Return leg cancelled - what can I do?

xJonny

I've made a booking with a middle eastern airline between Europe and Asia and taken the first leg to Asia. I have now been informed that the return flights have been cancelled. I've phoned up the customer service hotline and been told that the airline has decided to stop flying that route and all I can do is email a different service centre to process a refund. Looking at the original ticket booking classes and breakdown, it's looking like I'll only get about 1/3 to 1/4 of the price of the total back, although the email agent has seemed hesitant to inform me how much for some reason this far. Obviously this puts me in a bad position when one way flights back cost almost as much as a new return, and prices have gone up since the original booking.

Through no suggestion of the airline, I enquired about if I can change the route to a similar one they do still fly but was told I would have to phone a call centre to modify my booking and it would be chargeable.

My understanding is that because this cancellation is more than 7 days before the scheduled flight, I have no rights for cancellation compensation according to the EU rules I think would apply. Is that correct?

It looks like I'll have to make painstaking attempts to ask an agent to check prices for different routes and dates over the phone at potentially very high prices, or get the small refund and book a one way with a different airline online but are there any other options I might have missed that would leave me less out of pocket?

eskbanker

xJonny said:

My understanding is that because this cancellation is more than 7 days before the scheduled flight, I have no rights for cancellation compensation according to the EU rules I think would apply. Is that correct?

No, you have no rights to cancellation compensation under the EU rules because a flight departing from outside the EU on a non-EU airline is completely outside of the scope of those regulations.

No harm in sharing the name of the airline and the route on here, just in case that sparks any bright ideas, but unfortunately you don't benefit from the protection of the UK or EU flight cancellation regulations.

Does your travel insurance offer anything for this situation?
How did you pay and was this directly to the airline or via an agent?

Westin

Oman Air?  

bagand96

Surprising the airline wouldn't try and offer you some sort of rerouting on a similar route or connecting with airline partners. 

You need to read the airlines T&Cs to see exactly what they say about this scenario.

Agree with @eskbanker naming the airline/route, and if you booked direct or via a third party may help. 

DullGreyGuy

You need to give details as these types of posts are impossible to follow for someone that doesn't have your itinerary and booking confirmation email in front of them. 

14 days out neither UK nor EU law requires any compensation above the basic refund/rebooking but other countries have other rules which no one can help with your post... "Asia" doesn't have a single legal system etc 

Voyager2002

@xJonny, did you pay for your ticket by credit card? If so, that might give you some protection.

When you paid for your ticket, you entered into a contract for a return trip to your destination, and that is what you are entitled to receive. Under English (or Scottish) law, the vendor does not meet their contractual obligations by providing a one-way ticket and a partial refund, and a credit card company is liable in exactly the same way as the vendor.

You do not have the same protection from payment with a debit card, but you could still request a 'chargeback' of the full amount that you paid for the ticket, on the grounds that what the vendor provided is significantly different from what they were contractually obliged to provide.