Claiming the cost of accommodation on a holiday (not package holiday) where flight's been cancelled

bagand96

CKhalvashi said:

JyoatiChada said:

Westin said:

Very unfortunate but the accommodation supplier does not have to refund you.  It is not there issue or problem that your unconnected flight was cancelled.

Despite the airline cancelling, they are under no obligation to cover your accommodation costs.

If you had booked as a package or linked travel arrangement you would have better protection in this scenario.  Booking separately as you have is unfortunately one of the downsides of such a DIY arrangement. 

Travel insurance 'may' cover this but it really depends on the quality of the policy purchased. 

I think you would be better looking for an alternative VCE set of flights to match your booked accommodation, or be sweet and nice to see if the accommodation provider will offer a change of dates or a credit for a future stay.

Thanks for your comments.  We have found alternative flights suitable flights, but are reluctant to book in case these flights are also cancelled.  As it is we stand to lose 60% of the cost of the accommodation if we don't cancel it by a certain date, but if we decide to go ahead with the holiday, and if the alternative flights are also cancelled, we will lose 100% of the cost.  I can't find any insurance provider to cover this scenario.  Any ideas please? Thanks.

Look at Ryanair if you want certainty the flights will go. Not normally a company I recommend but they're the only airline that haven't cancelled a single flight for me this year, I know a number of others are in that situation also.

August flight prices can still be quite reasonable at the moment, I doubt this is going to be the case over the next few weeks, so it's important to book as soon as you see a price you're happy with to avoid having to pay one you're not.

I'd agree on Ryanair. They've been operationally far more resilient than most this summer mainly on account of trimming their schedules at the start of the year so they were operating what they knew they could once summer started.

After them probably Jet2. They've had some operational issues like most but on the whole are doing well. They're advertising "We will get you there this summer" which is a very bold promise!

TUI had a rough start but seem to be more in the swing of things now too. 

steve1500

This is the bible for canceled flights. http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/Re-routing Guidance (CAP2155).pdf

You either take a refund or they put you on another flight - Choice is yours 

Timings should be as close as possible to the original timings

CKhalvashi

bagand96 said:

CKhalvashi said:

JyoatiChada said:

Westin said:

Very unfortunate but the accommodation supplier does not have to refund you.  It is not there issue or problem that your unconnected flight was cancelled.

Despite the airline cancelling, they are under no obligation to cover your accommodation costs.

If you had booked as a package or linked travel arrangement you would have better protection in this scenario.  Booking separately as you have is unfortunately one of the downsides of such a DIY arrangement. 

Travel insurance 'may' cover this but it really depends on the quality of the policy purchased. 

I think you would be better looking for an alternative VCE set of flights to match your booked accommodation, or be sweet and nice to see if the accommodation provider will offer a change of dates or a credit for a future stay.

Thanks for your comments.  We have found alternative flights suitable flights, but are reluctant to book in case these flights are also cancelled.  As it is we stand to lose 60% of the cost of the accommodation if we don't cancel it by a certain date, but if we decide to go ahead with the holiday, and if the alternative flights are also cancelled, we will lose 100% of the cost.  I can't find any insurance provider to cover this scenario.  Any ideas please? Thanks.

Look at Ryanair if you want certainty the flights will go. Not normally a company I recommend but they're the only airline that haven't cancelled a single flight for me this year, I know a number of others are in that situation also.

August flight prices can still be quite reasonable at the moment, I doubt this is going to be the case over the next few weeks, so it's important to book as soon as you see a price you're happy with to avoid having to pay one you're not.

I'd agree on Ryanair. They've been operationally far more resilient than most this summer mainly on account of trimming their schedules at the start of the year so they were operating what they knew they could once summer started.

After them probably Jet2. They've had some operational issues like most but on the whole are doing well. They're advertising "We will get you there this summer" which is a very bold promise!

TUI had a rough start but seem to be more in the swing of things now too. 

Actually, they have cancelled a flight on me this year, but they cancelled it on February 25th and it was to Ukraine in March, so I think I can forgive them for that. Sorry for the inaccuracy, but it was so painless I'd forgotten when making the original post.

To point out on that, they were extremely easy to initially re-book for April via sellf-service, then to get a refund from via the live chat service when the self-service menu wouldn't let me do it due to the flight being changed initially. It took about 10 minutes. I was offered a full refund or change to Lublin or Rzeszow for the same dates, with the original flight being to Lviv.

As above, they have been extremely operationally resiliant. The only other change I've had with them was from opby Ryanair UK to Ryanair opby Lauda Europe with about 2 weeks notice. Timings didn't change, just the flight number from RK to FR. No inconvenience at all in that and who operates the flight isn't of great importance to me as long as they're properly licensed.

ratherbegolfing

I am stuck in a similar loop-hole. Our flight to europe for a 4 night break in June  (accommodation via Airbnb) was cancelled at the last minute and when we rebooked for next day was cancelled again. 
At that point we abandonned our holiday and had refund for flight tickets. I could see Easyjet would not give additional compensation as cancellation was said to be for 'exceptional circumstances'
I assumed my travel insurance (Alpha Travel - Collinson Group) would cover the unused accommodation costs but in fact because Easyjet gave Air Traffic control as reason for concellation (insurers required this info) insurance won't pay up. 
The only recourse I can see is to challenge Easyjet on real cause of cancellation (which we believe to be lack of cabin crew resulting from ATC delay) and ask for compo fro them, but I feel the insurer is the real culprit.

Voyager2002

ratherbegolfing said:

The only recourse I can see is to challenge Easyjet on real cause of cancellation (which we believe to be lack of cabin crew resulting from ATC delay) and ask for compo fro them, but I feel the insurer is the real culprit.

Did the insurer tell you at the time you took out the policy that ATC-caused cancellations were excluded? If so then you cannot blame them: if not then a complaint against them might succeed.

You can also contact the ATC authority in the relevant country to find out what was going on: airlines have been known to lie about this.