Air France Flight cancellation

Emli

Hi all, I tried to find the master thread for this but couldn't. Anyway we had our air France return leg from Prague to the UK cancelled on the 31st of January 2021.

 We were informed of this on the 21st January and offered alternatives either 2 days after our original date or two days earlier. We elected not to take them as our holiday would be too short or because of work commitments. Anyhow, we've claimed for compensation and initially air France rejected it because we didn't travel. We then re-raised the issue referencing the EU regulations and now they have tried to claim exceptional circumstances due to a COVID 19 sanitary situation.

 I have asked them to clarify what exactly they mean by that and have had no response. I just wanted to know if anyone has come across the above being used as an extraordinary circumstance before? I'll give them a further 7 days then I'm going to look to escalate futher as I think that is a very naff reason. Would it be aviation authority who are the next step?

garlieston

If they are trying the covid excuse ask them to point out exactly where in the regulations it is covered ,if they try the silent treatment you know they are in the wrong, if they had a legit reason why would they not want to explain it fully and quote the part of the regulations that cover it

Westin

Can I ask for clarity;

1. You mention it was your return flight on 31/1/22 which was no longer operating.  When was your outbound flight?
2. Did you travel to Prague or was your whole trip cancelled? If so, has AF refunded both flights? As I read things you were not stuck in CZ and just may not have travelled at all.
3. Did AF or you suggest other rerouting options for the return flight (apart from the AF 2 days prior or after) such as other airlines or other UK airports? There are I thought a fair few daily flights between the two countries, even in covid times. Was this discussed?
4. Upon notification of the inbound flight change did you opt to cancel the whole reservation (both flights) and if so did you do this online via a manage my booking type option?

Emli

Hi my outbound flight was the 27th.
When we rejected the alternatives they offered us they cancelled both legs and we had to rebook with an alternative airline which was £150 more expensive. We asked if they had other options and they advised us no. It was all done over the phone. We called to ask about alternatives. They said there was none apart from those offered so when we advised we wouldn't take those up they cancelled our whole booking and advised they would refund us in 12 weeks. Which I feel is way too long as well. They didn't bring up alternatives, we just researched and found our own after they cancelled the whole booking

Westin

Positive that AF are processing your flight refund. I suspect it will be with you much sooner than 12 weeks. That is probably said as a worse case scenario to stop  people calling back every other day.  They should be aiming to a refund within 14 days.

You might find it useful to read through this Bott&Co link. It explains more about passenger rights under EU261/UK261.
https://www.bottonline.co.uk/flight-delay-compensation/claim-guides/eu-regulation-261-2004#:~:text=EU Reg 261 requires airlines,was within the airline's control.

I suspect AF are viewing this as an obligation to refund only your flight costs after you opted to cancel (not accepting the 2-day alternatives).  

You can of course try your hand at making a compensation claim under EU261/UK261 but I suspect they will dispute and argue it was down to covid issues and restrictions at the time. You will probably recall France initially trying to stop the Omnicom variant spreading and closures of borders and travel restrictions being put in place.  They then later had (and still do) very high cases of the virus in France. This will have impacted flying schedules. 

Bott & Co have a flight compensation checker so you can use that to rate your chances.

I suspect attempts to gain compensation on top of the flight refunds will be a long frustrating and possibly futile effort.  If you are determined then perhaps on this occasion use Bott&Co.  Whilst they will take a fair chunk of any compo it might save you a lot of time and grief. 

Emli

The airline definitely ran flights that day. Cause we saw them going at the airport so they literally have no excuse as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for the advice. Will look into it

Thrugelmir

Other displaced passengars booked them first. Hence the lack of availability.