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My flight from Gatwick to Italy was cancelled half an hour before departure.
The airline had no flights to Italy available at all so I booked a flight from Heathrow to Italy using avios and GBP.
I applied for a flight refund. I didn’t claim for the flight from Heathrow. I received the Gatwick flight refund.
The airline has refused the cost of a zipcar from Gatwick to Heathrow and the bus fare from the zipcar drop off to T5. Is this in accordance with UK261?Once you asked for a refund, that concluded the contract to transport you from LGW to Italy.
Which airline was it?
Which airline was it?
easyJet.
Ok, so there is a user-friendly arbitration scheme for them (ADR), but unfortunately, as @John notes, in accepting a refund instead of insisting on your re-routing rights, you’ve probably let them off the hook. Have a look at other threads in this section for some good tips on how to get the best outcome if this happens again.
Once you asked for a refund, that concluded the contract to transport you from LGW to Italy.
But they did not offer ‘re-routing at earliest convenience’ at all, clearly ignoring their express obligations under UK261, doesn’t reasonableness then apply?
Re-routing OR refund and you accepted the refund. By all means have a go at ADR, it’s a very simple process to follow, but I think that by applying for the refund you will be considered to have chosen that option over re-routing.
Did they offer you a flight the following day or anything similar? What was the actual exchange?
Re-routing OR refund and you accepted the refund. By all means have a go at ADR, it’s a very simple process to follow, but I think that by applying for the refund you will be considered to have chosen that option over re-routing.
Did they offer you a flight the following day or anything similar? What was the actual exchange?
It was “take a look at the app and try and find something yourself”. There was no specific option to accept. I tried all flights from Gatwick and Luton to all airports in Italy, nothing was earlier than the Heathrow flight. I incurred the cost of getting from Gatwick to Heathrow because there was no alternative, I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
@Richie forget reasonableness, that’s too subjective! The key is that, contrary to the above, taking a refund does not negate all your rights. You are still entitled to cancellation compensation under Article 5 (subject, as ever, to ‘extraordinary circumstances’) because EasyJet failed to reroute you within the -1/+2hrs window as required under Article 5.1(c)(iii). Those are separate to the rights under Article 8. You should rely on Rusu v S C Blue [see also CAP2155 paras 6.5 to 6.7] and say (if that is true) that as you were not offered any remotely suitable rerouting, you had to self reroute, get a refund towards the cost of that and then claim the difference.
Ideally, you shouldn’t have taken the refund in respect of getting your rerouting paid, but in the absence of a) being apprised of your rights by EasyJet and b) any rerouting at all being offered, you had no choice but to make your own arrangements and your actions / the costs incurred (of replacement flights and transportation LGW > LHR) were “necessary, appropriate and reasonable”.
On a separate matter – I think you asked recently about Lipton v BA CityFlyer. I was speaking to the Supreme Court last week about something else and asked about this and although it has gone quite for a very long time, it is still apparently a live case but there is no hearing date set and they were a little cagey about it, so it’s all a bit strange!
A friend of a friend got cancelled in Ibiza the other day and needed to get back for a flight yesterday (on Singapore Airlines, cancelled at the gate poor girl !) . BA couldn’t get her back same day so she booked a very pricey Easyjet and before I could get to reply to my friend to tell her DO NOT REFUND THE BA TICKET she’d done it ! Seems an almost automatic reaction with most people not clear on their rights in this situation.
For this one her overseas travel insurance will cover the difference so probably easier for her anyway but I’d be interested to know if anyone has successfully done a refund and then claimed the difference as I’ve definitely read of airlines declining due to having refunded
@SamG – she should still be entitled to the cancellation compensation. If she can get the money back (less the BA refund) from insurance, that may be the simpler route. Whether BA would have been liable to pay the easyJet reroute would have depended on what actions they took or what rerouting they offered but taking a refund is far from terminal.
They were only offering something the next evening online, couldn’t get through on the phone and staff at Ibiza said they couldn’t assist. I think easyjet offering same day was a reasonable option.
No compensation as it was weather.
She’ll just go the insurance route but I was curious if BA would routinely pay the reroute minus the refund if you’d accepted it online
They were only offering something the next evening online, couldn’t get through on the phone and staff at Ibiza said they couldn’t assist. I think easyjet offering same day was a reasonable option.
No compensation as it was weather.
She’ll just go the insurance route but I was curious if BA would routinely pay the reroute minus the refund if you’d accepted it online
BA doesn’t “routinely” pay many claims or reimburse rerouting costs! One might need to fight, but ultimately one would prevail even if the refund option was taken, although it’s best not to as it complicates matters and becomes more fact dependent. BA, in common with most airlines, relies upon the fact that most people aren’t up for the fight so drop out at the first no or go to their insurers at that point although many won’t cover self reroutes or not cover enough of the cost.
@Richie forget reasonableness, that’s too subjective! The key is that, contrary to the above, taking a refund does not negate all your rights. You are still entitled to cancellation compensation under Article 5 (subject, as ever, to ‘extraordinary circumstances’) because EasyJet failed to reroute you within the -1/+2hrs window as required under Article 5.1(c)(iii). Those are separate to the rights under Article 8. You should rely on Rusu v S C Blue [see also CAP2155 paras 6.5 to 6.7] and say (if that is true) that as you were not offered any remotely suitable rerouting, you had to self reroute, get a refund towards the cost of that and then claim the difference.
Ideally, you shouldn’t have taken the refund in respect of getting your rerouting paid, but in the absence of a) being apprised of your rights by EasyJet and b) any rerouting at all being offered, you had no choice but to make your own arrangements and your actions / the costs incurred (of replacement flights and transportation LGW > LHR) were “necessary, appropriate and reasonable”.
On a separate matter – I think you asked recently about Lipton v BA CityFlyer. I was speaking to the Supreme Court last week about something else and asked about this and although it has gone quite for a very long time, it is still apparently a live case but there is no hearing date set and they were a little cagey about it, so it’s all a bit strange!
Thanks very much @JDB that’s really interesting. Also thanks for the update on the case.
A little update.
easyJet have now agreed to pay.
Thanks very much for all the advice.
Thanks to @JDB for the detail and the reference to the CAP2155 document.
easyJet have now been relegated to the airlines to avoid list.
@Richie I’m glad you got that sorted out. It shatters the myth much cited here that taking a refund necessarily compromises your rights; as ever, it depends on the specific circumstances.
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