Flight cancelled due to bad weather, but still flew

James_Blonde · 16 April 2018 at 2:11PM

Our long haul flight for a months holiday in Hong Kong and Australia was cancelled at the beginning of March, 2 days prior to departure, due to anticipated bad weather. So far, so no claim entitlement I'd guess. However having watched the airport flight tracker on the day, and having subsequently checked with a flight tracking site to confirm what I saw, it appears our flight took off, with passengers, on our anticipated day of departure. I can only guess that the flight wasn't cancelled, but rather we were bumped from it so that the airline could rebook passengers delayed due to a closed airport the previous 2 days. To my mind, because bad weather was not a factor in OUR delay, then there are no extraordinary circumstances, and therefore we should be entitled to compensation. Is our logic sound?

Secondly, we were bumped onto a flight 4 days later, which meant that we would have to cancel the Hong Kong element of our trip, and associated hotels and activities, and fly direct to Australia, also missing out a day of that trip. We did ask the airline if we could add this portion of the trip onto the end of our holiday, but they wanted to charge a full fare, which seemed extremely unfair given we'd lost 2 flights / 4 days. We also suggested an upgrade to one of our sectors as a goodwill gesture (Actually, if they had, it would probably have precluded us trying to claim anything!) however the agent either wouldn't, or wasn't empowered to offer them. Would you have a view on whether we should be entitled to any compensation for this? A refund of a leg perhaps? Any form of standard compensation? *something*?

Hope you can advise!

JPears · 16 April 2018 at 2:51PM

Sounds like you were denied boarding in effect or your flight was "cancelled" as far as your were concerned or notified, with less than 14 days notice. You should have been re-routed sooner than 4 days, that is unacceptable. Or been rebooked on another carrier.
Which airline?
The problem with claiming denied boarding is that you have to be present at checkin (this is quite specific in the regualtion) so you will have to claim your flight was cancelled. Did they give a reason for the "cancellation"?

Caz3121 · 16 April 2018 at 3:23PM

and did you book direct with the airline?

James_Blonde · 16 April 2018 at 4:14PM

Airline was Emirates, booked directly through them with a credit card

We received an Email cancellation 2 days before departure, telling us that this cancellation was due to severe weather, however as I mentioned, we also know that the flight, with the same flight number, flew from the same airport on the day we expected to depart, so weather did not impact on the ability for the aircraft to fly as a scheduled flight. In other words, we were bumped.

If it's relevant, we had already checked in for this flight online the day before cancellation.

JPears · 16 April 2018 at 4:42PM

Ok you need to repost this on the Emirates thread to avoid cluttering the board with your own personal thread.
Next download Vauban's guide - it is full of information including template letters to make your claim.
As I said, you cannot make a claim for denied boarding (even though you were) as you didn't present yourself at the gate before departure (regulation 261/2004).
When you repost on the Emirates thread put dates flight numbers and times in.

Flight cancelled due to bad weather, but still flew

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