Volcanic activity in Iceland delays flights to/from Europe
Apr 16, 2010, 4:01 am
#62
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: YVR
Programs: UA-1K (3MM); AA-Gold (1MM); Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,145
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=20038
EC passenger rights regulations cast cloud over airlines
Friday April 16, 2010
Airlines that cancelled or delayed flights at EU airports yesterday as a result of airborne ash from the Icelandic volcano were required to "provide assistance and care" to stranded passengers including "meals, refreshments, hotel accommodation [and] telephone calls," the European Commission appeared to say yesterday in a statement.
It was unclear whether the fact that airspace across much of Europe was officially closed to commercial flights will be seen to have altered the airlines' obligations. However, under Article 9 of EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation No. 261/2004, passengers whose flights are cancelled "shall be offered free of charge meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time" and "hotel accommodation in cases where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary or where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary," as well as transport between the airport and the place of accommodation.
However, it appears that airlines will not have to compensate passengers financially for their lost time, as Article 5, Section 3 states that "an operating carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation. . .if they can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken."
Airlines are required to reroute passengers whose flights were disrupted and reimburse those who no longer wish to make the trip.
EC passenger rights regulations cast cloud over airlines
Friday April 16, 2010
Airlines that cancelled or delayed flights at EU airports yesterday as a result of airborne ash from the Icelandic volcano were required to "provide assistance and care" to stranded passengers including "meals, refreshments, hotel accommodation [and] telephone calls," the European Commission appeared to say yesterday in a statement.
It was unclear whether the fact that airspace across much of Europe was officially closed to commercial flights will be seen to have altered the airlines' obligations. However, under Article 9 of EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation No. 261/2004, passengers whose flights are cancelled "shall be offered free of charge meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time" and "hotel accommodation in cases where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary or where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary," as well as transport between the airport and the place of accommodation.
However, it appears that airlines will not have to compensate passengers financially for their lost time, as Article 5, Section 3 states that "an operating carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation. . .if they can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken."
Airlines are required to reroute passengers whose flights were disrupted and reimburse those who no longer wish to make the trip.
Apr 16, 2010, 4:05 am
#63
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: AC*E
Posts: 25
Sorry for my lack of experience with these things, but I figure everyone here knows best by far.
Given that all call centres are jammed (been waiting nearly 1.5 hours on the Silver line (should have done that 10k mile MR!)), I am thinking I may be able to just not do anything about a refund until things calm down.
If I just don't do anything, with my first leg (the TATL) canceled, will I have any problems getting the refund later? Or is better to just stay on hold? The web-site isn't letting me manage the booking at all. Ticket was booked on Orbitz and includes two CO legs.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Given that all call centres are jammed (been waiting nearly 1.5 hours on the Silver line (should have done that 10k mile MR!)), I am thinking I may be able to just not do anything about a refund until things calm down.
If I just don't do anything, with my first leg (the TATL) canceled, will I have any problems getting the refund later? Or is better to just stay on hold? The web-site isn't letting me manage the booking at all. Ticket was booked on Orbitz and includes two CO legs.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Apr 16, 2010, 4:12 am
#64
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: AC*E
Posts: 25
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=20038
EC passenger rights regulations cast cloud over airlines
Friday April 16, 2010
Airlines that cancelled or delayed flights at EU airports yesterday as a result of airborne ash from the Icelandic volcano were required to "provide assistance and care" to stranded passengers including "meals, refreshments, hotel accommodation [and] telephone calls," the European Commission appeared to say yesterday in a statement.
<snip>
EC passenger rights regulations cast cloud over airlines
Friday April 16, 2010
Airlines that cancelled or delayed flights at EU airports yesterday as a result of airborne ash from the Icelandic volcano were required to "provide assistance and care" to stranded passengers including "meals, refreshments, hotel accommodation [and] telephone calls," the European Commission appeared to say yesterday in a statement.
<snip>
Personally, I have a very hard time imagining that events like this do anything to help airline profits.
Cheers.
Apr 16, 2010, 5:42 am
#65
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Southern Alberta
Posts: 20,550
Apr 16, 2010, 5:57 am
#66
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Victoria BC
Programs: AC *50K MM; WS Platinum; Marriott Lifetime Titanium Elite
Posts: 811
Since I was the one who started this thread what seems like eons ago, I wanted to give a quick update on my experience. The airline travel gods have truly been smiling down upon me for the last 24 hours plus – I am one VERY lucky girl. I am back in YYC, narrowly getting out of London before the noon shutdown of Heathrow on Thursday.
Was scheduled to fly LHR-YYC on AC 851 departing 1:15 PM on Thursday April 15. Of course, that flight was cancelled. The AC Concierges in LHR were incredibly helpful. I was on the phone with one of the concierges and she told me that if I could get there by 10:15 AM before the cutoff, she could put me on the flight to YVR. At this point it was 9:40 AM. I was in Windsor, so not as impossible as if I was in London proper. But … I have never dressed, packed, ordered a car and checked out of a hotel so fast in my life!! With some help from a fantastic (lead-footed) driver, I was at Heathrow by 10:10 AM and I was checked in, whisked through FastTrack and at the gate about 15 minutes later.
The crew was doing its best to get out before the noon deadline, so we were told that the inbound plane had not been cleaned, there was no catering, and it would route through YYZ on its way to YVR to pickup fuel. I’m thinking, not a problem, let’s just get in the air before the airspace is closed! I lined up with about 80 other people at the only food kiosk in the area to pick up water and a sandwich. Finally started boarding and was in my seat by about 11:05 AM. At 11:27, the captain announces that if people were not in their seats with belts on and cabin baggage put away in the next 3 minutes, this flight would be cancelled as he would not be able to get clearance to take off. There were still a few people on the jetway, and several still lined up through the J cabin. Talk about passenger cooperation! Somehow, the door was closed and (almost) everyone seated by 11:30!!! Pushback was at about 11:45 and we waited our turn to takeoff. When we finally took off at 12:05 PM, there were only two planes behind us waiting to take off – a Virgin Atlantic and a Cathay Pacific. We were the THIRD-LAST plane to depart before Heathrow shut down. Talk about getting out by the skin of my teeth!
Once we were up in the air, the flight itself was fairly uneventful. And my good luck continued! Turns out that the flight was catered after all, and sufficient fuel was loaded so that a refueling stop in YYZ was not needed. The flying time was still longer than usual since they had to re-route the flight plan further south in order to avoid any areas affected by the volcanic ash. Landed in YVR at about 2 PM local time and made it to a 3 PM flight to YYC (thank god for NEXUS and no checked bags). Was home by about 6 PM in YYC! Yup, one lucky girl! A couple of American colleagues are still stranded in London, and they don’t think they will be back in the US until at least Saturday. On reading the rest of this thread, it looks like Saturday may be optimistic!
As an interesting aside, one of the concierges told me that she has only experienced one other event of this magnitude at Heathrow (in terms of flight snafus and such a broad impact) and it was 9/11!
To all of you who are still stranded overseas, I feel for you! I know that my stress level was pretty high there for a while, so for what it's worth, I am sending good vibes and positive thoughts in your direction! I hope it won't be long before you are back where you need to be!
Was scheduled to fly LHR-YYC on AC 851 departing 1:15 PM on Thursday April 15. Of course, that flight was cancelled. The AC Concierges in LHR were incredibly helpful. I was on the phone with one of the concierges and she told me that if I could get there by 10:15 AM before the cutoff, she could put me on the flight to YVR. At this point it was 9:40 AM. I was in Windsor, so not as impossible as if I was in London proper. But … I have never dressed, packed, ordered a car and checked out of a hotel so fast in my life!! With some help from a fantastic (lead-footed) driver, I was at Heathrow by 10:10 AM and I was checked in, whisked through FastTrack and at the gate about 15 minutes later.
The crew was doing its best to get out before the noon deadline, so we were told that the inbound plane had not been cleaned, there was no catering, and it would route through YYZ on its way to YVR to pickup fuel. I’m thinking, not a problem, let’s just get in the air before the airspace is closed! I lined up with about 80 other people at the only food kiosk in the area to pick up water and a sandwich. Finally started boarding and was in my seat by about 11:05 AM. At 11:27, the captain announces that if people were not in their seats with belts on and cabin baggage put away in the next 3 minutes, this flight would be cancelled as he would not be able to get clearance to take off. There were still a few people on the jetway, and several still lined up through the J cabin. Talk about passenger cooperation! Somehow, the door was closed and (almost) everyone seated by 11:30!!! Pushback was at about 11:45 and we waited our turn to takeoff. When we finally took off at 12:05 PM, there were only two planes behind us waiting to take off – a Virgin Atlantic and a Cathay Pacific. We were the THIRD-LAST plane to depart before Heathrow shut down. Talk about getting out by the skin of my teeth!
Once we were up in the air, the flight itself was fairly uneventful. And my good luck continued! Turns out that the flight was catered after all, and sufficient fuel was loaded so that a refueling stop in YYZ was not needed. The flying time was still longer than usual since they had to re-route the flight plan further south in order to avoid any areas affected by the volcanic ash. Landed in YVR at about 2 PM local time and made it to a 3 PM flight to YYC (thank god for NEXUS and no checked bags). Was home by about 6 PM in YYC! Yup, one lucky girl! A couple of American colleagues are still stranded in London, and they don’t think they will be back in the US until at least Saturday. On reading the rest of this thread, it looks like Saturday may be optimistic!
As an interesting aside, one of the concierges told me that she has only experienced one other event of this magnitude at Heathrow (in terms of flight snafus and such a broad impact) and it was 9/11!
To all of you who are still stranded overseas, I feel for you! I know that my stress level was pretty high there for a while, so for what it's worth, I am sending good vibes and positive thoughts in your direction! I hope it won't be long before you are back where you need to be!
Apr 16, 2010, 6:44 am
#69
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Usually on a ship looking for oil and gas; Uruguay, Malaysia, Turkey, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Norway, Scotland, India, Congo & Angola, next project who knows? Agreed to CC rules
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Posts: 1,184
Catgirl Thanks for your post and well done ^^
Apr 16, 2010, 7:48 am
#71
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Posts: 487
Apr 16, 2010, 8:09 am
#72
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: YVR
Programs: UA-1K (3MM); AA-Gold (1MM); Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,145
My understanding that all EU carriers must adhere to the EU passenger rights regulations for all destinations and Non-EU carriers must adhere to the EU passenger rights regulations when flying from the EU.
To answer your question, AC should be providing hotels, meals and transport to/from the hotel for pax in stranded in Europe.
To answer your question, AC should be providing hotels, meals and transport to/from the hotel for pax in stranded in Europe.
Apr 16, 2010, 8:22 am
#73
Company Representative - Air Canada
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Canada
Posts: 24,215
You can't put a crew on the plane to deadhead over and then operate the flight home immediately as that is over their duty day. There are planes that are stuck in Europe at the moment; we don't design a schedule to have free planes sitting around when we have that many planes stranded overseas. The planes that are usually in Europe turns around shortly after they arrive; not sit there for a few days like they are doing at the moment.
Apr 16, 2010, 8:27 am
#74
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Vancouver
Programs: AE
Posts: 10,566
My understanding that all EU carriers must adhere to the EU passenger rights regulations for all destinations and Non-EU carriers must adhere to the EU passenger rights regulations when flying from the EU.
To answer your question, AC should be providing hotels, meals and transport to/from the hotel for pax in stranded in Europe.
To answer your question, AC should be providing hotels, meals and transport to/from the hotel for pax in stranded in Europe.
