Non-EU flight cancelled, airline is trying to charge me to rebook another day
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Hello all,
I’m a bit rusty on the legal aspects of UK/EU261 on an airline being obliged to offer a free date change when the non UK/EU flight has been cancelled.
I’ve booked a flight with Ethiopian from LGW to another airport in Africa (I don’t really feel like saying where I’m flying to), I was due to arrive at 02:55, they’ve however emailed me on Christmas Day (out of all the days) to tell me that there’s been a change in time of my flight, and it’d now arrive at 11:15.
I contacted Ethiopian and told them that this new flight time is unsuitable for me, before I called them I checked what other flights they’ve got, and I’ll have to arrive the day before I originally intended too do so, as that’s pretty much the only real alternative. This flight departs LHR.
They said I’d need to cough up approximately £86 to change my flights, I told them that I shouldn’t be charged to change my flights as they’ve changed their schedule (I’ve just checked, and the final destination flight number has changed, so the flight I was originally booked onto has been cancelled, I know this so please don’t try and tell me otherwise, I’ve madd similar comments in the past citing I know my flight has been cancelled, and some of the responses where along the lines of from other readers ‘are you sure your flight was cancelled ?’, without addressing the main topic) and I was always perfectly happy with the flight I booked onto, and their new flight they’ve put me onto is unsuitable.
The call centre agent (probably based in Ethiopia) said that she couldn’t put me on the flight I requested to be moved over to without paying the fee (the flight the day before the one I originally booked onto), and said I’d need to make the request via email.
I’ve sent them a email making it clear what I need doing, I sent the email on Wednesday, I haven’t yet had a response, so in a couple of days time, I guess I’ll ring again and demand to put through to someone with more powers !
I just need clarification on this please
You’re departing Gatwick. Gatwick is in UK so doesn’t matter which airline belonging to any other country. For all departures from UK or Europe the airline is obliged to provide EU261 rights or UK equivalent law which is same thing pretty much. Except if you reroute earlier @JDB has said it’s not clear that UK courts will follow European judgment in considering rerouting hours or days earlier to be treated same compensation as a cancellation. If your reroute is later than original flight then EU and Uk treat this the same as each other for compensation.
I’d address a letter to their Legal Dept and their regular service contact by email and also as well, to theit Legal Dept, a snail mail signed-for reminding them that as the flight they cancelled departs Gatwick Ethiopian is subject to EC261/2004 and UK equivalent (search this forum – the correct name for UK version is quoted in a few places) and accordingly you request to be rerouted on an alternative carrier or Ethopian, at no extra cost to yourself as provided by the legislation. etc.
After your rerouting is sorted – and personally i’d not reroute more than 1 hour earlier unless you want to as there’s uncertainty whether you’d lose your right to also claim compo for the cancellation if you did this – submoit comepnsation claim as well.
You might want to check what other routings are running that are feasible before you dig yourelf in too deep, as well.
Yes, flight is a cancellation. Yes EC/UK261 cancellation rights apply as you are departing LGW as @LL explains. With regards to reroutes, accepting one is a voluntary decision because you have the alternstive of a full refund. Given it’s voluntary then I personally believe any further compensation is not reasonable and I would be surprised if courts decided otherwise. For this reason I think available rerouting options should be fully explored and fully discussed with airlines before accepting them. I fully accept that this can be difficlt at the eleventh hour but we just have to play the hand we’re dealt as best we can. If things subsequently go wrong with the rerouted flight then ofcourse you have your new set of legal rights with respect to the airline operating that new flight. Where flight are returning to the UK or EU I always recommend that wherever possibkd only a UK or EU airlind is used.
In your specific case provided the LHR option works for you I just pay up the extra £86 now even though it is wrong. I conduder it eorth it to release the stress and pressure as you can always chase it up later at a better time.
As above, you do have full UK261 rights departing the UK on Ethiopian, although you haven’t said how far in advance of the flight you were notified which affects those rights. As @BJ says, for £86, it’s really not worth the aggro and in any event you can pay the £86 and then claim compensation and or the additional fare afterwards if you are eligible.
Not worth the hassle. I would also check Conditions of Carriage as you may be able to dispute the extra charge based on the contract and not UK261. Make sure you pay the extra charge on the credit card.
Thanks for the help and advice so far everyone, I’m just incredibly miffed that they think this sort of behaviour is okay, I’ll either way make sure it doesn’t go unnoticed, after the flights take place, I’ll sure that they’re aware of how badly they’ve handled things so far.
This post is also a warning of how they’ll try and behave when they cancel a flight, and also them trying to mask a cancellation as a time change
@JonathanC They behave like this because they can get away with it.
@JonathanC They behave like this because they can get away with it.
Airlines don’t always get away with this sort behaviour, but they still try.
It’s a shame that there’s not an ombudsman / regulator that’s strong and robust like the consumer finance and insurance industry, if there was one, airlines would quickly start behaving themselves and trying these sort of tricks on their customers
If you pay anything keep it clear that you will be claiming it back plus all other remedies and reimbursements that may be due to you under your EU261 EC261/2004 and all rights available to you under UK legislation.
£86 is significant to me and think how many passengers Ethiopian is hoping to get away with charging at least this amount illegally.
Please keep it clear to them it’s under protest and you will be pursuing your rights as one of the costs they probably won’t like (as well as the due money a UK court will end up telling them to pay you) is admin time, communication time and, we all hope, legal fees to defend themselves.
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