tominspain

I have a flight on the 19th April - Bristol to Bilbao which is not yet cancelled but the route is sold out for the whole month, so they are clearly planning on cancelling it. If they cancel within 14 days of the flight what are peoples opinions on EU261 compensation? Given the circumstances I wouldn´t have normally considered this, however I have had so many bad experiences with Easyjet and their failure to manage disruption, and also I will still need to make the essential journey to Spain around the 19th regardless as to whether the flight is cancelled or not so it would help with the extra cost of a last minute flight to Bilbao.

My argument for EU261 would be that this is now not due to extraordinary circumstances that they have cancelled the flight - Covid-19 has been known about for a while now, so they could have cancelled outside the 14 day limit, and other airlines are still operating to Spain, albeit a skeleton service. Secondly Easyjet have announced they are grounding the their entire fleet, and most flights for April are already 'sold out' online so they already know that these flights will be most likely to be cancelled just that they have'nt communicated anything official to the passengers.

warakorn

It is a business decision by Easyjet. They know that 98% of all pax won't pursue a chargeback ot lawsuit against them.

bradders239

How would you get into Spain ? are you a Spanish national/Resident ?

As at land borders, only residents will be able to enter the country by air or sea, with exceptions for certain professions or for reasons of force majeure.

There is a 30 day airport closure in place at the moment.

ukdoctor

Had a look at my amex card statements. As mentioned earlier I had 4 tickets on easyjet who had cancelled the flights and AMEX had initially closed the dispute and removed the payments from my account.


Looks like easyjet is disputing that action as all those closed disputes have been 'opened ' again..

I would suggest that everyone who thought that they had successful disputed on easyjet keep an eye on the dispute activity..

DYKWIA

I despair sometimes...

tominspain

Before I'm judged, hear me out. Firstly, I'm a permanent Spanish resident so free to enter Spain, and came to the UK the week before the Spanish lockdown for important family reasons. Because of the virus I felt the right decision at the time was to stay put rather than travel back. At the moment it looks like my company in Spain will be able to start up again at the end of April, start of May (obviously this is very fluid and likely to change). As it stands, right now, I will still want to travel back to Spain around the 19th and when Easyjet inevitably cancel the flight I will have to make alternative, and more expensive arrangements, e.g. flying London to Madrid and the train. Naturally, Easyjet will be reluctant to reimburse this. Which is why I would be wanting to claim the compensation to ease the financial burden, at what is already a difficult time financially.

I appreciate some people might disagree with this however, if they cancelled the flights now, at least I could get the refund and be done with it and start to make alternative arrangements at a cheaper price. At the moment when contacting them, they say the flight is still planned to go ahead, when we all know this is pretty much impossible seeing as they've grounded their flights.

WilcoRoger

Interestingly you cannot find any reference on the EZY website that they have grounded their entire fleet for at least two months. Oh, and their phone number is also very well hidden - and when you find it, all you get is a recorded message to call back later.

The latest updates are long ago irrelevant - this would have been our first ever flight on EZY, probably we won't bother after the crisis again.

ukdoctor

And all my bookings for flown and unflown flights have disappeared from my easyjet account. Not sure if this is because I have opened a dispute


Has any one else noticed something similar?

irishguy28

As others have noted, unless you are a Spanish citizen or are travelling to provide urgent medical assistance (in which case your presence would be appreciated much earlier than the middle of the month), you are barred from entry to Spain at the moment. There will be no compensation payable in such circumstances.

Additionally, all government advice right now is advising against all but essential travel. That is unlikely to change in the given timeframe. If you have the luxury of waiting for an additional 2-3 weeks before travelling, your journey is not for essential purposes.

ukdoctor

Having flown on many budget carriers in the EU ( yes even Ryan air ) I felt that easyjet was the best of the lot.

PointsPointsPoints

Ive got a couple of flights in April which haven't been cancelled by Easyjet, so I checked in as per the above advice yesterday afternoon. No cancellation email as of yet...

Also its impossible to speak to anyone at Easyjet whether on their phone line or facebook chat.

Are there any other options available to try before I call the CC company to start a chargeback?

ukdoctor

Just tell your cc company that you tried your best and start a chargeback .

This is based on the premise that the flight you are on does not fly..

Often1

I would not start a chargeback if your flights have not been cancelled. Best to wait it out. If your flights are cancelled, then request the refund and if it is not forthcoming in 7 days, pursue a chargeback. If the flight does operate then cancel for the voucher. But, no reason to make this decision until just before the flight (unless cancellation occurs sooner).

bradders239

Tom cannot see this happening until late May early June to be honest. Cast your mind back to SARS. 11 Months that took to get under control.

DavidTNZ

The same has just happened to my bookings after raising a dispute through Amex yesterday. The only booking I had was the one that I disputed.
I have had no luck getting through on the phone so decided chargeback was my only option for a refund. Will see how it goes!