JD1905

My flight from LGW-BFS tonight was cancelled - no alternatives were offered until tomorrow evening (No hotel offer etc.) I have re-booked onto a flight from BHX-DUB in order to get home this evening as there was no alternatives really available.

What costs am I able to recoup? I understand I can get a refund for my flight, which will cover the replacement flight. But am I able to claim for say a Taxi from Dublin upto Belfast this evening?

I'm pretty clued up on 261, but not duty of care in extreme weather!

There is also an EZY flight leaving this evening from BHX-BFS, they refused to rebook me onto this on the phone or online but any chance at the airport?

NWIFlyer

Easyjet are responsible for Duty of Care under all circumstances - weather is not a cause to refuse.

However, I'm not quite clear what you've done here, and whether you've compromised your own case.

First up - what you shouldn't do is cancel your original booking for a refund, because as soon as you do so the airline's responsibility ends, along with any claim you have against them. If this happens in future, let them re-book you on something more suitable, or book it yourself if they don't play ball within a sensible period and claim the cost back.

From what I read, they were offering you a flight back to Belfast within 24 hours. In the circumstances, that's probably not unreasonable. Where you do have a case for making your own arrangements and claiming the costs of doing so back is that they refused to book you on the flight from BHX, but even that is complicated because U2 would then have been liable for your transfer from LGW to BHX, which would likely be more than an overnight LGW hotel and a couple of meals. I wouldn't absolutely guarantee a court would find in your favour.

UK261/EC261 does offer some very powerful consumer protection, and the emphasis is certainly on protecting the passenger. It does still expect everyone to act reasonably though - it's not just an opportunity to gouge the airline.

In terms of payment for the transfer from Dublin to Belfast, you will again be expected to act reasonably and contain costs as best you can. You haven't said what time the flight lands at DUB, but given there are buses that run from the airport to Europa Bus station and cost 8 Euros, taking not much more time than a taxi, you really should be taking those if you want a hassle-free claim. Ask yourself - "if I have to pay for this out of my own pocket, what option should I take? 250 Euros to save 15 minutes, or 8 Euros for a bus?" To justify even submitting this, you will have to show that taking the BHX-DUB flight was the only viable option, and what U2 had offered wasn't reasonable.

IMO - you're sitting on the very edge of the law here, and you may well not win this one.

SK AAR

Asking for reimbursement of taxi from Dublin to Belfast is excessive; should not and will not be entertained.

NWIFlyer

Well, that rather depends. If we work off the assumption that U2 could have done more to accommodate the OP by agreeing to put him on a flight either from or to a different airport that night, then onward travel to either BFS or another location (presumably home) would be within scope.

Then it's just what viable options were available. If the flight landed and there was a bus due 30 minutes later - it's reasonable to expect the OP to get on that bus. If it landed and there were no more buses until the following morning (they're not 24 hours), then taking a taxi would be far more sensible.

So, as always, details matter.

Of course, there's a pretty strong chance that - given U2 offered what many would see as a sensible rebooking option in the first place - the onward travel argument fails. If taking a flight to DUB that night is seen as unreasonable, then the rest of the claim fails with it.

JD1905

Thank you for the responses.

When the flight to Belfast was cancelled at 3:30pm, I looked at other flights operated by EZY to Belfast from London that day - All of the flights very quickly went off sale and they would not re-book onto any of them. I called and asked - also asked if they would put me on the BHX-BFS and they said they would not. The only alternative offered was this evening from STN-BFS at 18:15 - with Rail strikes etc and other commitments at home this wasn't really a great option. Within 24Hrs indeed it was, but I was surprised there was absolutely no other availability before that whatsoever.

I declined any flight changes and left the booking as is (Rule No.1).

After much searching, the only way I could possibly get home was to do BHX-DUB and then the AirBus up to Belfast. Thankfully my company travel department acted pretty swift in booking up my request and I got the train, EI flight and Bus booked for a total cost of £170.

When I arrived at BHX I went up to Easyjet/Swissport and asked if I could be moved onto the BFS flight and it was just outright refused and I was told "Somebody else already asked and there are no seats".

Was a bit of a mental rush to get up to BHX and through security in time for the 8:55pm departure - but I made it, and got home at 1am. Unfortunately there is no way of telling if Easyjet could have done more here as they took all flights off sale and just said they were all full - Not a great experience but i'm impressed that I managed to get home last night and without a huge dent in the companies wallet!

Do you think there is anything here I should be looking to claim back and what should I do with the original booking?

NWIFlyer

Thank you, that's a very helpful picture we have now.

The reality here is that you're not going to get much however you play it. Because the cancellation was weather related (I assume from your thread title that you're not disputing this), no delay compensation is payable because that counts as extraordinary circumstances.

All you are now looking at is recompense for your additional expenses, which are going to go back to your company anyway, presumably.

The very most you are going to be able to claim is £170 less the cost of the original flight. Given you will have to put the effort in to write to U2 as the passenger, but won't see any of the benefit, is this really worth it, particularly as U2 may well resist given you declined their offer which many would see as a reasonable one under the legislation and subsequent court precedents?

A better option to consider, if you're likely to fly the route again within the validity of your original ticket, would be to leave the booking in place until you actually need it at a point when prices are high, then ring U2 and ask them to move your flight to the new date. Legally you are entitled to do this under EC261, no matter what the airline's internal policies are.

Obviously you are still entitled to a refund as well, but you can take that at any time.