EasyJet Cancellation - Duty of Care After Refund

sh856531

Hi all

We were caught up in the Spanish Powercut situation in Malaga. We were on a plane on the runway for about 3 hours before they pulled the plug and let us off the plane around midnight.

There was no real assistance or guidance offered from EasyJet and we had to try and find emergency accommodation and a taxi away from the airport at around 1am in the morning with an exhausted baby with us. We then had to climb an 18 storey tower block with a baby and luggage in the pitch black, but that's another story :-/

The following day we tried to get in touch with EasyJet to arrange a flight home. There were no flights for at least a week and so we opted to come home with Ryanair as soon as we could. This meant we had to stay in Malaga 3 nights longer than we wanted but would lower our costs and also EasyJets

During a live chat with EasyJet their agent advised that he could refund us for the flight. At no point did he advise us that in accepting the refund EasyJet would have discharged its duty of care obligations. Subsequently when we have returned home and tried to claim for the extra accommodation and costs incurred, EasyJet have rejected the claim because we accepted a refund.

From my own research I can see nothing in the legislation that says that an airline doesn't have to help you in a crisis if they give you your money back. We have raised a formal complaint and advised that we did not freely choose to wave any rights to Duty of Care. 

Does anyone know of any legal basis behind what EasyJet are saying because I can't find anything that supports what they are saying, even on their own web pages dedicated to the subject.

Thanks

Ayr_Rage

Once you accepted the refund your contract with EasyJet ended and they had no further responsibility to you.

Pretty sure you've no chance of any compensation.

sh856531

I can't see anything that would support that view in the text of the legislation.

The legislation says that you have a right to reimbursement AND the right to a duty of care. 

I can see nothing that specifies that if you accept reimbursement, you are no longer entitled to care....

eskbanker

It's regulation 5(1)(b), under which passengers shall:

be offered assistance by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 9(1)(a) and 9(2), as well as, in event of re-routing when the reasonably expected time of departure of the new flight is at least the day after the departure as it was planned for the cancelled flight, the assistance specified in Article 9(1)(b) and 9(1)(c)

i.e. hotel accommodation and transport costs (9(1)(b/c)) only apply if choosing rerouting (on a later date) rather than a refund, under article 8.

sh856531

Thanks for the clarification. 

So - this was really not made clear to us. We actually thought we were doing easyJet a favour by coming home after 3 days. Had we not done that easyJet would have needed to have paid for hotels for a week, all food and transport. I feel like their agent deliberately railroaded us into accepting a refund whilst we were stranded and made no attempt to make clear that it was going to cost us approx £650

Does EasyJet have an obligation to make sure passenger rights are well understood and choices entered into freely? I'm of average intelligence and have read both their material on the matter and the actual EU law and had no idea we would be getting 300 quid but losing all right to assistance. 

Thanks 

sh856531

Actually - if I look at the actual Notice of Passenger Rights that EasyJet provide - there is really no ambiguity that their Right to Care applies even if we unknowingly accept a refund. Notice that the two clauses on their notice exist independently of one another. Their is no language on the notice that says EasyJet absolves itself of its responsibilty the moment I accept a refund.

I'm fairly sure that a court would rule in our favour if we followed our understanding of what EasyJet told us rather than downloaded the actual EU legislation whilst stranded at an airport in the middle of a power cut:



I've logged a complaint with them and if they don't treat us fairly, I'll log it with the Small Claims Court, if only because I think they have acted unethically 

eskbanker

sh856531 said:

Actually - if I look at the actual Notice of Passenger Rights that EasyJet provide - there is really no ambiguity that their Right to Care applies even if we unknowingly accept a refund. Notice that the two clauses on their notice exist independently of one another. Their is no language on the notice that says EasyJet absolves itself of its responsibilty the moment I accept a refund.

I'm fairly sure that a court would rule in our favour if we followed our understanding of what EasyJet told us rather than downloaded the actual EU legislation whilst stranded at an airport in the middle of a power cut:



I've logged a complaint with them and if they don't treat us fairly, I'll log it with the Small Claims Court, if only because I think they have acted unethically 

In the right to care section, I'm sure they'd claim that their clarification about which of a, b and c applies overrides the interpretation that all scenarios invoke all three subclauses, and similarly will assert that their reimbursement statement relates to reimbursing costs that they're liable for rather than being open-ended, but no harm in trying!

In section 2, your first highlighted section simply reflects the provision about long delays (prior to departure) triggering refund rights if choosing not to fly, as per clause 6(1)(c)(iii) in the regulations, a different scenario from yours.

Underlying this is the fact that their rights document is obviously intended to reflect the statutory rights granted under the regulations, so any nuances lost in rewording those may not convince a court.  However, your intention to save EasyJet money might ultimately count for something, and you could also challenge EasyJet's failure to rebook you onto a flight at the earliest opportunity (as required under 8(1)(b)) if there were significantly earlier alternative options available on other carriers, although this case is stronger if you make it to them at the time....

sh856531

Hey 

The reality of the situation was it was in the middle of the night in a powercut. It was mayhem so I don't begrudge them the fact that they didn't really offer us any care. The following day they also didn't offer anything because the only way to talk to them was via a live chat system that kept failing. 

My actual issue is the way the acted after the fact. In the aggregate they left a family with a baby, in a vulnerable situation and then tricked us into accepting a £300 refund whilst costing ourselves 600 in the process. It really stings that we were doing our best to follow the spirit of their processes and to save them money and they've now sold us down the river. 

eskbanker

One other option to consider, in between complaining to the airline and small claims, is to go to Aviation ADR, as detailed in their rights document.

sh856531

Yeah - I do feel strongly enough about how they behaved that I will use all available means to cost them money now. I am the least litigious person you are likely to meet and rarely complain, but I do feel they are punishing us for behaving reasonably. 

That said - I actually do think I have another angle to use with them aside from the fact that their Passenger Rights Notice is misleading. They actually only offered to refund us the day after we were trapped at the airport. Even if we accept that once they refunded us our money, they "discharged" their obligations to us. They only did this after we had had to find emergency accomodation, taxis home and food. At an absolute minimum they must be liable for the period of time before they tricked us into accepting the refund.

That would be approximately £200 out of a total bill of £650