Early arrival refund - Yes !

peaenjay

My KLM flight from Budapest was cancelled within 24 hours of departure. My rebooked flight resulted in arriving home six hours earlier, so we missed the last day of a five day trip  KLM refunded me in a voucher (my choice) very quickly and £50 more than the ticket cost. So yes you can claim for early arrival too.

eskbanker

Do you mean that they refunded the cost of your ticket as well as funding an alternative flight, or that they paid out cancellation compensation that happened to be £50 more than you'd paid?

The former would be beyond their obligations so the latter would perhaps seem more likely?

peaenjay

eskbanker said:

Do you mean that they refunded the cost of your ticket as well as funding an alternative flight, or that they paid out cancellation compensation that happened to be £50 more than you'd paid?

The former would be beyond their obligations so the latter would perhaps seem more likely?

Yes we rebooked the next available flight which was six hours earlier and we also received refund vouchers. Cash probably would have been less, but we know we will use the vouchers. Arriving early can be as disruptive as late arrival.

peaenjay

KLM confirmed my entitlement according to regulation EC Regulation 261/2004 in their response so this was not a discretionary refund for customer satisfaction apparently. So if you have experienced an unwanted early arrival at destination (over the time limit) I suggest making a compensation request.

eskbanker

peaenjay said:

eskbanker said:

Do you mean that they refunded the cost of your ticket as well as funding an alternative flight, or that they paid out cancellation compensation that happened to be £50 more than you'd paid?

The former would be beyond their obligations so the latter would perhaps seem more likely?

Yes we rebooked the next available flight which was six hours earlier and we also received refund vouchers. Cash probably would have been less, but we know we will use the vouchers. Arriving early can be as disruptive as late arrival.

peaenjay said:

KLM confirmed my entitlement according to regulation EC Regulation 261/2004 in their response so this was not a discretionary refund for customer satisfaction apparently. So if you have experienced an unwanted early arrival at destination (over the time limit) I suggest making a compensation request.

The airline's obligation under EC 261/2004 is to issue a refund or rebook you, but not both, plus (separately) to pay compensation if the cancellation wasn't due to extraordinary circumstances.

peaenjay

eskbanker said:

peaenjay said:

eskbanker said:

Do you mean that they refunded the cost of your ticket as well as funding an alternative flight, or that they paid out cancellation compensation that happened to be £50 more than you'd paid?

The former would be beyond their obligations so the latter would perhaps seem more likely?

Yes we rebooked the next available flight which was six hours earlier and we also received refund vouchers. Cash probably would have been less, but we know we will use the vouchers. Arriving early can be as disruptive as late arrival.

peaenjay said:

KLM confirmed my entitlement according to regulation EC Regulation 261/2004 in their response so this was not a discretionary refund for customer satisfaction apparently. So if you have experienced an unwanted early arrival at destination (over the time limit) I suggest making a compensation request.

The airline's obligation under EC 261/2004 is to issue a refund or rebook you, but not both, plus (separately) to pay compensation if the cancellation wasn't due to extraordinary circumstances.

 My payment was compensation.
This is the third time I have received a compensation payment but this was the first time for an early flight. 

peaenjay

Perhaps the moderator can change the subject title to Compensation to clarify my post ?

eskbanker

peaenjay said:

eskbanker said:

peaenjay said:

eskbanker said:

Do you mean that they refunded the cost of your ticket as well as funding an alternative flight, or that they paid out cancellation compensation that happened to be £50 more than you'd paid?

The former would be beyond their obligations so the latter would perhaps seem more likely?

Yes we rebooked the next available flight which was six hours earlier and we also received refund vouchers. Cash probably would have been less, but we know we will use the vouchers. Arriving early can be as disruptive as late arrival.

peaenjay said:

KLM confirmed my entitlement according to regulation EC Regulation 261/2004 in their response so this was not a discretionary refund for customer satisfaction apparently. So if you have experienced an unwanted early arrival at destination (over the time limit) I suggest making a compensation request.

The airline's obligation under EC 261/2004 is to issue a refund or rebook you, but not both, plus (separately) to pay compensation if the cancellation wasn't due to extraordinary circumstances.

 My payment was compensation.
This is the third time I have received a compensation payment but this was the first time for an early flight. 

It's clear within the regulations (Article 5.1.c.iii) that compensation is payable when a flight is cancelled, unless the passengers "are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival".

In other words, you're not being refunded because you arrived early as such (as implied by your thread title), but compensated because your original flight was cancelled and the replacement flight wasn't within the short window deemed to be an acceptable alternative.

peaenjay

Agreed but I would say most people think you are only compensated if you arrive late.