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Help greatly appreciated as this is definitely a more complicated case!
A friend of mine was due to go Dublin -> London Heathrow -> Addis Ababa -> Burundi a few days ago. This was booked through Ethiopian Airways, but with the Dublin -> London Heathrow leg operated by British Airways.
The night before the Dublin -> London Heathrow flight, and after they had checked in, this was cancelled by BA without a reason provided.
They really struggled to get BA on the phone (predictably) on the evening it was cancelled. They checked directly if any other BA flights were available from Dublin -> London Heathrow, but no seats were available on any flight which would get to London on time (I guess due to Easter). They then decided to book a flight from Belfast -> London Heathrow (at a cost of over £400) in order to get to Heathrow to meet their flight to Addis Ababa. The next morning they did get through to BA and all BA would offer was a flight from Dublin that morning which they could not have taken as they wouldn’t have been able to get to Dublin airport on time. They had been hoping BA themselves would put them on the Belfast -> Heathrow flight and they could cancel their direct booking (as it was made <24 hours earlier).
(In the end they got to Heathrow on the BA flight they booked themselves and made it to Addis and beyond!)
Complexities in this are killing me:
– The ticket was sold by Ethiopian, and most of the overall journey was with them, but BA were the operating carrier on the flight that was cancelled, so I expect any claim should go through them(?)
– I expect that the rerouting following the cancellation should have been arranged by Ethiopian (although this person contacted BA only).
– I am looking at this with EC261 in mind, which I imagine still applied, but they have switched airports from an EU airport (Dublin) to UK (Belfast).
– I imagine that the change from Dublin to Belfast wouldn’t cut it with BA and it wouldn’t be considered that Belfast was another airport serving the region that Dublin airport serves. However, it may be worth submitting the claim to seek reimbursement for this flight… maybe BA will be better as it was a BA flight that was booked.
– If BA won’t reimburse, then I guess we consider compensation for cancellation by looking at the Dublin – Heathrow leg in isolation, as ultimately they did arrive in their final destination (Burundi) on time!Any thoughts/comments helpful!
Was this all on one booking (sorry if you’ve said so, there’s a lot of info here!)? If not then there’s no protection whatsoever for the DUB-LHR leg being cancelled.
BA is responsible for any compensation/rerouting as the operating carrier of the cancelled flight although Ethiopian would/should have assisted in rebooking and the pax should have contacted them. Any compensation will depend on the reason for the cancellation and may be affected by the fact the pax didn’t arrive any later at their final destination.
In respect of the additional ticket cost incurred, if the pax can demonstrate that they made sufficient efforts to contact BA and/or BA refused reasonable reroutings (which would include from Belfast as falling inside BA’s 300 mile concession even if in a different country) they ought to be able to claim the £400 but BA probably won’t make it very easy.
I’m not sure asking Ethiopian for a refund for the DUB-LHR fare would be very productive as it would likely be more expensive from LHR and a theoretical APD liability.
Regardless of whether it is one ticket or not:
– you are entitled to rebooking under Article 8 EC261 – this would include on another carrier on the same day if they did not offer you a flight on their services., They should pay the £400, assuming it is the same class.
– you will also be entitled to compensation under EC261 in addition unless it was due to exceptional circumstances. This will either be the full EUR600 if on one ticket, or less if just DUB-LHR was on one ticket.If it was on one ticket:
– the subsequent trip to Burundi (or the return) may be cancelled because you did not take your first outbound flight. You should be able to contact them to rectify this.
@JDB – there is no requirement whatsoever for the passenger to contact the airline to arrange rerouting. ECJ rulings, backed up by CAA guidance, have made clear that the onus falls solely on the airline to contact the passenger, and must document how they have attempted to do so. I agree it will make your life easier to try and contact them.Thank you all for your responses!
@Anna – This was one ticket, sorry I didn’t say this explicitly!
@JDB – You’re a saint! This BA 300 mile concession is key and something I didn’t know about! Your comment ‘Any compensation will depend on the reason for the cancellation and may be affected by the fact the pax didn’t arrive any later at their final destination.’ – to me this sounds like you think compensation is possible (according to reason for cancellation of course and not exceptional circumstances) but I understand the person arrived everywhere relatively on time, so I don’t think so.
@points_worrier – I understand the right to rerouting, but article 8 does mention use of alternative airports ‘when, in the case where a town, city or region is served by several airports’, although this is as the destination location. The choosing to leave from another airport in another country is the part which is not straight forward. I do not see how compensation under EC261 is applicable because with the newly booked flight the person did arrive on time at all locations. I can’t see how BA would agree to pay for the rerouting and compensation here. Additionally, I did warn them even on the day that the subsequent flights may be cancelled but they seem to have sorted this suitably when contacting BA for the reroute as the subsequent flights were fine!– If BA won’t reimburse, then I guess we consider compensation for cancellation by looking at the Dublin – Heathrow leg in isolation, as ultimately they did arrive in their final destination (Burundi) on time!
Any thoughts/comments helpful!
For delay compensation that’s what matters. They arrived on time and it’s the totality of the trip that counts not the individual sectors.
I’m wondering why the rebooked DUB-LHR flight wasn’t showing in MMB or rhe cancellation email for the original flight
– If BA won’t reimburse, then I guess we consider compensation for cancellation by looking at the Dublin – Heathrow leg in isolation, as ultimately they did arrive in their final destination (Burundi) on time!
Any thoughts/comments helpful!
For delay compensation that’s what matters. They arrived on time and it’s the totality of the trip that counts not the individual sectors.
I’m wondering why the rebooked DUB-LHR flight wasn’t showing in MMB or rhe cancellation email for the original flight
The rebooked flight Belfast -> Heathrow was the one booked by the passenger / not through BA customer services. The offer from BA for a rebooked flight was one from Dublin which much earlier in the day and not possible to take because it wouldn’t have been possible to get to Dublin at that short notice.
As for whether it was showing in MMB I don’t know, but I understand the cancellation email came from BA and not Ethiopian.
@points_worrier if as in this case, a cancellation is made within 24 hours BA isn’t realistically going to contact you quickly and to go and buy alternative tickets at great cost without having given the airline an opportunity to rebook would seriously jeopardise or even invalidate any subsequent claim. What the EC261 interpretative guidelines say is:- “However, where an air carrier can demonstrate that when the passenger has accepted to give his or her personal contact details, it has contacted a passenger and sought to provide the assistance required by Article 8, but the passenger has nonetheless made his or her own assistance or re-routing arrangements, then the air carrier may conclude that it is not responsible for any additional costs the passenger has incurred and may decide not to reimburse them.”
Any cancellation notification I have ever received has sufficient info or link to info to cover the airline.
@Niall the issue of compensation is potentially different (better) in Ireland vs UK as there is a post Brexit ECJ decision saying that an a departure brought forward by one hour is tantamount to a cancellation. The wording of Article 5.1 (iii) is quite unfortunate but now clarified in the EU at least. That’s also slightly complicated by weather that one hour earlier would apply from Dublin or Belfast and I don’t know the relevant times. The compensation applicable would be that for the whole journey, so €600. There is also the highish possibility that BA will cite ‘extraordinary circumstances’.
@Niall the issue of compensation is potentially different (better) in Ireland vs UK as there is a post Brexit ECJ decision saying that an a departure brought forward by one hour is tantamount to a cancellation. The wording of Article 5.1 (iii) is quite unfortunate but now clarified in the EU at least. That’s also slightly complicated by weather that one hour earlier would apply from Dublin or Belfast and I don’t know the relevant times. The compensation applicable would be that for the whole journey, so €600. There is also the highish possibility that BA will cite ‘extraordinary circumstances’.
Another interesting point, I didn’t know, thanks!!
I am still overall confused by this though. Let’s imagine it wasn’t ‘extraordinary circumstances’ and that the rerouting was organised by BA (or organised independently but after suitable attempts with BA), then because rerouting got the passenger to the final destination on time (and indeed all steps on time), then there is no compensation applicable right?
@Niall what you say is in principle correct but in the EU, irrespective of arriving on time, if your first flight is brought forward by more than one hour (by a rescheduling or rerouting post cancellation) you should get the compensation. It’s complicated here because of the extra time needed to get to Belfast. In the UK, if the ECJ decision is not applied, the regulations state:- “they are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival.”
The “and” makes the meaning rather unclear.
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