Airline Cancelled flight and refuses to transfer us to an alternative carrier

loiner

I have scheduled flights booked but the airline has cancelled our flights and consolidated them with the same flights the following day for both outgoing and return. I've booked hotel and transfers independently and to cancel and rebook them is now much more expensive.

I'd like to adhere to my original dates and there is an available flight with BA but my airline refuses to book us on it. I've pointed out to them their policy on cancellation, ie their t's and c's state:

9.2.2 If we cancel a flight, fail to operate a flight reasonably according to the schedule, fail to stop at your destination or stopover destination, or cause you to miss a connecting flight on which you hold a confirmed reservation, we shall, at your option, either

9.2.2.2 Within a reasonable period of time re -route you to the destination shown on your Ticket either using our services or those of another carrier, or by other mutually agreed means and class of transportation without additional charge. If the fare and charges for the revised routing are lower than what your have paid, we will be entitled to a refund;

I've requested them to book the BA flight 2 times, yet their response is:

'As mentioned below, your request cannot be granted as we do not have an agreement with British Airways.'. 

This is clearly not compliant with their own t's and c's. I don't want to book the BA flights myself as they might (eventually) only refund the amount I've paid them and the BA flight is more expensive. Any advice on what to do next? Obviously the BA flight is now filling up and the price is increasing.

DullGreyGuy

Where are the flights to/from given we are talking about non-EU/UK carrier?

loiner

Gatwick to Mauritius on Air Mauritius

Newbie_John

Some airlines can be impossible to talk to sadly, unless you are prepared for a longer battle..
Call hotel and transfer and explain flights shifted by a day and if they could do the same?
Otherwise travel insurance.

If neither works you can ask for refund and rebook on BA? Try another agent - as it's really down to their cooperation? Did you book flights directly with them?

When is the flight? As you could be due compensation if it was a short notice.

loiner

Newbie_John said:

Some airlines can be impossible to talk to sadly, unless you are prepared for a longer battle..
Call hotel and transfer and explain flights shifted by a day and if they could do the same?
Otherwise travel insurance.

If neither works you can ask for refund and rebook on BA? Try another agent - as it's really down to their cooperation? Did you book flights directly with them?

When is the flight? As you could be due compensation if it was a short notice.

I'm in the process of trying to get the dates changed for the hotel and airport transfers, but am expecting a jump in price.

If I ask for a refund and rebook with BA, the flight will be a few hundred pounds per person more. As above, the original airline should be arranging and paying for that, but refuse to do so.

The flight is 5 weeks after I was notified. As such, I understand I am not covered by the EU/UK compensation scheme.

bagand96

The EU and UK legislation entitles you to your choice of a refund, or re-routing. The re-routing option doesn't have to be on the airline's own services even though most airlines will only offer this, or via their alliance partners. 

It's not unusual for an airline to refuse to rebook. In this case you can rebook yourself and claim back from the airline, with the law behind you.

The issue here is how difficult it might be to reclaim from Air Mauritius. I can find reference to them being a member of AviationADR but I'm not sure if that's in the UK as they're not listed on that site. 

Voyager2002

bagand96 said:

The EU and UK legislation entitles you to your choice of a refund, or re-routing. The re-routing option doesn't have to be on the airline's own services even though most airlines will only offer this, or via their alliance partners. 

It's not unusual for an airline to refuse to rebook. In this case you can rebook yourself and claim back from the airline, with the law behind you.

The issue here is how difficult it might be to reclaim from Air Mauritius. I can find reference to them being a member of AviationADR but I'm not sure if that's in the UK as they're not listed on that site. 

The return flight is not on an EU- or UK-based carrier and not departing from a country in the EU or UK, so those rights may not apply.

silvercar

Voyager2002 said:

bagand96 said:

The EU and UK legislation entitles you to your choice of a refund, or re-routing. The re-routing option doesn't have to be on the airline's own services even though most airlines will only offer this, or via their alliance partners. 

It's not unusual for an airline to refuse to rebook. In this case you can rebook yourself and claim back from the airline, with the law behind you.

The issue here is how difficult it might be to reclaim from Air Mauritius. I can find reference to them being a member of AviationADR but I'm not sure if that's in the UK as they're not listed on that site. 

The return flight is not on an EU- or UK-based carrier and not departing from a country in the EU or UK, so those rights may not apply.

You could claim for the outbound.

strawb_shortcake

There's a Mauritius group on Facebook that I'm on and this is affecting a lot of people as Air Mauritius have dropped a flight from their schedule

Alan_Bowen

Be warned, Air Mauritius is in a serous financial mess, a number of UK agents have stopped selling them for fear they will cease to trade. They have a new CEO who has promised to put things right, but they are clearly not going to pay a penny unless forced to do so. I am certain all the staff have been told not to spend money for any reason hence their current attitude. If you rebook with BA you might have to sue to get redress and I doubt they have any assets in the UK, so having rights and enforcing them are two different things!

loiner

Alan_Bowen said:

Be warned, Air Mauritius is in a serous financial mess, a number of UK agents have stopped selling them for fear they will cease to trade. They have a new CEO who has promised to put things right, but they are clearly not going to pay a penny unless forced to do so. I am certain all the staff have been told not to spend money for any reason hence their current attitude. If you rebook with BA you might have to sue to get redress and I doubt they have any assets in the UK, so having rights and enforcing them are two different things!

Great post. It's looking like my best option will be to take the flights a day later and if there are any additional hotel costs or they default on the flight home my travel insurance will kick in. Thanks.