A little holiday flight question...
Discussion
Booked a holiday, including flights, through a tour operator. Adverse weather results in airport closure for the return flight on Saturday morning, and we end up flying out of a different airport in the early hours of Monday morning. I didn't have to book the Monday morning flight, and the flight number was the same as the Saturday morning flight.
So...is this a delay, or a cancellation?
So...is this a delay, or a cancellation?
The tour operator is saying they won't compensate me for refreshments over the delay period, as the weather conditions were out of their control. Reading EC Regulation 261/2004, that only applies if the flight was cancelled.
If it was merely delayed, 'Assistance must be provided regardless of whether the delay is outside the airline’s control'.
I'm inclined to agree with you, but feel the tour operator/airline can simply come back to me and say the flight was cancelled, and I can't find any way to conclusively tell them otherwise!
Edited to say: It's not 'compensation' I'm after (as worded in the Regulation), it's just reimbursement - other flights with the same airline were offered food vouchers at the airport, but ours wasn't!
If it was merely delayed, 'Assistance must be provided regardless of whether the delay is outside the airline’s control'.
I'm inclined to agree with you, but feel the tour operator/airline can simply come back to me and say the flight was cancelled, and I can't find any way to conclusively tell them otherwise!
Edited to say: It's not 'compensation' I'm after (as worded in the Regulation), it's just reimbursement - other flights with the same airline were offered food vouchers at the airport, but ours wasn't!
Edited by fid on Wednesday 14th April 20:34
Nah, France in January...snow and ice (and a lack of aircraft de-icer at Lyon airport) meant we couldn't fly out of Chambery on the Saturday, and our aircraft couldn't take off from Lyon to meet us there on the Sunday. When they found some de-icer in Lyon, Chambery was too busy to fly in to so they ended up coaching over-night to Turin. Only two days late getting home 
fid said:
Reading EC Regulation 261/2004, that only applies if the flight was cancelled.
If it was merely delayed, 'Assistance must be provided regardless of whether the delay is outside the airline’s control'.
Hmmm... same thing happened to us travelling back in January. Flight was delayed for 2 days due to snow but airline kept us in our hotel at no extra charge anyway, despite not having too...If it was merely delayed, 'Assistance must be provided regardless of whether the delay is outside the airline’s control'.
- quick google search*
The only possible stumbling block occurs within the confusing definition of the kind of delays that are or aren't within the airline's control. Airlines are exempt from paying out compensation if cancellations are due to ‘extraordinary circumstances'. Basically this covers unpreventable occurrences such as extreme weather conditions, security risks and worker strikes.
Thanks scirocco, I'd seen the moneysavingexpert article, but not sure it differentiates very well between delay and cancellation, whereas the Regulation shows them as two distinct passenger rights. The 'exeptional circumstances' get-out clause only seems to apply for cancellations, whereas delays incur assistance after two hours...which makes sense really as you could be delayed for hours before an airline decides to cancel a flight.
Thinking about it, we weren't told our flight had been cancelled, only that they'd try and get us home the next day when they could fly in to Chambery - even if changing the departure airport to Turin is classed as a cancellation, everything I want to be reimbursed for was pre-being told we'd be going to Turin, so surely that period is still classed as delay. I think that's going to be my angle of attack.
Thinking about it, we weren't told our flight had been cancelled, only that they'd try and get us home the next day when they could fly in to Chambery - even if changing the departure airport to Turin is classed as a cancellation, everything I want to be reimbursed for was pre-being told we'd be going to Turin, so surely that period is still classed as delay. I think that's going to be my angle of attack.
Just remembered, when I got back into Bristol airport the airline themselves handed me a piece of paper stating the delay period so that we could claim from our travel insurance for the delayed flights. As 'Airlines are not obliged to pay compensation if they can prove that a cancellation is due to "extraordinary circumstances"', I'm really looking forward to them trying to get out of this.
fid said:
Nah, France in January...snow and ice (and a lack of aircraft de-icer at Lyon airport) meant we couldn't fly out of Chambery on the Saturday, and our aircraft couldn't take off from Lyon to meet us there on the Sunday. When they found some de-icer in Lyon, Chambery was too busy to fly in to so they ended up coaching over-night to Turin. Only two days late getting home
How extraordinary - bad weather in Winter. These airlines do take the biscuit, I thought I had read something about the EU tightening up this exclusion clause as the airlines were taking the piss. Perhaps I imagined it.Nope, not Ryanair...but it's actually the tour operator that are playing difficult at the moment, really not sure why as I think it's the airline that are liable. Although, the tour operator and the airline are part of the same group...
I'll get 'em - the Regulation is simple and well worded, as it should be...they're just quoting the wrong section to fob me off
I'll get 'em - the Regulation is simple and well worded, as it should be...they're just quoting the wrong section to fob me off
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