Flight cancelled - what are my rights?
 

My husband and I were booked on af39 this afternoon from IAD-CDG then a connection on to CPH. Upon arriving at dulles we were told oh yeah the flight to CDG is cancelled. No call, no email, no SMS ahead of time. Apparently they had crew issues. So now they have rebooked us on a flight tomorrow, leaving 27 hours after our original flight, getting us into CPH around 3 pm. So we have lost over a day of our trip, plus they rebooked us on a 777 instead of a 380 which is a bummer because we specifically arranged our flights to be on the 380 partly because it is a far nicer plane and partly because my husband is a big plane buff. We also paid for the Seat Plus which we have lost as well.

We have a rather expensive, nonrefundable hotel reservation in CPH. We are losing a night of it. Will AF compensate us for this? Since we are losing a day of our trip, will they reschedule our return flight for a day later as well without charge? Any thought or knowledge about what they are obligated to do?

Edited sorry don't know what happened there

Compensation depends on the cause of the cancellation. If it is any reason within their control, you are entitled to compensation under EU regulation 261/2004 (see the many threads on that topic). Compensation would be €600. If the reason is outside of their control (weather, etc) no compensation is due. They should also reimburse the cost of your seat plus.

You have the right to:

1. Compensation (just like orbitmic says above this may not be due if it was due to extraordinary circumstances).
   
2. Be given the choice between A. Full refund B. Reschedule for a new date C. Reroute on an alternate route the same day (the airlines interpret this as that it has to be on their metal only whereas many consumer agencies interpret it as meaning on any airline). You are to be given the choice between these three, the airline can not choose for you.
   
3. Meals and hotel (if you wait overnight) plus phone calls or emails
   
4. They have to inform you of these rights in a written note including information where to turn if your rights where not upheld

If you turn to Air France for compensation they will (like most airlines) give you a no over and over until you come there with a lawyer. Take a look at these links for more help:

http://flightmole.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=17

http://flightmole.com/claim_recovery.htm

http://www.euclaim.com/

Please let us know how this turns out!

Thank you! This is very helpful. Apparently the captain didn't show up for the flight and they had no reserves, I guess, so that was the reason given for the cancellation. I'm assuming that means we're entitled to the compensation listed above so I'll check out those links and give it a shot.

I do not envy them having to rebook two 380s full of pax but still, if they knew about this at 7 am this morning, I don't understand why they couldn't have notified people and started the rebooking process then. But we did finally get rebooked on the same flight tomorrow, though no one could tell me about the seat plus thing - guess I'll have to take that up with at the airport.

Thank you again!!

Me too!! I actually got a notification that my hubby's flight changed, but not mine or my son's so I was really confused and called my travel agency. They checked twice with Delta and they said go the airport everything is fine.

At the airport we got the letter and they would not take any questions. The letter does not state any of the options that were listed above. Instead it says that everyone has been rebooked for tomorrow.

I too booked because of the A380 and am now flying 777. I also lost a day of time at destination, which they will not extend, because there's no award travel available. Apparently the agency I booked with booked us on award miles and now we have to play by the rules associated with that ticket, but that's a separate issue.

What's really annoying is that somehow on Facebook a member already knew on the 18th that no flights would be leaving Dulles and AF commented on his post "There are no plans to remove the A380 from the IAD-CDG route". I guess only when convenient. Now they were able to combine 2 flights into one. I'm probably not very objective, but this is my second cancelled flight with them and I've had it. Going Lufthansa next year, although they previously bumped me off and overbooked flight. I'm running out of airlines...

If your flight is cancelled you have the same rights as everyone else. The regulation specifically mentions that award tickets and "paid" tickets are alike.

I hope you rang the hotel to tell them that you will be arriving a day later! If they put you down as a no-show for not arriving on the check-in date, there is a chance that your room could be resold before you arrive on the following day.

Are you on Delta award miles or AF award miles? Our reservations were on DL award miles and Delta's skymiles desk was able to rebook me on the 4:40 flight today AND extend my vacation by a day on the other end with no charge (yay Delta - for all their flaws, I love the people who staff their international award desk). They can indeed do that, so don't let them tell you otherwise. You might try going directly to them.

I am not happy that they did not inform us about our rights to compensation, but not at all surprised ("attention all 583 irate passengers, we have to give you cash!"). However, they did hand out that letter stating that it was a crew problem (unable to find a captain, I think?), which I would think is pretty strong evidence that this was within AF's control and NOT an extraordinary circumstance.

I did! They nicely told me that my reservation was not refundable but that they would give me an invoice and Air France would reimburse me (hahahahaha).

AF should reimburse you. I had no issues getting reimbursement out of FR when the snow hit last winter and I couldn't get out of LTN. Had a nonrefundable room in GRO and they paid for the night that I didn't get to use. If Michael O'Leary will pay out my claim, AF darn well better!

Hopefully they halped you with the problem. I have a flight lined up on AF39 to fly the A380 in J.