Originally Posted by
RichieMc
I thought I had a pretty good handle on this topic. So much so that I have a side hustle (unpaid) advising friends how to avoid sleeping on airport floors during disruption. But this one has me stumped.
We were all caught up in the storm that hit the Balearics end of August. I managed to sort myself out. A friend could only get rebooked on BA or even another carrier the following Wednesday (this happened on a Sunday), so I told her not to cancel the ticket and we found an option on easyJet connecting through Geneva on the Monday, which she would later claim back. She used one of those sites where you can actually book a connection on easyJet (I guess they charge extra for insurance in case something goes wrong).
She managed to get to Geneva no problem. But then the onward flight to Luton got cancelled. So she then - without my approval - just booked herself a very expensive flight to London on BA. Had I been there, I would have recommended trying to get BA to book this directly. But there it is.
So wondering how to proceed with this. Does it make sense to try and get the whole lot from BA? Or is it best to try and claim the easyJet flight from BA and then the GVA-LTN from easyJet?
She's so far had a reply from BA after trying to claim the lot saying they are not liable for anything, but as a gesture of goodwill, they are reimbursing a night's hotel in Palma. Obviously this is wrong as duty of care still stands.
Any recs on how to handle this? I don't think you can use CEDR for easyJet if it comes to that.
You're correct - claim the easyJet rerouting via GVA from BA, and then the BA re-routing for the easyJet booking from easyJet.
You could have asked BA to rebook you for the latter but realistically speaking there is every chance they would have refused, and since that claim is with easyJet rather than BA, not doing so isn't fatal to the claim.
As others have said, I'm guessing the amounts in question here are quite significant, so going direct to MCOL (after sending a Letter Before Claim) may result in quicker reimbursement - the airline has to choose whether to defend the case, and if so submit a defence, within 28 days of you serving the claim.
The other thing worth mentioning is that easyJet and BA may be liable for EU/UK261 compensation notwithstanding the fact that the cancellations may have been due to exceptional circumstances. This is because the second stage of the defence - the all reasonable measures test as elaborated in
LE v TAP - requires they reroute you at the earliest opportunity. Failing to do so can render them liable for compensation regardless of anything else.