Originally Posted by
8420PR
The question is if EW need to rebook the OP on the next available flight (on any airline at any cost), or on the next available EW flight.
EU261 says airlines must offer:
The current business practice for many airlines is to offer re-routing typically within the same airline group (i.e. comparable transport conditions), even where that is not the earliest opportunity of all airlines. I would also be interested in any case-law that defines the comparable transport conditions part.
In any case the OP has done the right thing - booking the most reasonable flight to get them home.
The flight was cancelled less than 48hrs before departure triggering the rebooking onto any airline clause in EU 261.
What most airlines are doing now is large scale changes to schedules more than 14 days in advance so that passengers are obliged to request a refund or take an alternative flight with the airline, precisely so they avoid these mass scale rebookings. That’s the clause of EU261 airlines have cottoned onto in order to save money to not lose cash since the pandemic.