Flights and Section 75

Civvy21

We have booked flights to Japan on one of the major Chinese airlines. The flights were booked direct with the airline using a credit card. It is just flights that have been booked.

All the recent upheavals have made me wonder what would happen if the airline cancelled our flights home whilst we were still in Japan. Ideally they would offer us alternative flights. But what would happen if they just refunded the cost of the return leg (approx £200 each) and advised us to make our own arrangements. I would assume arranging alternative flights home would be extremely expensive.

My question is would Section 75 be of any help in this situation? Could I claim for the additional costs (consequential losses) of returning home?

Like a lot of airlines the terms and conditions aren't overly clear. It implies they will try and get us home but can also refund us. It isn't clear if that is our decision or theirs.

Grateful for any advice.

p00hsticks

Isn't that sort of scenario what travel insurance is for ?

visidigi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6663221/flights-and-section-75

This is what travel insurance is for. Make sure you add on war coverage (we just renewed and it was a £9 add on).

Civvy21

Thank you. I do, of course, have travel insurance.

Having looked at the terms and conditions of my travel insurance most of the scenarios seem to refer to cancelling before you go. But I can't see anything specific to the example in my post. One of the terms states that "we won't pay claims related to flight cancellations and delays if they're covered by your airline". This is what concerns me. If the airline says " tough luck, here's you £200 back" will the insurance company definitely pay the considerable extra cost of us returning home? I hope it does. But my query was whether or not Section 75 would be useful if the insurance company refused to help.

Apologies if I am missing something simple with this. And I accept I may be being overly cautious. What prompted my posting is that a group of acquaintances recently got caught out trying to fly back to the UK from the far east after a cruise. All of their flights (booked independently - all different airlines) were cancelled. Some received excellent service and were flown home with only minor delays. Some were effectively refunded and then left to fend for themselves.

user1977

Might be better if you get this moved to the travel board:

Overseas holidays & travel planning — MoneySavingExpert Forum

(though if you've already booked and the cancellation is entirely hypothetical, I'm not sure what you're going to do with the answer!)

eskbanker

Section 75 would only come into play if the supplier breaches the contract (or for misrepresentation, not applicable here), so you'd need to establish whether refunding without offering rebooking would constitute a breach of contract, based on the Ts & Cs (in the absence of the regulatory protections covering bookings from the UK/EU or on UK/EU airlines).

Civvy21

Thank you user1977.

Unfortunately family health issues meant there was always a slight chance we couldn't go on this holiday. But I was willing to take the risk because flights were relatively cheap at the time of booking, but were getting more expensive by the day. Regrettably the odds of now going are 50:50. And If it turns out that airlines start cancelling lots of flights, and I wouldn't be able to recoup any additional costs, we may decide not to go.

The purpose of my question was really just a case of "to be forewarned is to be forearmed".

I posted it in this forum because I know there are a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful section 75 experts here. However, if the mods want to move it then that's fine.

Civvy21

Thank you eskbanker. I appreciate your advice.

I will have another look at China Southern's terms and conditions to see what it says.

born_again

One to speak to your provider about if it ever happens.

As you have gone from "What if airline cancels flights" if they refund, then no breach of contract would be argued.

To "health issues & a 50/50 chance of not going" No S75 cover at all.

Civvy21

Yes I do realise the health issues aren't covered by Section 75.

The gist of my question is can an airline just cancel and refund the return leg without giving me an option of an alternative flight home. And also in that circumstance what coverage would I have, if any, from section 75.

There are, of course, potential, downsides to booking with Chinese airlines. Customer service can be "difficult". The website wasn't exactly customer friendly. However, I paid my money and I made my choice. They were exceptionally good value, less than a half of all other airlines. In fact less than a third of UK and Japanese airlines. And reviews were pretty good. To be honest the holiday would not have been affordable had we not booked with them.

Grumpy_chap

What causes of the return cancellation does the OP have in mind?

I assume the flight is either direct or any touchdown is in China. I can't imagine current world events impacting such a flight.