Booking your own flight when yours is cancelled

ThorOdinson

The MSE page on cancelled flight rights says to not immediately book your own replacement flight if yours is cancelled. Talk to the airline first.

Is this good advice?

Say there are 200+ other people who need replacement flights and there aren't that many spare seats on other flights the same day. Everyone queues up to talk to customer service.

Seems like you would be better off just booking a replacement yourself and passing the receipt to the airline.

What are the risks? They could argue they could have got you there cheaper perhaps, but it would be hard to prove given all the other people needing the same thing - someone was going to lose out.

And what if you can only get business class for 5x the price of your original economy seat?

Brie

The risk is that you might book a flight at whatever cost and it's not covered because you didn't talk to customer service.  They might cover the amount that your flight with them cost.  Or they might do more or less.  So if you're booked with Ryanair at £25 a seat and you can only get BA at £500 a seat will you be happy if they only pay you £125 when you've paid £2500?  If you know that your travel insurance will cover it then you're ok but frankly it would make me cranky if I'm out of pocket one way or another.

elsien

I presume it’s about evidencing that you’ve given the provider the opportunity to put things right themselves before you go off spending their money? 

Doshwaster

I think I would have a quick look at the options while standing in the queue. If there was a cheap (maybe under £100) option then I would just book it and not be too concerned about getting the refund. For more expensive flights then you can at least show them what your preferred option is. Sometimes offering a solution can work with customer services as it saves them from doing any thinking themselves.

Westin

Most airlines will direct customers to their App to manage disruption. This should help elevate the 200+ queues of people at customer service desks that you mention.  

ThorOdinson

Anyone have experience of apps in this situation?

What is the actual rule though? Do you have to give them the opportunity to find a flight first? What if their app offers you one the next day or next week, but you can book one for later that day?

IvanOpinion

Westin said:

Most airlines will direct customers to their App to manage disruption. This should help elevate the 200+ queues of people at customer service desks that you mention.  

That has been my experience over the last couple of years.
Sitting in the departure lounge waiting to board and then that dreaded sound of mobile phones all around you pinging, and you just know that the flight has been cancelled. There is then a mad blur of fingers as people try to book the next available flight.

eskbanker

ThorOdinson said:

Anyone have experience of apps in this situation?

What is the actual rule though? Do you have to give them the opportunity to find a flight first? What if their app offers you one the next day or next week, but you can book one for later that day?

Effectively yes, you have to give them the chance to rebook you first, as the regulations don't envisage passengers doing their own thing and reclaiming, but instead state that the airline must offer you the choice between refund or rebooking:

passengers shall be offered the choice between:

(a) - reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,

- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;

(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or

(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/8

Of course, in the real world, airlines often aren't geared up to arranging short-notice replacements for large numbers of passengers and so it's far from unusual for people to take matters into their own hands, but by doing so, it puts the onus on the passenger to reclaim money they've already paid out, without clear and unambiguous legal support, so there is the risk that there's scope for debate about whether it was the right thing to do in the circumstances and whether the chosen replacement flight was appropriate.

Note that clause (b) does give you rights if you're offered something unsuitable - the CAA offers extensive guidance on this subject:

Re-routing in accordance with Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 261/2004

ThorOdinson

Thanks, that document answers the two main questions I had. The relevant parts:

"However, where an air carrier can demonstrate that when the passenger has accepted
to give his or her personal contact details, it has contacted a passenger and sought to
provide the assistance required by Article 8, but the passenger has nonetheless made
his or her own assistance or re-routing arrangements, then the air carrier may
conclude that it is not responsible for any additional costs the passenger has incurred
and may decide not to reimburse them."

So if you book your own you are on your own.

But also:

"re-routing should be offered at no additional cost to the passenger, even where
passengers are re-routed with another air carrier or on a different transport mode
or in a higher class or at a higher fare than the one paid for the original service,"

So if there is a first class seat available it sounds like you can insist they give you that over a later economy class one, because they have to offer you rerouting "at the earliest opportunity".

eskbanker

ThorOdinson said:

Thanks, that document answers the two main questions I had. The relevant parts:

"However, where an air carrier can demonstrate that when the passenger has accepted
to give his or her personal contact details, it has contacted a passenger and sought to
provide the assistance required by Article 8, but the passenger has nonetheless made
his or her own assistance or re-routing arrangements, then the air carrier may
conclude that it is not responsible for any additional costs the passenger has incurred
and may decide not to reimburse them."

So if you book your own you are on your own.

As above, the regulations oblige the airline to offer affected passengers the choice between refund and rerouting, which obviously entails some form of contact.  If that choice is offered then the passenger can still negotiate if aware of better options, but if simply ignoring the offer then that would clearly weaken the position in any later claim.

ThorOdinson said:

But also:

"re-routing should be offered at no additional cost to the passenger, even where
passengers are re-routed with another air carrier or on a different transport mode
or in a higher class or at a higher fare than the one paid for the original service,"

So if there is a first class seat available it sounds like you can insist they give you that over a later economy class one, because they have to offer you rerouting "at the earliest opportunity".

The CAA are at pains to try to avoid being so prescriptive, as circumstances will vary and so will reasonable interpretations of the regulations - note also that it's just a guidance document, with no formal legal standing, and by its nature it only applies to flights within the CAA's jurisdiction.  They basically take the view that a flight the same day is regarded as acceptable, but yes, if the airline offers a rebooking for a week later and you find something the next day then that ought to be reimbursed, although there'd still be an expectation of discussing the matter with the airline first, as mentioned at 6.5 and 6.6.

Also worth bearing in mind that the CAA isn't automatically siding with passengers and recognises how onerous too literal an interpretation of the regulations could be on the airlines:

The CAA recognises that a literal interpretation of Article 8(1)(b), as outlined in the previous paragraph, could, in some scenarios, lead to outcomes where the benefit to consumers of being re-routed on the next available flight is significantly outweighed by the cost incurred by the airline in re-routing them. This is especially the case where, at late notice (e.g. an on-the-day cancellation), the airline is obliged to purchase tickets on another airline (or other transport mode) even though the affected passengers would arrive at their destination only slightly earlier than if the airline re-routed the passengers on its own services.

jimi_man

ThorOdinson said:

Thanks, that document answers the two main questions I had. The relevant parts:

"However, where an air carrier can demonstrate that when the passenger has accepted
to give his or her personal contact details, it has contacted a passenger and sought to
provide the assistance required by Article 8, but the passenger has nonetheless made
his or her own assistance or re-routing arrangements, then the air carrier may
conclude that it is not responsible for any additional costs the passenger has incurred
and may decide not to reimburse them."

So if you book your own you are on your own.

But also:

"re-routing should be offered at no additional cost to the passenger, even where
passengers are re-routed with another air carrier or on a different transport mode
or in a higher class or at a higher fare than the one paid for the original service,"

So if there is a first class seat available it sounds like you can insist they give you that over a later economy class one, because they have to offer you rerouting "at the earliest opportunity".

It doesn’t actually say that and that’s not what happens. What it says is that if you do get rerouted on a service in a higher class then you won’t have to pay for it, which is fair. That doesn’t mean you can insist on it and you can’t. In practice there are likely to be many other passengers - some of whom will have already be in a higher class ,who will be more entitled to these seats. 

Every so often you’ll be lucky and bumped up - I had it on Cathay once - but it’s about as rare as a normal upgrade. Probably slightly less common in fact since there will be many others fighting to get rebooked. 

Ultimately airlines have a responsibility to get you from A to B and in case of IRROPS then they have to try different avenues until the journey is completed. Usually starting with their own airline, then any partners and if all else fails then a different airline completely - though that’s relatively rare and depends on the destination.