tony2022

Hi everyone,

I've just received an email from SAS that my LHR-LYR via OSL flight scheduled for February 2023 was cancelled, and I've now been placed on a similar flight two full days later which is not workable. Worse yet, there doesn't seem to be an option to choose an alternative date. Is this normal from SAS? Surely I should be able to choose another date and not have to accept theirs?

Interestingly, the only flights that I can actually change on the booking (or claim a refund) is the return LYR-LHR leg, which has a time differential of 5 minutes from the original booking. I suppose this at least gives me a chance to cancel the entire booking and claim a refund.

Further, as any alternative flight will now require an overnight stop in OSL (the original flight was a same-day 9h, but any rebooked flight will be around 16-18h), do I stand any remote chance of claiming accommodation expenses from SAS?

I'd appreciate any tips, many thanks in advance.

Harper50505

I've had this happen a couple of times recently with SAS and had two very different experiences after the usual long wait at their call centre because I couldn't change anything on line either.

On both occasions I identified what I wanted on line and was ready to say that when eventually answered.

On the first occasion a very helpful man changed the booking immediately to my preferred flights, all painless except for the hour long wait.

On the second occasion a lady told me that if I wanted to change what they had given me there would be a charge which amounted to about €220. I refused pointing out that I wasn't asking for a voluntary change and SAS had started this, she said all she could do was initiate a ticket refund if I wouldn't pay so I told her to do that. Strangely, later, I looked on line and was able to make the changes I wanted and while there was still a fee, it was now €6 so even though they were still in the wrong, I wanted the journey so I was willing to pay it to avoid any more problems. Both journeys were completed successfully but the way SAS is, I currently have nothing else booked.

jamesbrownontheroad

I've just had a similar notification. The original one-way booking was...

SK2636 30 OCT 2022 Frankfurt FRA – Stockholm ARN 12:15 - 14:25
SK034 30 OCT 2022 Stockholm ARN – Umea UME 15:25 - 16:25

The booking now appears on flysas.com as if it were a roundtrip, but with the outbound cancelled and the inbound as:

SK1636 30 OCT 2022 Frankfurt FRA - Copenhagen CPH 20:30 - 21:55
SK1428 30 OCT 2022 Copenhagen CPH - Stockholm ARN 22:55 - 00:05

There is no possibility to rebook online, even though there are currently seats available on 7 (seven) different combinations of one-stop connections between FRA and UME on the same date.

Clearly this is the kind of "digital first" future we can expect from SAS.

tony2022

Hi again, thanks for the tips, and sorry to hear that you've had similar experiences.

I called SAS this morning at 10am sharp UK time, and had a wait of around 15 minutes. I spoke to a very helpful lady who re-booked my outgoing LHR-OSL-LYR flight to a similar one two days earlier. There was no additional charge.

I didn't bother to ask about accommodation as I think I knew the answer already.

Harper50505 - I took your advice and had my preferred itinerary ready, otherwise I might have had two stopovers instead of one, which is what I was originally offered.

Of course the ability to rebook online would have been preferable, but overall I am very pleased with how SAS handled this.

jamesbrownontheroad

So I got an SMS with another change.

The original booking was FRA-ARN-UME on Sunday 30 October. The new booking is FRA-ARN-UME on Thursday 27 October, a whole 3 days earlier.

This is unacceptable for a variety of reasons, the most entertaining of which is that I am scheduled to be riding a horse in Mongolia on 27 October.

The original booking is in Go. There remains good availablility in Plus on the original travel day. Can I ask SAS nicely to upgrade us?

EDIT...

A few more bits of data. Originally we were booked on a SAS-operated flight FRA-ARN, but now it's been cancelled only LH-operated codeshares are available. LH are showing availability in economy class, but SAS are not. Perhaps LH is limiting SAS access to its inventory.

Harper50505

@jamesbrownontheroad SAS have a duty to get you to your destination on the day you originally booked even if that means they put you in LH C and then Plus ARN-UME, anything else and you can rebook yourself and send them the bill.

Enjoy the ride in Mongolia!

Tomas E

Any chance a Mongolian horse can make it to Ume� in three days so you don't have to fly?

jamesbrownontheroad

I had a long and frustrating wait for an ultimately fruitless conversation with a SAS call handler yesterday. No dice whatsoever. Having been booked on a SAS (XFly) flight FRA-ARN (Sundays only) that was cancelled, there are now only Lufthansa flights operating FRA-ARN on the same date. She absolutely refused to rebook us on Lufthansa without charging me a fare difference and a rebooking fee. I protested but she refused to budge. 1724kr to rebook two people onto alternate flights on the same day.

I would like to complain but my limited understanding of Swedish consumer law is that its useless.

No, but give me a couple of months and it�d be quite the adventure!

tony2022

Although I'm not familiar with their T&Cs, I would try again. Speaking to someone else often yields entirely different results. Be sure to call the moment the call centre opens (in my case it was 10am BST), and you'll have a much shorter wait on the line.

Good luck.

SKT-DK

Why would they be obliged to upgrade the traveler? They are not. They are required to offer the best comparable itinerary or a full refund.

Harper50505

They are obliged to get you there the same day whatever it takes. EU261 is your friend here.

jamesbrownontheroad

The right to EU261 compensation does not apply if the change is made more than 14 days in advance. I was notified 100 days before departure.

fassy

To make it very clear: No, there is not right to "whatever it takes".

The regulation (https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...cancellation-1) says: "If your flight is cancelled you have the right to choose between reimbursement, re-routing or return."

Then it states:The airline must offer you, on a one off basis, a choice between:

1. the reimbursement of your ticket and, if you have a connecting flight, a return flight to the airport of departure at the earliest opportunity
2. re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity or,
3. re-routing at a later date at your convenience under comparable transport conditions, subject to the availability of seats.

Option 2 and 3 are the ones we are talking here. and in both cases the "under comparable transport conditions" applies as lined out in the following:

• If the airline does not comply with its obligation to offer re-routing or return under comparable transport conditions at the earliest opportunity, it has to reimburse your flight costs.
• If the airline does not offer you the choice between reimbursement and re-routing but decides unilaterally to reimburse your original ticket, you are entitled to an additional reimbursement of the price difference with the new ticket (under comparable transport conditions).

So, you have no right, to ask to be put in business or first class flight if no economy seats are available the same day. Then you can start arguing if it is ok for SK to refuse rebooking onto other carriers. They will say "comparable transport conditions at the earliest opportunity is the SK flight x days later/earlier" to satisfy 2 and leave it up to you to ask for 3 and go at a different later date if seats are available.

However, what SK also says:

Finally as @jamesbrownontheroad said:

If you were informed of the cancellation less than 14 days prior to the scheduled departure date, you have a right to compensation.

Harper50505

Apologies, I obviously misunderstood something.