LGW-MAD-HAV Duty of Care?
 

Hello,

A friend of mine is part way through an LGW-MAD-HAV-MAD-LGW itinerary. He has flown first leg to MAD and was meant to fly MAD-HAV today (9th Sept) on BA4213 (codeshare of IB6621). That flight has been cancelled due to Irma and he is now on tomorrow's IB6621.

The booking was made through an online travel agent, with a BA 125 ticket number but Iberia metal on all sectors.

My question is, who has the duty of care to the passenger? BA or Iberia? I presume either airline should be paying for his hotel in Madrid this evening, as well as any reasonable meal expenses? Is he entitled to any other compensation?

Any help much appreciated.

Iberia should pay duty of care costs as the operating carrier.

No compensation under EC261, but he can hopefully get a small amount of delay compensation from his travel insurance. (If he hasn't got insurance for travel to Cuba, he's an idiot.)

I assume he has asked IB at MAD?

What was their response?

Does your friend have travel insurance? Wonder if this covers these circumstances?

Would be good to know from others what is reasonable to expect from IB.

I'm afraid I am not sure if he has travel insurance for this booking and I don't think he has asked IB specifically about duty of care requirements yet. But hopefully, as Ldnn1 says, IB should cover his hotel in Madrid tonight even if that means booking it himself and then claiming costs back at a later date.

IB are notoriously bad at responding to EU261 claims, so it would be much better for him to get IB to give him a hotel voucher tonight. I don't think he should have a problem getting that. Edit: That said, from a quick look at IHG Madrid hotels are looking very busy tonight, so he will want to act quickly - he should go to a customer services desk in MAD immediately to try to get something if not done already.

Would that be possible to do by phoning them? Or would he have to speak to someone at MAD in person?

Right to care involves
- food and drink for the length of the delay
- hotel accommodation if needed
- transportation to the hotel or alternative airport if needed
- communication expenses.
There's very little definition as to the details beyond this, such as the number of meals or the hotel quality. But there is a general point of protecting the passenger's interests embedded in EC261 which is the often the bridge where things aren't clear.

There will also be rights to being rebooked (or having a refund), which are not right to care provisions but which almost certainly apply here.

It's not subject to extraordinary circumstances, it's all embracing and it is for the operating carrier, so here Iberia. Under EC261 the whole focus is on the airline providing the service, so just buying a 125 ticket, or going via BA.com doesn't provide any extra safeguards. Travelling with a European carrier does.

Iberia generally have a good reputation for doing this on the day, they are less good at after the event EC261 cases involving compensation for delays/cancellations under Article 7 but that clearly won't apply here.

In this case your friend should ask Iberia in person at Madrid airport to provide meal vouchers and the hotel booking, but if there is any difficulty in providing it, s/he can make their own booking and reclaim it. Insurance is a good idea - normally it won't cover items like this unless the airline fails to pay up but in these events it would be quite common for things like checked bags to get delayed or to lose out on inflexible hotel bookings at the destination.

Anyone going to Cuba without insurance is either very rich, reckless or both.

Do it at MAD - it sounds like he's already there?

Thank you everyone for the helpful advice, I will tell him to speak to an IB rep at MAD to hopefully sort out tonight's accommodation.

Thanks

To clarify as you said he's flying from LGW, is he on the flight that's currently in the air or did he fly out to Madrid last night?

If he's already at a hotel in Madrid from last night, my course of action would be to ask the hotel if they can add an extra night (tonight) at the same/similar rate as he paid last night, and then have the day in Madrid at my leisure without having to go to the airport. But that would be on the basis that I'd be willing to wait several weeks - and potentially a bit of back and forth correspondence - before I got the money back from IB. If he's not willing to do that, it'd be safer to go to the airport and get a voucher there.

If he's in the air now, he should hurry off the plane and go to the IB service desk in the arrivals stream - you can't miss it. Sometimes there's a queue, sometimes not. I find they're a bit more friendly when spoken to in Spanish but they can certainly deal with him in English and hopefully give him the voucher there and then.

He had already had an overnight layover in MAD, so he would have call them or to head back to the airport. Thanks for advice.

As an American I am always amazed by this. American airlines can claim "weather" as a reason for a late/cancelled flight and they owe you nothing. Not food, not a hotel, not even a rebooking. Although this might be frustrating and confusing, the idea that there are things the airline will/must do to help is amazing.

EC 261/2004 would apply to a US carrier departing the EU and US carriers routinely pay it. The costs are simply built into the fare structure.

In the US, you either pay it out of pocket or insure the risk.

I am not sure about duty of care, but a hurricane is force majure and no delay compensation would be due.

As a reference point could you let us know how your friend got on with IB, Wing0A - did they sort him out with a hotel and if so which one?