Flight was cancelled & I wasn't informed - rights?

MeandO

Hello,

I booked early morning flights to france with EasyJet back in September, departing in Feb of this year. 12 days before departure I went online to check myself and my son in online only to have a message flash up saying that my flight had been cancelled and I was offered a flight 12 hours later instead. As this was my only way of getting to france that day and I had disney tickets booked for us, I had no choice but to take the evening flight.

We lost out on our first day at Disneyland due to the flight arriving 12 hours later than planned. I also had booked an airport hotel for the night before we no longer needed but couldn't cancel.

My issue is that I was never informed by EasyJet that my (more expensive) morning flight had been cancelled. I applied for compensation and was told I was not eligible because the flight had been cancelled more than 14 days prior to departure - yet I was not informed of this.
I then requested evidence of the notification they say they sent me and they can't provide it - they just ignore me as nothing was ever sent. 
They then came back and changed their tune to say I was not eligible for compensation as the flight was cancelled due to 'circumstances out of their control.' I have asked what these circumstances were, again they won't reply.
They have since told me I have to take my complaint to the ADR Aviation Authority which I've done, but looking at the awful reviews of this company, I'm not hopeful.

Is there anything else I can do? I'd saved up and planned for this trip for over a year and this flight cancellation meant we lost a day of our 4 day holiday, a day of disneyland tickets for two of us and lost money on a hotel and had to pay extra for night time transfers. It really marred our trip.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

bagand96

An airline is not responsible for consequential losses such as transfers, park tickets, hotels etc. Your travel insurance may cover you but it will depend on your policy. I guess you were planning on travelling to the Disney parks after landing hence you lost your first day? As you travelled on the same day I'm not sure you'll be able to claim for loss of hotel as surely you still used it?

I assume you booked directly with easyJet and not via an agent? (the most common cause of not finding out about schedule changes as the agent fails to pass it on)

Your alternative to ADR is Small Claims Court. Not sure if you can start that with an active ADR case though, but I'm not an expert on that. Sometimes the "Letter before Action" threatening court action is enough to persuade airlines. 

Westin

bagand96 said:

An airline is not responsible for consequential losses such as transfers, park tickets, hotels etc. Your travel insurance may cover you but it will depend on your policy. I guess you were planning on travelling to the Disney parks after landing hence you lost your first day? As you travelled on the same day I'm not sure you'll be able to claim for loss of hotel as surely you still used it?

I assume you booked directly with easyJet and not via an agent? (the most common cause of not finding out about schedule changes as the agent fails to pass it on)

Your alternative to ADR is Small Claims Court. Not sure if you can start that with an active ADR case though, but I'm not an expert on that. Sometimes the "Letter before Action" threatening court action is enough to persuade airlines. 

I thought the same.

Also, presumably you had been checking your junk email folder?  

Great shame, especially with plans made at the other end.  For next time, always wise to keep a regular check on flight reservations via the My Booking section on the airline website.

MeandO

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate it. 

Yes, I booked direct. 

I wasn’t expecting to get any money back for the hotels etc, but I thought I would be entitled to compensation under the Ec261 form for cancellation of a flight less than 14 days prior to departure as I wasn’t notified of the cancellation. 

I’ve been through my junk folder too and no sign of anything from Easyjet. 

bagand96

MeandO said:

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate it. 

Yes, I booked direct. 

I wasn’t expecting to get any money back for the hotels etc, but I thought I would be entitled to compensation under the Ec261 form for cancellation of a flight less than 14 days prior to departure as I wasn’t notified of the cancellation. 

I’ve been through my junk folder too and no sign of anything from Easyjet. 

Did easyJet say when they cancelled the flight and sent notification?  It could have been months ago in which case your email provider could have automatically deleted it from junk by now.

In terms of the notification it will be your word against theirs.  ADR or a judge in court may ask easyJet to prove they did notify you but it's hard to say.  If they're claiming exceptional circumstances they would also have to provide those to ADR/a judge.

You can't have an ADR and court case running at the same time.  You can still go to court after ADR if you're not happy with the outcome of that. Or you can choose to cancel your ADR case if you wanted to go down the court route sooner.

It's a good idea when you've booked flights to periodically log into your booking to check everything looks right.  I tend to install the airline app on my phone so i can do this very quickly.

eskbanker

MeandO said:

I then requested evidence of the notification they say they sent me and they can't provide it - they just ignore me as nothing was ever sent.

Hopefully not too late but perhaps worth pointing out that article 5(4) of the regulations specifically addresses the subject of evidencing notification:

The burden of proof concerning the questions as to whether and when the passenger has been informed of the cancellation of the flight shall rest with the operating air carrier.

steve1500

A Subject Access Request under Data Protection legislation, should prove one way or another if they sent an email 

eskbanker

steve1500 said:

A Subject Access Request under Data Protection legislation, should prove one way or another if they sent an email 

It's in OP's interests for there not to be any evidence of an email being sent, so there wouldn't seem to be any point in pursuing that option?  In any case, the airline has already said they can't provide it....

MeandO said:

I then requested evidence of the notification they say they sent me and they can't provide it - they just ignore me as nothing was ever sent.

MeandO

Thank you for your input everyone, it's much appreciated.

I am still waiting to hear back from the ADR people, according to the case details it says 'action due 7th March' so I'm not sure how long I have to wait to hear something?!