Flight Cancellation Compensation - ADR Reply 'in 1-week' but it has been 5 months

eu261submitter

Details:

• First flight Manchester - Lisbon direct: 1st June 10:45AM, due to arrive 1st June 13:40pm (£306.90)
• 15th May - Informed flight was cancelled - offered full refund, or change flights for free -> On 30th May received conifrmation of new flights: (Indirect) - MAN - Geneva 2nd June at 11:00am, arriving Geneva 13:55pm; connecting Geneva to lisbon 2nd June 17:20, arriving Lisbon 18:55
• 2nd June 0330am (Day of flight), flight MAN - Geneva has been cancelled. Offered to switch flights for free, voucher for full price of ticket, or request a refund. Flights offered a MAN - Dubai - Lisbon (Just not possible)
• When asking for another flight, EasyJet says no other flights possible - need to book flight with another airline, claim for expenses through EasyJet
• Booked indirect flights MAN - Barcelona - Lisbon (Vueling Airlines) £922 incurred
• Received back 7th June full refund of £306.90, then submitted expenses claim with EasyJet and received £631.47 meaning I did not get the full £922.44 incurred - Stating 'Accepted fare difference as original EasyJet flight cost £290.97)

Claims:

• Through EasyJet launched a Regulatory expense case 23rd June 2023
• Response 3rd July: 'Already paid fare difference'
• Then launched complaint with ADR on 28th July 2023
• Received response: 'Airline requested 14-day extension, granted on 17th October'
• 31st October response: 'The Airline has raised an objection to the Aviation ADR accepting this claim, this matter will now be investigated and you will be advised within 7-days if this claim is to be progressed'
• Have not heard since, no update on the portal - What to do now? 
  

eskbanker

eu261submitter said:

Details:

• First flight Manchester - Lisbon direct: 1st June 10:45AM, due to arrive 1st June 13:40pm (£306.90)
• [...]
• Booked indirect flights MAN - Barcelona - Lisbon (Vueling Airlines) £922 incurred
• Received back 7th June full refund of £306.90, then submitted expenses claim with EasyJet and received £631.47 meaning I did not get the full £922.44 incurred - Stating 'Accepted fare difference as original EasyJet flight cost £290.97)

You're not expecting to get both the £306 and the £922 back, are you?  That would mean you'd have travelled free, which you're not entitled to, so if you've received £938 I don't see what the problem is?  On the face of it, it's an invalid claim, so it's unsurprising that it would be rejected, although Aviation ADR's communications obviously ought to be better....

Having said that, you might (separately) be entitled to compensation (over and above expenses) for the cancellation of the flight on the 2nd, unless it was caused by exceptional circumstances beyond the airline's control - did you claim for this or did the reason for the cancellation preclude that?

eu261submitter

My main question is whether I am entitled to EU261 as I arrived in my destination a day later after many cancellations and frustrations - and if I am entitled, what I could do now - as ADR's communication has been very slow and poor (5 months overdue now) 

eu261submitter

Just to be clear, the complaint lodged with ADR is the EU261 compensation for arriving later than the threshold

Westin

eu261submitter said:

My main question is whether I am entitled to EU261 as I arrived in my destination a day later after many cancellations and frustrations - and if I am entitled, what I could do now - as ADR's communication has been very slow and poor (5 months overdue now) 

From your timelines it seems your were given 14-days notice of the cancellation for that outbound flight and therefore no EU261 compensation £.  Just a right to a refund or rerouting.

Regarding the inbound flight - do you know the reason for the cancellation?

eskbanker

eu261submitter said:

My main question is whether I am entitled to EU261 as I arrived in my destination a day later after many cancellations and frustrations - and if I am entitled, what I could do now - as ADR's communication has been very slow and poor (5 months overdue now) 

If that's your main question, why did your post focus exclusively on an expenses claim instead?  Which other cancellations formed the 'many', beyond the two covered above?

eu261submitter said:

Just to be clear, the complaint lodged with ADR is the EU261 compensation for arriving later than the threshold

Assuming you made the basis of your claim clearer to EasyJet than you managed in your opening post, what was their reason for rejecting the compensation element, and on what grounds do you propose to challenge that?  When did you arrive?

Westin said:
From your timelines it seems your were given 14-days notice of the cancellation for that outbound flight and therefore no EU261 compensation £.  Just a right to a refund or rerouting.

Regarding the inbound flight - do you know the reason for the cancellation?

It's the cancellation on the day (outbound not inbound) that could lead to compensation entitlement, but yes, dependent on reason.

eu261submitter

Maybe the word claims in the bullets was the incorrect choice, I just wanted to lay out all of the claims I've made including refunds, flight changes, EU261

From what I remember, they did not provide any detail, just that they declined - I'll check this over the weekend. On EU261 my claim is founded on that they cancelled the flight on the day of travel, and I arrived at my destination later than the 4 hour threshold - they cancelled the flight not for any reasons such as weather. I may have received an email saying this is due to lack of staff, or they did not provide a reason for cancellation at all. Let me check my details over the weekend and get back to this

eskbanker

eu261submitter said:

Maybe the word claims in the bullets was the incorrect choice, I just wanted to lay out all of the claims I've made including refunds, flight changes, EU261

There was no issue with the word 'claims', but I was commenting on the fact that your substantial opening post apparently didn't lay out all the claims you'd made and only mentioned the one for expenses, so it wasn't clear that you were also seeking compensation, although to be fair the thread title includes it.

It doesn't really matter what you choose to share on here, although it obviously hinders informed comment if relevant information is omitted, but it's important that any ADR involvement is based on escalating a valid complaint that's been given due consideration by the airline.