Claiming consequential losses from tour operator for cancelled flight

smoo118

On 12th August, 2026, our return flight home from Catania Airport, Sicily was cancelled by Easyjet due to Mount Etna erupting. We were informed of this just before 3pm, as we waited in our hotel for our taxi to the airport.  We had booked our holiday through Lastminute.com and as they do not have a contact phone number, we used the online chat to contact them, to arrange an alternative flight home as soon as possible, as we had our children with us and one of them has anxiety. Lastminute.com told us is it could take up to 3 days to receive an answer from their support team. They also told us we could go direct to Easyjet to arrange an alternative flight.
Because our flight was cancelled, and just 3 hours before departure, we were effectively then stranded in Sicily, with no offer of help from Lastminute.com, so we had to arrange accommodation and onward transport ourselves.
In the case of taxi transport and hotel, we managed to secure discounts or sourced multiple quotes to ensure we were getting the best deal possible.  We had to pay for a hotel overnight and an additional meal, along with transport to the other airport and we lost our original pre-paid taxi transfer money too, so incurring unforeseen costs of approx £900 overall.
The day after we returned home, 14 August, Lastminute.com emailed to say that as we contacted the airline directly, which is what they advised us to do, we must reach out to Easyjet for any further help. Easyjet's website says that we cannot claim anything because the volcanic eruption is out of their control.

We have raised a chargeback dispute via our credit card, but Lastminute.com are not playing ball. I'm looking for advice on where to go from here, if anyone can help, please? Thanks in advance.

Woodstok2000

Easyjet do not need to pay you compensation under Uk271, but they are responsible for any reasonable costs you incurred while waiting for your return flight. This includes accommodation, reasonable food, drinks, and transport.

They are not responsible for consequential losses - that would be for your insurance company.

smoo118

Thank you for your comment. I understood that we couldn't claim anything from Easyjet because the circumstances were outside of their control. Is that not correct?

saajan_12

There are two separate avenues for claims.

(1) Reimbursement of costs to get you to your destination airport.
Eg alternative flights, transfers, basic food, accommodation. This is claimable provided you asked for a rerouting and at no point ask for a refund, and gave the provider sufficient time to arrange this before taking matters into your own hands. The reason for the cancellation doesn't matter.

(2) Compensation for arriving back late
Often called EU 261 compo, this is only if the cancellation was in the airline's control, which a volcanic eruption wouldn't be.

(3) Concequential losses after you arrive eg lost wages, taxis home, etc are generally not claimable ever.

The reason only matters for (2) so you should go back to both Lastminute and Easyjet making it clear you only want (1),

smoo118

Thank you so much for your help.