though the airline flew them USA-Heathrow, they are still liable under EU261 to get the OP to their final destination, or if they fail to do so, reimburse the cost of doing so.  

Now it was exceptional circumstances, and to be honest I'm sure the airline were doing the best they could at the time.  But my understanding of EU261 is that the airline is still liable for transport to the final ticketed destination.  

Birseh_

My point was that they got back generally speaking without having to buy a new ticket. 

bagand96

Birseh_ said:

My point was that they got back generally speaking without having to buy a new ticket. 

Yes indeed, I agree with that.  If it was me, I'd probably be grateful to be back at all regardless of which UK airport I arrived into!  Just was offering the OP advice if they wanted to persue the airline there may be an avenue.

Birseh_

Your very good point taken. Thank you

Jerseygirl55

Thanks for all the replies much appreciated.
JerseyGirl