Flight cancelled from French Alps on Sunday

sueb20

Hi all

My son is currently skiing, not on a package. He has a flight booked from Chambery airport to Manchester on Sunday 19th which has just been cancelled. He's on hold to Jet 2 now but my question is do they have to help him at all with an alternative flight/train? 

I don't need to be told that he should have booked a package and he does have insurance but I don't know if he will be covered in this situation. He has somewhere to stay so won't be stranded for accommodation.

edit to say.... i've looked at Jet 2 t & c and they don't accept any responsibility due to Covid but do they have any responsibility in law?

Any help much appreciated.

cx6

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/holiday-cancellations-and-compensation/if-your-flights-delayed-or-cancelled/

bagand96

EC261/2014 is the relevant legislation. They must provide alternative routing and if they don't you can book an alternative and seek the cost them afterwards (although keep costs as reasonable as possible). 

Potentially compensation too although they are likely covered under extraordinary circumstances with Covid. 

I would think there might be Jet2Holidays customers to bring home, I wonder what arrangements are being made for them. 

sueb20

yes my thought was how the package customers are getting home. My son has found an easyjet flight from geneva and a bus that he can buy for Sunday at a reasonable cost at the mo. How long should he sit on hold to Jet 2?

sueb20

He's booked the easyjet flight but if easyjet flight moves forward too much then he cant get there in time. 

sueb20

Ive told him to sit on hold to jet 2 tomorrow to see if they can route him via geneva on sunday but with his easyjet flight in reserve. Jet 2 do have a flight from Geneva on Sunday but he can't get there in time for the flight by bus transfer is that Jet 2 problem or my son, I suspect my son. 

sueb20

Can I check. Is he entitled to the flight cancellation compensation even though its due to Covid?

Grumpy_chap

sueb20 said:

He's booked the easyjet flight but if easyjet flight moves forward too much then he cant get there in time. 

Why not?
What time is the flight?
He might have to stop skiing earlier, or get up earlier, or change the mode of travel but, if it is a journey that he was sensibly going to do by bus, then he can get a train or a taxi.

Sorry if that sounds blunt, I don't mean it to.

These are extreme times and, if he has found and secured an alternative route home that he (or you) can sensibly finance, then it is pragmatic to take that solution and look to resolve or recover the costs from travel insurance / Jet2 once back home.  
The alternative may be stuck in France for an indeterminate period of time, simply racking up ever increasing costs that simply spiral out of control.  Then still having to pay for some flight or another to get home.

The above is not an ideal solution and it does not represent what I consider to be reasonable, nor am I even sure it covers all his "rights".  As I understand it, Jet2 are obligated to provide a re-route to a reasonable schedule when a flight is cancelled (and to cover reasonable incidental costs arising from the change).  They may yet do so, in which case the cost of the Easyjet flight will be lost, but it is a pragmatic solution.

He should probably also notify his travel insurance straight away.  There may be a claim, and telling them now gives them the option to mitigate their costs exposure.  The insurer may even provide alternate flight arrangements or may agree to cover the Easyjet flight.

Good luck and hope he gets home safely soon.

k3lvc

sueb20 said:

Ive told him to sit on hold to jet 2 tomorrow to see if they can route him via geneva on sunday but with his easyjet flight in reserve. Jet 2 do have a flight from Geneva on Sunday but he can't get there in time for the flight by bus transfer is that Jet 2 problem or my son, I suspect my son. 

You/your son need to start looking outside the box and getting home before things get worse - he's not going to be the only one in that situation and using local contacts/other Brits might be the best way forward.

I'd be mindful of trying to move between countries (i.e. into Switzerland for Geneva) given they've a 10day curfew for UK national arrivals - not sure how they'll manage a UK national who's been in France during the latest announcements.

Whatever happens he'll be needing to get tests sorted relevant to his departure point

Out of interest did he fly out with Jet2 ?

As an addition have a look at www.skyscanner.net - plenty back to London from Chambery/Grenoble/Lyon avoiding the cross-border issue

bagand96

sueb20 said:

Can I check. Is he entitled to the flight cancellation compensation even though its due to Covid?

Generally there has been exemptions from compensation as Covid-19 has been considered an extraordinary circumstance.  Jet2 will almost certainly claim that's still the case.

You say he's booked the easyJet flight now, I'm not sure I see the point of asking Jet2 to re-route him.  Jet2 won't offer an alternative flight and cover the cost of the "reserve" easyJet flight.  

sueb20

Thank you all. Son has booked geneva off his own back and a coach transfer.... Its complicated, he won't be in resort but has an  existing booking by train to chambery airport. Jet 2 have cancelled the flight (and no he didn't fly into France with them)

So now he has made a  new booking by bus to Geneva Airport from chambery to Geneva and a flight home with Easyjet. If this works then the £100 is fine.

So getting up for the bus isn't the problem, but being able  to get a bus early enough may be  big problem. He's complicated it a lot by making his own arrangements instead of asking Jet 2 to sort it