Currently stuck in Catania due to volcano eruption

HamsterCheeks

Forum post

Hi everyone,

Could someone please give me some advice regarding a cancelled flight?

I was due to fly home today at 7pm, but my easyJet flight has been cancelled due to ongoing issues with the active volcano near the airport.

Through the easyJet app, I was offered one night’s accommodation, and the next available flight I could book was Monday at 11pm — meaning I’m potentially stuck here for another five nights.

During the rebooking process, I booked the one free night of accommodation offered by easyJet. I’ve also managed to find a relatively cheap Airbnb for the remaining four nights.

Could anyone help me understand what I may be entitled to in terms of accommodation, meals, transport and any other expenses? I contacted easyJet and was told to submit a claim, but they didn’t explain what expenses are covered or whether there are any limits.

I’m travelling as a family of four, and as we were already at the end of our holiday, these unexpected costs could potentially put us into quite a lot of debt.

Any advice or experience with a similar situation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! 🙂

eskbanker

https://www.easyjet.com/en/terms-and-conditions/notice-of-rights-for-flight-delays-and-cancellations summarises your rights, in similar terms to the underlying regulations.

MeteredOut

Whilst you want to find out what cover Easyjet offers, have you checked your travel insurance? However, many basic/standard policies don't cover "acts of god" such as natural disasters.

Make sure you keep receipts of all expenses. And always keep them reasonable (which it sounds like you're doing already).

No airline will never give you an figure for refunding reasonable costs, as they expect (know) people will simply have that in mind as their allowance, so you must be prepared to justify every spend.

Did you ask Easyjet to route you home via an alternate airline, recognisning that all other flights might now already be fully booked?

HamsterCheeks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100891#Comment_82100891

Thanks for the response. My wife booked the travel Insurance and she’s not getting much luck on a response from them, all automated messages, but we will persist.

The plan is to keep everything to a minimum spend and keep receipts.

I didn’t ask easyJet to route via an alternate airline as it wasn’t an option in the app when I clicked on available options for the cancelled flight. The only direct flight that was available was 5 days later. Could you see that resulting in a problem?

QrizB

Ah, Mount Etna is at it again:

https://www.aeroporto.catania.it/en/news/AGGIORNAMENTO-ERUZIONE-ETNA

A friend of mine visited Sicily earlier in the year, when all the worries were about jet fuel supplies. We worked out if his flights were cancelled he could get a ferry to mainland Italy, from where it was a 36-hour bus and rail trip back to the Channel ports.

This link should take you to the route on Google Maps:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/CpDpEhvJkSjasAHh6

Hope you get home one way or another!

Westin

Have you looked at getting up to Palermo (PMO) and a flight from there?

CTA remains closed due to the volcanic activity.

jomcbride

Mount Etna disruption Aug 26

Flight diverted from Catania to Trapani - Dublin

Hi , our flight from Catania was cancelled and then seem to appear diverted to another Airport . We ended up having a 5 hour taxi journey at a cost of 770e in order to make our flight. Our airline left us high and dry and did not make reasonable suggestions on how we were getting home.

Has anyone had any luck claiming compensation for something similar? Apparently it’s not covered under Irish aviation society but under the Italian version - EASA however as I can’t even register as my country UK isn’t on their list .

Don’t know where else to turn ?

thanks

j

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82136186#Comment_82136186

What was the sequence of events in more detail?

When cancelling a flight, an EU airline is obliged to offer you a choice between a refund or rerouting you on an alternative flight under comparable transport conditions, so if it reroutes you from another airport, it's liable to either transport you there or to cover the reasonable cost of doing so - note that this will generally be described as 'reimbursement' rather than 'compensation' (which wouldn't apply here) so it's important to get the terminology right.

Which airline is it?

How far in advance of departure did they inform you of the cancellation?

Was it described as a cancellation or a diversion?

To what extent did they offer alternative arrangements?

How did you open a claim?

What have they said/done in response?

jomcbride

Hi

Thanks for response.

So I have heard back from EASA and I can now entry my country so I think I will try that route next.

airline was Aer Lingus

It was a real mess. I was waiting on airline contacting me about the cancellation but they did not. On the morning of our departure I spent several hours trying to get information on what was happening. Whilst I was onto the airline trying to get booked home on a different date via a different route I found out myself via my arrival airport web page that the flight had been diverted to Trapani. The airline didn’t even know about this and was shocked when I told them. This was approx 7 hours prior to departure. We weren’t due to be picked up from our hotel until 4.30pm to catch our 8pm flight. We had to quickly organise a private taxi to take us the 5+hours to Trapani. They notified us by email about their ground transport leaving Catania too late as it was impossible to get from where we were to Catania airport in time to catch their ground transport which was arranged and wouldn’t offer us any other assistance.

I put claim in via their website.

thanks

eskbanker

How did Aer Lingus respond to your claim?

If they cancelled the flight then the regulations (article 5.4) require them to prove that they notified you:

The burden of proof concerning the questions as to whether and when the passenger has been informed of the cancellation of the flight shall rest with the operating air carrier

although it does sound more like a diversion rather than a cancellation - did the flight from Trapani retain the same number?

What time did their ground transport leave Catania and how far in advance were you informed of this?

jomcbride

hi

They only responded to say we should have got their ground transport even though we couldn’t logistically get to the airport on time to catch their transport, it’s like banging my head against a brick wall. They gave us an hours noticed but we were further away and it was holiday period so taxi said no way we could make it in time from where we currently were based.