Compensation and Expenses - Codeshare flight

nb88

Hello everybody,

I'm looking for some advice on a slightly complicated flight itinerary, in which one flight has been cancelled.

We booked flights for the 13th March from place A to place D on a single ticket, with Airline1, with the following itinerary:
Place A - Place B (Airline2 operating under codeshare)
Place B - Place C (Airline1)
Place C - Place D (Airline1)

With the Lufthansa strikes, our first flight (A to B ) has been cancelled (4 days in advance). I then called Airline1 who were very friendly and offered to reschedule us. They offered alternative flights on the same day that would get us to D at the same time, but the flight departure time did not work for us (around 2 hours earlier than original flight).

We then decided on a flight a few days later which includes an overnight in place C. Airline1 said they cannot directly book a hotel for us and then we got conflicting information from two people: One said we should ask for a hotel voucher when we land at C, and otherwise book it and send it for refund. The other person said that Airline1 is not responsible and will not pay for a hotel.

So I have a couple of questions:
1. Are Airline1 or Airline2 (or nobody) responsible for our expenses during our overnight in Place C?

2. For compensation, I believe it's the operating airline (Airline2) responsible. I also understand the distance claimed for is from origin to destination (A to D ), not for the single flight (A to B ). Looking at the above, and if we consider it to not be an extraordinary circumstance, do you think we are entitled to compensation from Airline2?

I appreciate any input, thank you!

eskbanker

nb88 said:

With the Lufthansa strikes, our first flight (A to B ) has been cancelled (4 days in advance). I then called Airline1 who were very friendly and offered to reschedule us. They offered alternative flights on the same day that would get us to D at the same time, but the flight departure time did not work for us (around 2 hours earlier than original flight).

We then decided on a flight a few days later which includes an overnight in place C. Airline1 said they cannot directly book a hotel for us and then we got conflicting information from two people: One said we should ask for a hotel voucher when we land at C, and otherwise book it and send it for refund. The other person said that Airline1 is not responsible and will not pay for a hotel.

So I have a couple of questions:
1. Are Airline1 or Airline2 (or nobody) responsible for our expenses during our overnight in Place C?

As you recognise, the UK261 regulations (and their EU equivalent) place obligations on the operating carrier rather than the ticket issuer, so Airline2 is obliged to offer rerouting to the final destination either "at the earliest opportunity; or [...] at a later date at the passenger's convenience".  If you've instead been discussing the matter with Airline1 then I don't think that dialogue falls within the regulations, so it's not clear to me that they'd have any legal requirement to fund overnight accommodation on a revised itinerary.  Does the revised itinerary involve Airline2 at all?

nb88 said:

2. For compensation, I believe it's the operating airline (Airline2) responsible. I also understand the distance claimed for is from origin to destination (A to D ), not for the single flight (A to B ). Looking at the above, and if we consider it to not be an extraordinary circumstance, do you think we are entitled to compensation from Airline2?

Yes.

nb88

eskbanker said:

nb88 said:

With the Lufthansa strikes, our first flight (A to B ) has been cancelled (4 days in advance). I then called Airline1 who were very friendly and offered to reschedule us. They offered alternative flights on the same day that would get us to D at the same time, but the flight departure time did not work for us (around 2 hours earlier than original flight).

We then decided on a flight a few days later which includes an overnight in place C. Airline1 said they cannot directly book a hotel for us and then we got conflicting information from two people: One said we should ask for a hotel voucher when we land at C, and otherwise book it and send it for refund. The other person said that Airline1 is not responsible and will not pay for a hotel.

So I have a couple of questions:
1. Are Airline1 or Airline2 (or nobody) responsible for our expenses during our overnight in Place C?

As you recognise, the UK261 regulations (and their EU equivalent) place obligations on the operating carrier rather than the ticket issuer, so Airline2 is obliged to offer rerouting to the final destination either "at the earliest opportunity; or [...] at a later date at the passenger's convenience".  If you've instead been discussing the matter with Airline1 then I don't think that dialogue falls within the regulations, so it's not clear to me that they'd have any legal requirement to fund overnight accommodation on a revised itinerary.  Does the revised itinerary involve Airline2 at all?

nb88 said:

2. For compensation, I believe it's the operating airline (Airline2) responsible. I also understand the distance claimed for is from origin to destination (A to D ), not for the single flight (A to B ). Looking at the above, and if we consider it to not be an extraordinary circumstance, do you think we are entitled to compensation from Airline2?

Yes.

Thanks for your reply.

The new itinerary is not with Airline2 at all, it's all with Airline1. I do still see our booking on the website of Airline2 however (I guess because there was a codeshare originally). Since we booked with Airline1, I called them to find alternatives for us which we've confirmed.

In this case, for compensation, I suppose this would fall under finding alternative travel arrangements ourselves. Since Lufthansa (Airline2) did not offer us anything (or even alert us to the cancellation - I saw the news), I would imagine they will owe us the full compensation amount.

However - these hotel expenses will obviously be due to the cancellation by Airline2, and I understand that in these events I am allowed to make alternative travel arrangements and send the expenses to them. But I'm a bit confused as to whether Airline1 or Airline2 should refund us...

Thanks again

eskbanker

nb88 said:
However - these hotel expenses will obviously be due to the cancellation by Airline2, and I understand that in these events I am allowed to make alternative travel arrangements and send the expenses to them. But I'm a bit confused as to whether Airline1 or Airline2 should refund us...

It's not quite as simple as that - as above, the operating carrier (Airline2) has rerouting responsibilities under UK261, but if you rebook via Airline1 without engaging with Airline2 first then Airline2 could decline your claim on the basis that they weren't given the chance to offer you a suitable flight of theirs, although if they failed to notify you of the cancellation in the first place then they're not exactly on the moral high ground.

Likewise if you've been in dialogue with Airline1 about alternatives, some of which may involve an overnight stop while others don't, it's not clear to me that Airline1 actually has any liability to pay for your accommodation either.

nb88

Well to add to this, I reached out to Airline2 on Twitter about the issue just after we saw the cancellation, they just replied and they simply said: "For any kind of ticket changes, please contact Airline1, your ticket is with Airline1, we cannot assist you".

So this essentially means they have not fulfilled their obligation of giving us alternative options - which I believe is the responsibility of the operating carrier. The carrier in this case being Lufthansa, who obviously must be receiving tons of complains and requests right now due to the strike.

In my mind, this should mean that they will owe us the full compensation amount, plus expenses for alternative travel. I imagine this may be a bit of a battle though. 

eskbanker

I agree that Airline2 is on the hook for compensation if their employees are on strike, but, as above, suspect that the situation will be less clear cut for the cost of a hotel arising from your choice from a range of multiple alternative itineraries, or are you saying that Airline1 is charging more for the changed flights too?

nb88

eskbanker said:

I agree that Airline2 is on the hook for compensation if their employees are on strike, but, as above, suspect that the situation will be less clear cut for the cost of a hotel arising from your choice from a range of multiple alternative itineraries, or are you saying that Airline1 is charging more for the changed flights too?

We chose this itinerary when proposed by Airline1, and they are not charging us anything (very good service from them).

I think we'll just not expect to receive any expenses back, and if we do get any then it's a little bonus.

For the compensation, as it's directly related to the Lufthansa staff strike tomorrow, I would be surprised if we don't manage to get that (from Airline2).

Thanks again for all your help.