Easyjet E261 advice please

NoodleDoodleMan

Maybe if Easyjet had been able to assist us we might have been unable to consider an alternative - they were completely conspicuous by their absence, not even a token gesture - no help desk, no supervisor or duty manager - and this in a major hub airport, one of the biggest and busiest in Europe.

We were abandoned.

eskbanker

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Maybe if Easyjet had been able to assist us we might have been unable to consider an alternative - they were completely conspicuous by their absence, not even a token gesture - no help desk, no supervisor or duty manager - and this in a major hub airport, one of the biggest and busiest in Europe.

We were abandoned.

Yes, I'm not trying to defend EasyJet here, but their business model doesn't entail extensive customer-facing staffing, so the expectation would be that rerouting would be via their app or contact centre rather than face to face (which, incidentally, is exactly the same process as I was directed to by BA at Heathrow T5 after a cancellation there a few years ago).

However, the question was really about the apparently unusual choice of rerouting made by your travel agent, and its potential ramifications for what you can claim back from EasyJet....

NoodleDoodleMan

I assume the travel package provider looked at alternative ways of getting us back home.

Easyjet apparently had no Edinburgh flights before the Thursday and KLM were full.

In the final analysis we were satisfied that the action they took was the best workable option to get us from A to B without more flight cancellations coming into the equation.

Sometimes the devil you know............................

eskbanker

Fair enough - you clearly trust your agent if you're satisfied that their option was the best while only assuming that they considered alternatives!  They presumably weren't present at Schiphol either for a face to face discussion?

Anyway, despite my scepticism about the choice of rerouting, the only reason for raising it was to prepare yourself for potential challenges from EasyJet, but they may just accept the claims in full - there's only one way to find out!

NoodleDoodleMan

Yes, awaiting Easyjet's substantive response, their reputation precedes, so not holding out much hope for a best case outcome.

The travel firm sent two reps to the airport with the outline of their rescue plan.

eskbanker

NoodleDoodleMan said:

The travel firm sent two reps to the airport with the outline of their rescue plan.

Oh right, I stand corrected then - it must be said that this is a pretty extraordinary response from a UK-based package provider to something as mundane as a short-haul flight cancellation!

NoodleDoodleMan

Tour guides were based locally not long off duty, so they were obviously retasked to head for the airport as UK staff cobbled together a repatriation package.  

NoodleDoodleMan

As expected Easyjet have rejected my claim.

Here is the pertinent text from their response.

"To further explain what happened on the day; air traffic control restrictions substantially regulated the air space, which resulted in long delays to flights as aircraft waited for air space ‘slots’ to operate, sometimes for several hours. This delay pushed your flight into the night curfew, which meant we had no option but to cancel your flight. There are strict industry wide rules on the number of hours our crew are allowed to work. To protect the safety of our customers and crew, these hours cannot be exceeded. We do take reasonable measures to avoid delays and cancellations to our flights by having replacement crews and spare aircraft available in our network. However, in the circumstances, these options would not have helped as your flight was cancelled due to air traffic control restrictions."

The aircraft landed Amsterdam 19:42 local, less than an hour after its scheduled departure at 18:45 local, so I'm asking the question - would there not have been ample time to turn it around and make the return flight to Edinburgh ?

As for crew hours - I'm led to believe that does not constitute grounds for cancellation, airlines are expected to make contigency plans for such an eventuality.

As for the night curfew aspect, I'd like details of how that operates. Flights were taking off and landing throughout the night, I heard them from our airport hotel.

I'd also like to be able to investigate the Air Traffic Control restrictions - are there official records that the public can access ?

I know the old adage "you can't fight city hall" - but it's worth a try !!!

eskbanker

NoodleDoodleMan said:

The aircraft landed Amsterdam 19:42 local, less than an hour after its scheduled departure at 18:45 local, so I'm asking the question - would there not have been ample time to turn it around and make the return flight to Edinburgh ?
It arrived nearly two hours late, so the expectation would presumably be that there'd be no realistic prospect of making that delay up thereafter, especially with ongoing ATC restrictions.  The schedule shared earlier in the thread suggests an aircraft and crew that were rostered to be in Amsterdam that night, so they'll argue that flying to Edinburgh but not back to base (because of crew out of hours) would cause knock-on effects on other flights.

As for crew hours - I'm led to believe that does not constitute grounds for cancellation, airlines are expected to make contigency plans for such an eventuality.

Airlines are indeed expected to have spare aircraft and crew, but clearly these can't be infinite supplies and they'll argue that their sparing is to normal industry levels.  In particular, they're unlikely to have spare crew on hand to operate partial schedules late in the day.

As for the night curfew aspect, I'd like details of how that operates. Flights were taking off and landing throughout the night, I heard them from our airport hotel.

No idea what they're referring to there, but it might relate to the following point about crew hours rather than an airport curfew as such?  Worth bearing in mind that a lot of their wording in such messages is boilerplate copypasta....

I'd also like to be able to investigate the Air Traffic Control restrictions - are there official records that the public can access ?

No, as discussed on the first page of the thread.

I know the old adage "you can't fight city hall" - but it's worth a try !!!

Comments inline above....

NoodleDoodleMan

I emailed the Civil Aviation Authority - they can't take up individual cases and advised me to contact the Alternative Dispute Resolution organisation, having firstly challenged Easyjet and then after I've received a response to that from the airline.