Originally Posted by
jomala05
The right to re-booking stems from Article 8.1(b) of EC261, and applies no matter how far in advance you were notified of the cancellation. The practice is you need to give the airline the chance to re-route you within the same or next day, and if they don't, plan B is to try to pre-agree that you'll re-route yourself (on the cheapest reasonable itinerary) and claim afterwards.
Thanks
jomala05 and
cws. It is 8.1b of course which I am looking to rely on. Fine, but let's back up a little.My query above was poorly phrased.
My situation here is a re-scheduling, not a cancellation (flight number the same).
To invoke Article 8, as far as I understand I need a springboard from somewhere in the Regulation (and case law) to get there. But where or what is that springboard? (That is my question)
Plainly Article 5.1.a points to Article 8, but that is only dealing with cancellation.
Art 6.1.iii points to Article 8 (so is a reference to Article 8), but is dealing with 'delay'. Are you saying 'delay' here is able to widely interpreted and that is how we get Article 8 in-play when re-scheduling >14 days (and having a significantly later flight dep & arrival).
In essence, I will go back and invoke Article 8.1.b and request the re-route "at the earliest opportunity" (so arriving close to the original arrival time. Several routings with a codeshare then own metal do this, esp through JFK) ... Ideally, first, I would like to understand the rationale that gets Article 8 / re-route in play.
Edited to add: Actually citation 12 is a fairly strong clue as to what the Regulation is also aiming to cover (albeit a citation not the main text itself):
(12) The trouble and inconvenience to passengers caused by cancellation of flights should also be reduced. This should be achieved by inducing carriers to inform passengers of cancellations before the scheduled time of departure and in addition to offer them reasonable re-routing, so that the passengers can make other arrangements. .
And yes, Plan B could be as you outline but will create an orphan ticket and a separate tickets mis-connect risk (not to mention re-timetabling risk). So Plan A needs to work! This is only the second time I've been knocked back on a first or second suggestion re-route. Odd. I don't even think its a HUACA, there was surprise at agent and supervisor end too.