Booking your own flight when yours is cancelled

jimi_man

ThorOdinson said:

jimi_man said:

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. 

So they can refuse to buy you a more expensive ticket, even if nobody else needs it? And force you to take a fight the next day?

That doesn't sound like what it says.

No I think you’re mixing up two separate things here. Of course they can put you on a more expensive ticket - in any case virtually every single seat will be be more expensive simply because they tend to be more expensive due to the laws of supply and demand though I’m aware you are talking about higher classes. 

If the only seat available is in Business and you are the only person who needs to be rerouted on that plane then it’s highly likely that you’ll be put on the plane. Whether you get a business seat is down the airlines upgrading algorithm. BAs for example, is quite complicated and would likely see a status passenger be upgraded and you get their seat in Economy though there is a minute chance you might also be put in that business seat and you wouldn’t have to pay for that which is what the rules cover. 

What you can’t do, which is what you are referring to, is to insist on that business/first seat. You can try and insist that you be rerouted on that service and that’s it. At that point the airline’s seating algorithm (in BA it’s called FLY) takes over and shunts people around and someone else gets upgraded. (In situations like that there will often be business passengers who’ve been downgraded so they are first in line anyway). You aren’t losing out since you’ve been rerouted on the service you wanted so you’re happy. 

Does that explain it? 

ThorOdinson

No, that's what I meant, if an upgrade is the only option that gets you there the same day then they should pay for it.

You can expect them to not make you wait just so they can save money.

jimi_man

ThorOdinson said:

No, that's what I meant, if an upgrade is the only option that gets you there the same day then they should pay for it.

You can expect them to not make you wait just so they can save money.

Well they would obviously. However as stated it’s unlikely since they’ll just shuffle people around but you’ll still get on.  

Also, you’re not going to know how many seats are available in each cabin anyway so it’s rather tricky to press the point. 

silvercar

ThorOdinson said:

No, that's what I meant, if an upgrade is the only option that gets you there the same day then they should pay for it.

You can expect them to not make you wait just so they can save money.

Just say that there is only one business seat left on the plane. You have an economy ticket and need rerouting and that flight is the only one available. You may be allocated a seat on the plane, but that seat may be in economy and the airline may choose to upgrade someone from Premium economy to business, someone else from economy to premium economy and give you the (now spare) economy seat.

ThorOdinson

jimi_man said:

ThorOdinson said:

No, that's what I meant, if an upgrade is the only option that gets you there the same day then they should pay for it.

You can expect them to not make you wait just so they can save money.

Well they would obviously. However as stated it’s unlikely since they’ll just shuffle people around but you’ll still get on.  

Also, you’re not going to know how many seats are available in each cabin anyway so it’s rather tricky to press the point. 

You can see on the other airline's booking site what seats are available.

Save those screenshots for later.

jimi_man

ThorOdinson said:

jimi_man said:

ThorOdinson said:

No, that's what I meant, if an upgrade is the only option that gets you there the same day then they should pay for it.

You can expect them to not make you wait just so they can save money.

Well they would obviously. However as stated it’s unlikely since they’ll just shuffle people around but you’ll still get on.  

Also, you’re not going to know how many seats are available in each cabin anyway so it’s rather tricky to press the point. 

You can see on the other airline's booking site what seats are available.

Save those screenshots for later.

You can see what seats are available for ‘sale’. It’s not the same thing as how many physical seats are left. 

But your general point is correct, just that you’re highly unlikely to get that business seat - you’ll just get an economy seat and someone else will get the business seat. It’s not a problem as you haven’t lost out and you’ve got on the plane.