Vueling change of flight time / refund?

micflair_2

Hey all, looking for a bit of advice.

I've booked a flight with Vueling for the summer which sets off at 2.30pm, landing at 6pm ish. We received an email last week saying they have changed the time of it so it now takes off at 9pm, landing at 1am ish. In the email it gave us options of accepting the flight, change to another day/time FOC, accept a refund in flight credit or accept a refund in cash.

Due to the fact our child is disabled the 1am arrival would be tough so we went online to request a cash refund however it wasn't an option - the only option was flight credit. I filled in their online form to ask how we claim said cash refund.

In the meantime I found another flight with another airline that landed at a more suitable time - I booked it.

Vueling have took an age to reply, but they have said due to them giving us plenty of notice of the change they can't offer us a cash refund (even though in the email they said they would). I've rung them today and they are now saying we accepted the flight change online - which we certainly did not! They are point blank refusing to give us said cash refund which they have offered us. I have asked for proof that we accepted the flight change, of which they refuse to give us also.

I appreciate they have given us plenty of notice, but can they really offer us a cash refund and then just change their minds claiming we have accepted the change? Anyone else had this drama with them?

I should also add, the flight number has changed - so technically has this flight not been cancelled and rebooked rather than just a change in time?

eskbanker

micflair_2 said:

I should also add, the flight number has changed - so technically has this flight not been cancelled and rebooked rather than just a change in time?

Quite possibly - if the flight itself has been cancelled, rather than your booking being moved from one operating flight to another, then that would help with your argument that you're due a cash refund.  Are you able to find any trace of the original flight on their website or others?  How was the notification email worded?

micflair_2

The email said the flight time have changed. But having checked it the flight number is infact totally different - which suggests to me (in my limited knowledge!) it's been cancelled and rearranged and they are just skirting around that fact.

There is now no original flight on their website, just the new one.

Just really annoyed that I've booked another flight under the assumption they would hand out the refund as informed in the original email. I accept maybe I should have waited until cash was in the bank but I needed to rebook quickly and kinda stupidly trusted their word!

eskbanker

micflair_2 said:

Vueling have took an age to reply, but they have said due to them giving us plenty of notice of the change they can't offer us a cash refund

If the flight was cancelled well in advance then they're not obliged to pay article 7 compensation but they are required to refund, in cash, under article 8(1) of the regulations, so maybe worth reverting in writing, clarifying that you're expecting a refund for that reason.

Once you get their final response, if you need to take it further you could try the CAA PACT team or the Spanish aviation authority, or ultimately a court claim, although if they don't have a UK address that would be more challenging....

micflair_2

Thanks for that advice, really appreciated! I'll send them a letter, always seems a bit more official as such!