Hainan Airlines cancelled flight, Trip.com won’t rebook properly – rights under UK261?

Westin

No matter the interpretation of Article 8 of EU261, I think realistically gaining recompense from a Chinese carrier for any new flights that the OP goes ahead and purchases is going to be slim to none.

Hainan offering a refund, or a flight the day before or after is IMO as good as it gets. 

Trip.com have done no wrong here.

Voyager2002

As a footnote, when you buy a ticket directly from an airline using a credit card the card company is legally liable in the same way as the airline. In this case, the credit card company is legally liable in the same way as the agent (Trip.com): an obligation to provide an air ticket, which of course they have fulfilled. So the card company is not going to help the OP.

eskbanker

Emily_Joy said:

eskbanker said:

Emily_Joy said:

Do you know an airline that would offer an alternative flight with another carrier in case of cancellation? 

The point is about what the airline's legal liability is, not the extent to which they do or don't comply with that!

In practice the latter seems to matter more, as @Voyager2002 pointed out. The passenger often has little choice especially in the case of cancellation at a short notice.

Yes, my expectation is that in the majority of cases the airline won't offer flights with other carriers, so the emphasis is more on establishing the legal rights of the passenger in order to inform the prospects of reclaiming the associated costs after the event, whether that's from airline, ADR, CAA (or equivalent) or court.  As highlighted above, extracting money from foreign carriers is likely to be more challenging, and all the more so if they don't have a UK presence/entity for court action....

silvercar

Emily_Joy said:

eskbanker said:

Emily_Joy said:

Since Hainan informed you over two weeks in advance, under UK261 they 
1) are not obliged to offer you a flight with different airline
2) are not obliged to pay any compensation whatsoever.

The 14 day notice does remove any liability for article 7 compensation, but doesn't rid the airline of liability to reroute under article 8, which is the same regardless of how far in advance the cancellation is - as above, there is still room for debate as to whether the airline has to offer flights on another airline in this case, but it's not affected by the notice given.

Do you know an airline that would offer an alternative flight with another carrier in case of cancellation? 

Wizzair routinely offers to change the arrival and departure airports within certain limits, e.g. last year we were to fly to Belgrade and back, our return flights were cancelled and we were able to rebook from Podgorica instead.

Yes, BA had a strike a few years ago and put us on American Airlines and Iberia. We had about a months notice.

Currently Virgin Atlantic has pulled out of their Heathrow to Tel Aviv route and is putting people on ElAl.

So it does happen, the question is whether you can force a reluctant airline to do so.

Emily_Joy

silvercar said:

Emily_Joy said:

eskbanker said:

Emily_Joy said:

Since Hainan informed you over two weeks in advance, under UK261 they 
1) are not obliged to offer you a flight with different airline
2) are not obliged to pay any compensation whatsoever.

The 14 day notice does remove any liability for article 7 compensation, but doesn't rid the airline of liability to reroute under article 8, which is the same regardless of how far in advance the cancellation is - as above, there is still room for debate as to whether the airline has to offer flights on another airline in this case, but it's not affected by the notice given.

Do you know an airline that would offer an alternative flight with another carrier in case of cancellation? 

Wizzair routinely offers to change the arrival and departure airports within certain limits, e.g. last year we were to fly to Belgrade and back, our return flights were cancelled and we were able to rebook from Podgorica instead.

Yes, BA had a strike a few years ago and put us on American Airlines and Iberia. We had about a months notice. Currently Virgin Atlantic has pulled out of their Heathrow to Tel Aviv route and is putting people on ElAl. So it does happen, the question is whether you can force a reluctant airline to do so.

Well, Virgin Atlantic does have code share agreement with ElAl and BA, American Airlines and Iberia are all in the same One World Alliance and also do have a code share agreement in place, so this is not so surprising.

Hainan Airlines have a code share agreement with Brussels airlines so in theory should be able to re-route via Brussels. The question seems to be whether the OP spoke to Hainan directly or only via trip.com?

Alan_Bowen

The only problem with that plan is that Brussels Airlines don't fly anywhere near China, they specialise in Africa. I have to agree that booking flights on a Chinese airline through an agency based in China is very unlikely to result in them even considering UK261, I would seriously look at the options on offer, rights and enforcement are two very different concepts!

Emily_Joy

Alan_Bowen said:

The only problem with that plan is that Brussels Airlines don't fly anywhere near China, they specialise in Africa. I have to agree that booking flights on a Chinese airline through an agency based in China is very unlikely to result in them even considering UK261, I would seriously look at the options on offer, rights and enforcement are two very different concepts!

Well, I flew Birmingham - Brussels with Brussels Airlines, then Brussels - Beijing with Hainan, and the third segment was on Hainan within China. So this could be an option. In my experience it helps to talk to Hainan representative directly, even if the flight was booked via trip. Their agents can also arrange special meals and prebook seats.