Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Jet2.com ONLY

As Novice said, we are all open to discussion here as it provokes advancement on the subject. I think the wrong side of the Novice bed may have been used this morning
I think I speak for everyone when we wish you and your aunt success in her claim and there will be quite a few regulars here more than willing to help in the likely fight to come.
Unless Jet2 have a wobbly and pay up

Apologies if people are fed up of reading this because there will be lots of repetition of previous posts, but it's probably better if everything to do with my three cancelled Jet2 flights is in one post, rather than posting links everywhere.... SKIP to NEW INFO if you're familiar

LS316 1/3/18 Cancelled
LS316 2/3/18 Cancelled
LS316 4/3/18 Cancelled

I'm going to update the Botts thread 'has anyone used Bott & Co' because finally I can legitimately post on that thread..

So the background to all this....

As everyone knows I have over 2K's worth of posts trying to help others in here, and because of my uneducated style of posting no doubt annoying the hell out of the regulars, so a seasoned traveller, certainly no longer a Novice at flight delays, but I can tell you all, when you're caught up in it all again, you feel small insignificant and powerless to not just help yourself but other passengers,

It's a strange belittling feeling...

Back in March 18 I decided to treat my other half to a surprise trip to Paris, the Eiffel tower, the Moulin Rouge and even the moaning Lisa, We had a fantastic short break flying with Yorkshires favourite airline Jet2.. everything was going so well until ..

The weather had been a huge issue in early March even in Paris temperatures were sub zero on most days, the weather was astonishingly cold. Of course it was nicknamed the 'Beast from the east' we still had a great time, done everything we wanted to do so we were actually looking forward to a flight back home to LBA.

We had BBC World TV in our room, so we were quite amazed at the images we were seeing from the UK, terrible snow, and after a few phone calls back home, we realised the snow and temperatures were even worse than we had suffered in Paris.

However, we made our way back to CDG airport as normal and I was relieved to see our flight LS316 1st March was advertised as 'on time' we made our way through security and we were patiently waiting air side

Now being a flight delay 'novice' I felt something wasn't quite right with the situation I noticed our return flight LS316 hadn't even set off from LBA so it was never going to be 'on time'.

Thankfully I had Tyzap, who very kindly offered to monitor the situation for us and he actually was the first person to inform us that our flight had gone from 'on time' to 'cancelled' it took Jet2 another 10 mins to officially tell us.

Naturally we were devastated, we both had work the following day and realised the huge impact this cancellation would have, at that stage I was quite smug and I was informing all the other delayed passengers how we would be looked after, taken to a hotel overnight and re-booked on the next available flight which was due the following day LS316 2nd March.

Sadly, we were confronted with the grim reality of travelling with Jet2. I did notice that Jet2Holidays travellers were quietly separated from us and were heading out of the airport. At this stage a member of the ground crew - not an employee of Jet2 simply handed out Jet2s phone number in the UK to call ?!?!?

This was a bit strange it wasn't even a free phone line, so we would have to pay to call Jet2 back in the UK... hmmm, this EC261 protection isn't going down too well.

We listened to Jess Glynne 'Hold My Hand' on a loop for 20 minutes ! If I ever hear that b100dy song again! :mad: Anyway we finally got through to the UK to be told that our flight was cancelled and the only option was a 'refund' for the flight. I asked to be re-routed - this request was ignored and when I pushed quoting the regs, I was outright refused. I asked for my 'right to care' asked for transport to a hotel and was outright refused every reasonable request I made. I even asked to be put on the following days flight, alas again refused apparently it was full. Make no mistake I was informed that the following days flight 2nd March LS316 was full. I think the thing that is most shocking here, is that accepting a refund would absolve Jet2s responsibility and we would have waived our right to care away. I refused a refund.

I asked to speak to a manager, but after another 20 mins listening to Jess Glynne I just couldn't take any more and I was aware I would need some power in my phone to get us out of the mess J2 had left us in.

Other passengers were in tears, I tried to inform them all of their rights, but many simply did not believe me and accepted the refund on offer and made there way to the Eurostar.

I even doubted my own sanity, and was glad that Tyzap in the background was reassuring me what I already knew from years helping passengers on here.

It was obvious at that stage we would have to make our own arrangements, the first thing was to secure a hotel for the night, I used my phone and found a very cheap place to stay, we simply couldn't afford to go back to where we had been staying. Luckily I had my credit card, and although I didn't have the Euros in cash I'm lucky in that I have a fairly high credit limit. What I would have done if I didn't - we would have simply had no choice but to sleep at the airport. After booking a hotel for the night, we made our way to the taxi rank, again as long as they accepted credit cards we could get to the hotel. It was a flat 50 Euro back to Paris and it had to go on the card. While we were in the cab on the way back to Paris, I noticed there was availability on the following days flight, I had been lied to by Jet2, why they did this? I have no explanation apart from they are just a horrid company to deal with. I paid on my credit card for replacement flights the following day.

When we had checked into the new hotel, I called Jet2 back in the UK, but no matter how polite I asked, they refused ANY help whatsoever, insisting as we were not Jet2 holidays customers, all we were legally entitled to was a refund.

The next day was sadly a replay of the previous again cancelled flight, we had to pay to extend our stay at our hotel and we were calling back home to our employers explaining our situation, I even had to cancel a hospital appointment I'd waited six months for. Many more calls back to the UK, still refused any help or re-routing just offered a refund of the second flight which we refused.

The next flight wasn't for a couple of days Sunday the 4th March, we really didn't know what to do during the day, it was freezing cold and there's only so many times you can visit the Eiffel tower. We ended up aimlessly walking around and eating/drinking onion soup!

So four days later Sunday the 4th March, the flight had to go, but - no you guessed it - It was cancelled so now a total of three flights back to the uk, we had spent about £1000 on our credit card in replacement flights, taxi fares, accommodation costs and food.

We didn't go mad with the spending we actually bought croissants from a supermarket for our breakfast rather than use the hotels expensive breakfast option. We had no idea if we would get any of this money back.

This time Jet2 did offer to re-book us from the Sundays flight onto the following Mondays flight, that was nice of them

Finally the Mondays flight took off and our experience of Jet2 was over, but no it wasn't there were all the expenses to claim back under 'right to care'. We had kept receipts for everything, so things we knew we couldn't claim for any alcoholic drinks for example (there were many) we excluded, also tube fares around Paris were not claimable only transport to and from the airport, accommodation and food. Not to mention a refund of the flights. It all added up to around £1000.

I also claimed on our travel insurance and we got around £160 from them, it was a very cheap policy only covering the minimum but to be fair they paid up instantly and we had no trouble there.

SOME NEW INFO

So what were we entitled to ?

Obviously 'right to care' for the additional spending and a refund of the additional flights that we had to purchase.

So then openly on the forum I started to discuss the possibility of a claim under EC261/2004 ?!?

Well the odds were stacked against me, it was horrendous weather there were no arguments about the weather, JP who I believe lives somewhere in that direction openly posted that not just snow but fog was also a factor and the airport was virtually shut down.

While I was in Paris, I recall keeping warm in Burger King with a coffee for hours, just monitoring flights in/out of LBA some diverting to
Liverpool and some Manchester, which were operating as normal.

So some flights were flying albeit diverted, ours were all outright cancelled, to be fair Ryanair were the worst for this cancelling ALL flights in/out of LBA days in advance.

So common sense kicks in, horrendous weather, I think its fair to say Tyzap, was in agreement with me initially when I said obviously it's weather and a genuine EC.

However, did weather impact (cos I'm not sure if it should have been effect or affect) the flight concerned, well no not really, CDG was operating as normal. I started to question, couldn't the flight have operated and if conditions were that bad at LBA why couldn't the flights be diverted to Man or Liverpool ?

By this time I'd written to J2 with all my receipts, kept it very friendly and not mentioning EC261 just a snippet from the CAA about their obligations around 'right to care' .

I did receive initially the standard response, we deal with letters in the order we receive them, etc,etc,. Then very quickly a cheque for all of our right to care expenses but there was a problem... What they had done is to refund the original flight 1st March, and the 2nd March but not the 4th March flight as I received a FOC transfer onto the following Mondays flight. Fair enough ? errrmm, no NOT really , the original flight was purchased months ago and cost around £70 for the both of us, the replacements were more than double, so the sneaky dodgy b@stards, wanted to refund the cheap original flight but not the more expensive one at £250. I was having none of it and returned their cheque, meanwhile the credit card statement had arrived and I had to pay it all back to them :mad: not happy:mad:


Eventually I did receive a response from a 'legal executive' telling me I was quite correct and that my original flight should have been re-routed/rebooked at no additional cost so all good in the end, but what about any compo due under EC261/2004 ?

What I want to make clear here is that there is no doubt that the weather was horrific and IF Jet2 had taken care of us, as they should have done - there would have never been a question from me about compensation, they really dug their own grave here, just treat people fairly then passengers will treat you with respect and not come at you with all guns blazing. THEY NEVER LEARN..

So back to compensation, we'd already established that my flights were not inhibited due to bad weather at CDG, so does the fact that the previous flight can't take off from LBA mean that my flight can't operate? That's something Tyzap suggested playing devils advocate. My answer was no, Jet2 could have flown an an aircraft to CDG from any operating airport, in my mind, my flight was from CDG to LBA and did not include the previous flight - not LBA to CDG then back to LBA

So now it starts to get interesting, knock on delays and ATC restrictions come to mind. So if an airport LBA has a total closure does that mean that any aircraft due landing there can claim an EC ? My view is definitely no because it could divert to an alternative airport, but I would agree that any aircraft due to fly from LBA could quite rightly claim an EC. My view does not seem to be supported by Botts, who dismissed my first delay on the 1st March. Still don't agree ! But they are the experts.

My second cancellation, 2nd March Jet2s defence after court paperwork was issued via Botts was that it anticipated bad weather and ATC restrictions as in the previous delay but there weren't any, the flight could have flown, sure weather was still bad but they were coping at LBA. In the end they didn't want to go to Court and they settled the case for the full 250 Euro per passenger.

The final third cancellation was a re run of the second, Jet2 expected the airport to be closed and expected bad weather in the end, it wasn't and flights were flying as normal with only a minimum of disruption. Again once court paperwork had been issued Jet2 settled in full at 250 Euro per passenger.

So just because there is anticipated disruption doesn't mean that gives the airline the authority to cancel a flight, only if the disruption occurs as in my first cancellation does that equate to a genuine EC.

I hope this helps passengers on the EasyJet thread, but the caveat to all this is the cases never went to court and even if they had of done would not have been binding on any other court, but certainly worth posting I feel to help others.

Sorry that was a bit long!

Cheers,

NoviceAngel

Thanks JP, I keep adding to it, to make it legible, will take me some time, I better leave it now I've opened a bottle lol

Hi M1lo,

Please copy and paste your post to here for an answer.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4384707/flight-delay-and-cancellation-compensation-jet2-com-only

Thanks.

Put your flight details into bottonline and euclaim and see what they say.