Flight cancellation

2childmum2

My son was due to fly to Frankfurt today, and then on to India

Just before he left for his flight to Frankfurt he was told that his flight from Frankfurt has been cancelled due to a strike, and he has been booked onto a flight on Thursday. He has been given 600 euro compensation which won't cover his expenses in Frankfurt. He had to fly to Frankfurt today as his flight can't be cancelled and rebooked
Should he be entitled to accomodation and food? 
Many thanks

bagand96

Under EC261 he is entitled to compensation (unless extraordinary circumstances) as well as duty of care, which would be accommodation and food.  It seems the airline have paid compensation already, which is rather unusual!  He should ask for accommodation, if they refuse to provide it he should arrange his own and keep receipts (keeping costs reasonable!) to claim back later.

As an aside within a few minutes I could find a well reviewed 3* hotel in Frankfurt for £60 per night until Thursday, and it wouldn't be a hard place to eat cheaply.... I'd certainly be able to survive there for 3 days with €600, probably less than half that.

Voyager2002

2childmum2 said:

My son was due to fly to Frankfurt today, and then on to India

Just before he left for his flight to Frankfurt he was told that his flight from Frankfurt has been cancelled due to a strike, and he has been booked onto a flight on Thursday. He has been given 600 euro compensation which won't cover his expenses in Frankfurt. He had to fly to Frankfurt today as his flight can't be cancelled and rebooked
Should he be entitled to accomodation and food? 
Many thanks

Were the two flights on one ticket, or two separate tickets?

If two tickets, then he has no rights beyond what has already been given.

Voyager2002

2childmum2 said:

My son was due to fly to Frankfurt today, and then on to India

Just before he left for his flight to Frankfurt he was told that his flight from Frankfurt has been cancelled due to a strike, and he has been booked onto a flight on Thursday. He has been given 600 euro compensation which won't cover his expenses in Frankfurt. He had to fly to Frankfurt today as his flight can't be cancelled and rebooked
Should he be entitled to accomodation and food? 
Many thanks

So he is going to be delayed for two nights? That should not use up all his 600 Euro.

He could insist on re-routing on an earlier flight, but I question whether it is worthwhile.

2childmum2

Thanks for all your help. It was two flights. I'm just waiting to hear whether he has found somewhere to stay. He was meeting up with friends in Frankfurt before flying onto a wedding, which is why he didn't fly directly to India

So just put of interest, if someone was starting their journey in Frankfurt would they be able to claim ?

mdann52

2childmum2 said:

Thanks for all your help. It was two flights. I'm just waiting to hear whether he has found somewhere to stay. He was meeting up with friends in Frankfurt before flying onto a wedding, which is why he didn't fly directly to India

So just put of interest, if someone was starting their journey in Frankfurt would they be able to claim ?

Maybe, it's hard to say with the limited information we have here what regulations would apply!

What was the routing and the airline? Most flights in and out of Frankfurt are cancelled on certain airlines, depending on who they are flying inwards to the EU they might be eligible for rerouting if they can find another flight.

If this is two different tickets though, his rights are less than if this was a booked connection

bagand96

I also assumed this was a connection when talking about the rights to duty of care. 

That said I don't think these rights change if the flight was starting in Frankfurt or connecting there. EC261 doesn't seem to differentiate. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261

Article 5

Cancellation

1. In case of cancellation of a flight, the passengers concerned shall:

(a) be offered assistance by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 8; and

(b) be offered assistance by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 9(1)(a) and 9(2), as well as, in event of re-routing when the reasonably expected time of departure of the new flight is at least the day after the departure as it was planned for the cancelled flight, the assistance specified in Article 9(1)(b) and 9(1)(c); and

(c) have the right to compensation by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 7, unless:

(i) they are informed of the cancellation at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure; or

(ii) they are informed of the cancellation between two weeks and seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than two hours before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival; or

(iii) they are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and 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.

2. When passengers are informed of the cancellation, an explanation shall be given concerning possible alternative transport.

3. An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

Article 9

Right to care

1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge:

(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;

(b) hotel accommodation in cases

- where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or

- where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary;

(c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).

On the face of it compensation and a duty of care is applicable. If the airline aren't forthcoming then keep receipts and claim later. If there's an immediate affordability problem the €600 received should be more than enough. It's quite unusual to get this upfront though! Finding somewhere to stay hopefully didn't prove an issue. 

mdann52

I meant more around potential rerouting. If a connecting ticket, you'd have the right to be rerouted from the original destination, in this case avoiding the strikes, as opposed to unprotected connections.

As an aside, EU 261 might not apply here, and it might be UK261 instead, depending on the airline. UK261 is currently mostly identical in this regard, however this might change depending on the supreme courts decision in Lipton V BA

bagand96

mdann52 said:

I meant more around potential rerouting. If a connecting ticket, you'd have the right to be rerouted from the original destination, in this case avoiding the strikes, as opposed to unprotected connections.

As an aside, EU 261 might not apply here, and it might be UK261 instead, depending on the airline. UK261 is currently mostly identical in this regard, however this might change depending on the supreme courts decision in Lipton V BA

If the Frankfurt-India flight was a separate booking to the UK-Frankfurt then it will be EC261. If it's all on one connecting booking it will be the UK adoption of EC261 (which as you say is largely identical)