Aer Lingus Cancelling Flights for Summer, 2019 [Avios redemption re-booking]
 

Surprised that the thread hasn't already been started, but Aer Lingus has cancelled their new Montreal to Dublin flights for 2019 and, so far, BA is refusing to put Avios tickets onto another carrier without upcharging both Avios and services charges and fees and won't do it even with the upcharges unless Avios availability is already there. Flights that I booked for 120,000 Avios and $419.02 USD are now looking like at least 245,000 Avios and $1771.84, if they would even book them for me, which they won't because there are no Avios seats available. Seems to be an evident breach of EU rules by either BA or Aer Lingus.
For anyone else in the same situation, please let us all know if you find a solution that doesn't cost an arm and a leg

Does that other carrier include BA's own LHR-YUL flights? Strange that they wouldn't rebook you, regardless of Avios availability, if so, IMO.

EU regs mean you must be re routed under comparable conditions, so keep pushing.

Sometimes it is best to wait a little until they've established a rebooking policy though

Didn't they decide to cancel the flight just a few days ago? I suspect that they simply haven't informed customer service on what to do yet and so customer service gives incorrect information.

Under EU rules, they have to rebook you in one way or another. However, since you aren't travelling until summer, they have got plenty of time to rebook you and so they may prefer to focus on rebooking passengers travelling earlier. I suggest that you wait and see. Don't try to cancel your ticket as you may lose your rights to rebook it free of charge.

Rebooking after a cancellation is very routine and there are 'standard guidelines' re what to do in such a situation. Any additional policies (route-specific) can take a couple of days, but does not mean that the standard policies don't apply.

Tried again today and it was no problem at all this time. Leave 35 minutes earlier and get in 2 hours and 40 minutes later, all on BA through LHR, but not a bad result for 6 of us, all in all. Thank you everyone for confirming my understanding of how it should have been handled

I just called BA, was offered free-rerouting via YYZ.
I asked about being re-routed YUL-LHR-DUB, was told as I have an avios ticket that is not a possibility.
So I want to ask, those that have successfully been rebooked YUL-LHR-DUB, was this for an avios ticket or paid ticket?

@haroon145 was this for an avios or paid ticket? I called EI yesterday, and they refused to handle the matter further, and directed me to BA.

Ours were Avios tickets and there was not Avios availability on the flights that they moved us to, they opened space on BA flights. I called the BA Canadian phone line, although I don't know if it makes a difference. HUCA would seem to be in order for you.
Edit: Just had a second thought about your predicament. Would seem to be in BA's best interest to reroute you through LHR. To get you from YUL to YYZ would require them to buy a ticket on another airline and not even an alliance partner, so it can't be a matter of Avios availability because there is never Avios availability from YUL to YYZ, Oneworld doesn't fly that route. Sounds like you really got a winner of a rep on your call.

However, there is one area where customer service really excels: giving incorrect information. That's why it may be better to wait until someone who knows how it works contacts you instead of trying to contact customer service.The operating airline (EI) is required under EU rules to rebook you under comparable conditions and it's debatable if it's comparable conditions if you have to change more times than necessary. BA is not the operating airline and so can maybe set other conditions for rebookings made by BA.Check the booking class. You sometimes get a revenue fare bucket in cases like this.

For cancellations more than 14 days in advance, my reading of EU261 is that they have to offer you rebooking at the earliest possible opportunity, a full refund, or rebooking for a future date, customer's choice. They do not have to pay compensation no matter how much later you end up arriving, as long as they gave you the choices noted.

Unfortunately, in this instance, I seem to have gotten a very competent rep as they are still showing as award tickets. It was great dealing with her as she rerouted us exactly as she should have and it maybe took 15 minutes, at the outside, to switch 6 tickets on two PNRs, but, unfortunately, no free Avios for us!

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/...oute-1.3814182

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breaki...te-908774.html

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...ntreal-456360/

Any suggestions on how to proceed?
I have called EI multiple times, always getting the same response, even from a supervisor, that BA/Avios must handle any alternate arrangements.
BA have only offered me a reroute via YYZ, refusing to put me on YUL-LHR-DUB, which is beyond me.
Really getting frustrated at this point....

BA refusing re-route on cancelled EI avios ticket
 

Hello to all,

I am at my wits end with BA. I have a booking with BA avios for YUL-DUB with EI in business class.
As many of you may know, EI has cancelled the YUL route until 2020, thus my ticket was cancelled.
Despite numerous calls (at least 4 to BA, 2 to EI) I cannot seam to be re-accomodated on a suitable alternate flight.

EI flatly refuse to touch my ticket, since it was issued by BA avios.
BA offers me a complete free refund (which I am not interested in) or a re-route pending avios availability.

My suggestion for a re-route onto YUL-LHR-DUB (which makes the most sense IMO) was flatly refused for lack of avios availability.
I was offered alternate YYZ-DUB or BOS-DUB with EI, but with me having to take over the cost of getting to YYZ/BOS, which is unacceptable in my view.

On the other main thread, I have noted some members with the same type of ticket as me have been rebooked (not just by BA but surprisingly also EI) onto services operated by BA, so why am I getting the run-around and complete contrary information?

I am really loosing it as I am spending significant time already now by calling both airlines, and I seem to be getting nowhere.

What are your thoughts on how I should proceed, any suggestions are duly welcomed!

Cheers,

LX64A332

Did you try the Canadian BA line? Not sure if it makes a difference, but they changed mine to YUL-LHR-DUB without any issue. I was prepared for a fight and had the flights all ready to tell them exactly what I wanted, but the rep booked me on them before I could tell her they were the ones I wanted. You may want to mention EU261 and what your options are under the regulations.
If all else fails, file a claim under EU261. I would expect that they would respond pretty quickly rather than deal with the regulators

Thanks for the advice. I will try the Canadian line to see if it helps, however I fear all the comments on my reservation have most likely complicated things....
Did you just call the regular BA line or the Executive club Canadian line?

Thanks

To be clear here, under EC261, if an operating airline cancels a service, it's the operating airline's responsibility to resolve it, not the frequent flyer scheme arranging tickets. It's nice if BA do something here, and they may be on the hook for it under contract law or the CRA provisions, but for EC261 protection all paths lead to Aer Lingus.

Also important to remember that there is no precedential requirement for rebooking on other carriers under EC 261/2004.

Thus, EI has an obligation to rebook, but not on BA. BA on the other hand can easily rebook onto its own metal without getting into the specifics of whether it must do so, but is free to offer a reroute via YYZ rather than YUL if that is what it prefers.

On the other hand, if EI refuses to rebook on carriers other than EI, then you can point at the duty of care provisions and inform EI that you want EI to pay for a hotel room until the flight departs. At some point, it becomes a lot cheaper for EI to rebook on other carriers than to pay for hotel rooms for an extended period of time.

I just used the Canadian number that they gave me in the email. The first person could not help because it was an Avios booking, so he transferred me to what I assume was the executive club line, so I am guessing that my initial call was to the general line, although it might have just been rerouted before it got answered.

There isn't a Contact Centre in North America, so you would still end up in Newcastle, Manchester or New Delhi any way you did it. If it was an Avios booking then it does tend to end up with EC specialists, unless it was for an immediate departure.