Leg of journey to destination in Australia cancelled advice needed

blackstar1

Hi need some advice please as not getting anywhere with finding out our options.

My wife booked flights with Etihad from Heathrow to Brisbane via Melbourne and return from Melbourne to Heathrow.

Brisbane back to Melbourne was purchased separately as we wanted to fly from a different regional airport as due to spend 4 days there before travelling to Melbourne to stay with the inlaws..

Our flight out was already delayed due to  technical issue so arriving in Brisbane a day later however...Brisbane flight has been cancelled due to the cyclone. We weren't offered a refund but they have  rebooked us on that flight on the 9th - we were due to fly to Melbourne on the 10th so ideally we'd get a refund for the Brisbane leg and just stop in Melbourne. 

Would we be entitled to a refund for the Melbourne to Brisbane flight as it was cancelled + the flight they booked us on is 24hrs later?
Thanks all
Carlos

eskbanker

The regulations are clear that when a flight is cancelled, the airline is obliged to offer passengers the choice between a refund or rebooking, under article 8.

saajan_12

blackstar1 said:

 we were due to fly to Melbourne on the 10th so ideally we'd get a refund for the Brisbane leg and just stop in Melbourne. 

Would we be entitled to a refund for the Melbourne to Brisbane flight as it was cancelled + the flight they booked us on is 24hrs later?
Thanks all
Carlos

blackstar1 said:

Hi need some advice please as not getting anywhere with finding out our options.

My wife booked flights with Etihad from Heathrow to Brisbane via Melbourne and return from Melbourne to Heathrow.

Brisbane back to Melbourne was purchased separately as we wanted to fly from a different regional airport as due to spend 4 days there before travelling to Melbourne to stay with the inlaws..

Our flight out was already delayed due to  technical issue so arriving in Brisbane a day later however...Brisbane flight has been cancelled due to the cyclone. We weren't offered a refund but they have  rebooked us on that flight on the 9th - we were due to fly to Melbourne on the 10th so ideally we'd get a refund for the Brisbane leg and just stop in Melbourne. 

Would we be entitled to a refund for the Melbourne to Brisbane flight as it was cancelled + the flight they booked us on is 24hrs later?
Thanks all
Carlos

Not super clear to me which flight was cancelled - Melbourne -> Brisbane (part of the main ticket) or Brisbane -> Melbourne (booked separately)? If it was one ticket, was there a break down of the price for the 2nd leg? 

blackstar1

Hi thanks for the replies.

 It was the Melbourne to Brisbane that was cancelled that I was querying about.

We booked Brisbane to Melbourne separately so will sort that one ourselves.
Thanks
Carlos

Westin

The cyclone has slowed and whilst battering the coast already, is not expected to make land fall until tomorrow morning Brisbane time.  The situation is very fluid.  

I really think you need to call Etihad to discuss options. I would expect that they will be fairly accommodating in changing flights as at the moment no one knows how long BNE will be closed for (including the call handler). Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast airports also impacted. I doubt things will get back to normal at those coastal airports until about 11th at the earliest.

I know a long drive but have you considered renting a car and driving down to Melbourne, or Sydney.  Perhaps turn into a mini break with stops over several days in new places along the route.  Or drive at least further south before picking up a flight to MEL.    I’m current sitting over in WA watching the breakfast news and it certainly doesn’t appear any fun staying in that area at the moment.

eskbanker

Westin said:

I know a long drive but have you considered renting a car and driving down to Melbourne, or Sydney.  Perhaps turn into a mini break with stops over several days in new places along the route.  Or drive at least further south before picking up a flight to MEL.    I’m current sitting over in WA watching the breakfast news and it certainly doesn’t appear any fun staying in that area at the moment.

Unless I'm misreading OP's itinerary, they don't (or perhaps didn't) have any problem flying to Melbourne and they haven't yet travelled from there to Brisbane....

Westin

eskbanker said:

Westin said:

I know a long drive but have you considered renting a car and driving down to Melbourne, or Sydney.  Perhaps turn into a mini break with stops over several days in new places along the route.  Or drive at least further south before picking up a flight to MEL.    I’m current sitting over in WA watching the breakfast news and it certainly doesn’t appear any fun staying in that area at the moment.

Unless I'm misreading OP's itinerary, they don't (or perhaps didn't) have any problem flying to Melbourne and they haven't yet travelled from there to Brisbane....

Could be. I wasn’t picking up the itinerary clearly then.

If the issue is MEL BNE then I would assume this would be on another airline such as Virgin Australia as I don’t think Etihad themselves fly that as a domestic leg. This links further VA information on the cyclone disruption - https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/travel-info/cyclone-alfred-update/

I still think a call to Etihad is required to see how/if they can cancel off the MEL BNE sector and recost the total fare.  

blackstar1

Thanks all, we were due to fly back to Melbourne on the 10th to stay with the in laws until we fly back to London at the end of the monh.

The flight to Brisbane on the 9th (which has now been rebooked twice without offering a refund with Quantas) now no longer works for us.

Quantas Trying to cancel it without it resulting in our London flight being cancelled is turning out to be a nightmare. We've been told by Etihad that unless we can get Quantas to cancel that flight we either have to still take it or pay extra to reissue the whole  booking I.e. they won't cancel just that flight.

blackstar1

Think the problem mainly stems from us booking through World Airfares who originally told us we had to contact the airlines who are now telling us they can't cancel the Melbourne to Brisbane flight as it wasn't booked through the.

eskbanker

blackstar1 said:

My wife booked flights with Etihad from Heathrow to Brisbane via Melbourne and return from Melbourne to Heathrow.

Brisbane back to Melbourne was purchased separately as we wanted to fly from a different regional airport as due to spend 4 days there before travelling to Melbourne to stay with the inlaws.

blackstar1 said:

Thanks all, we were due to fly back to Melbourne on the 10th to stay with the in laws until we fly back to London at the end of the monh.

The flight to Brisbane on the 9th (which has now been rebooked twice without offering a refund with Quantas) now no longer works for us.

Quantas Trying to cancel it without it resulting in our London flight being cancelled is turning out to be a nightmare. We've been told by Etihad that unless we can get Quantas to cancel that flight we either have to still take it or pay extra to reissue the whole  booking I.e. they won't cancel just that flight.

blackstar1 said:

Think the problem mainly stems from us booking through World Airfares who originally told us we had to contact the airlines who are now telling us they can't cancel the Melbourne to Brisbane flight as it wasn't booked through the.

I'm struggling to understand the booking arrangements here!  The impression created initially was an Etihad booking from Heathrow to Brisbane via Melbourne, i.e. a single through ticket, albeit involving multiple airlines, but it now sounds like it could have been multiple bookings stitched together by an agent?

If it's a fully joined-up Etihad booking then the UK261 regulations apply, and the cancellation of the MEL-BNE flight entitles you to a refund option if that's preferable.

However, if the MEL-BNE leg was a separate ticket then your ability to cancel instead of rebooking will depend solely on the terms of the fare (plus any Australian equivalent to the UK/EU passenger rights regulations).

Edit: on reflection, is the situation that you have an 'open jaw' booking with Etihad for LHR-BNE and MEL-LHR, and they're saying that failure to fly on the MEL-BNE leg would invalidate the rest of the booking?  That would be fairly typical handling of a 'no show' but I wouldn't have thought it should apply when the relevant leg was actually being cancelled by the airline - however, I'm not sure exactly how one would go about convincing the airline of this....

blackstar1

Hi thanks all

So...we booked via World Airfares. Journey out was London to Melbourne on Etihad, then to Brisbane on Quantas. 

Our flight back was Melbourne to Brisbane.

My wife booked a return from Brisbane to Melbourne separately. 

After spending literally hours on the phone and advice from Etihad saying we had onward travel protection we managed to sort it.

World airfares cancelled the Melbourne to Brisbane flight with no impact on our return flight.