Cancelled Flight

[MandyfromSheffield]

Aer Lingus has just emailed me to say that our flight due out of dublin on 12th Oct has been cancelled and rescheduled for 13th Oct. They have offered a full refund but we have booked our villa, car hire and connecting flights from the UK, I enquired about compensation due to the new legislation that came in this Feb but they said they don't do that. Has anyone had a similar problem and has anyone successfully claimed compensation for a cancelled flight.
Many thanks
Mandy

[ellie]

Sorry to hear about your cancelled flight. What a disappointment. Hope you are able to get some sort of compensation. [msnsad]

[steph_goodrum]

I know of someone else who has had their flight rescheduled from 26th to 27th Oct and another who is actually in Florida at the moment whose return flight has been changed from 5th to 6th. It has cost him £200 to book an extra days car hire and change his connecting flight and they say he will not get any of it back. Of course taking an extra day could also have employment implications for many people who have taken annual leave and may not have any spare.

This is happening on far to regular a basis (thats 3 flights I have heard of in 2 days and all for different dates)and I suspect they are consolidating half empty flights to save on fuel etc but when you have other arrangements booked around it then that should be taken into consideration.

[blott]

Does your travel insurance include cover for flight cancellations or what they would probably call a flight delay?

[Lynnes]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
I know of someone else who has had their flight rescheduled from 26th to 27th Oct and another who is actually in Florida at the moment whose return flight has been changed from 5th to 6th. It has cost him £200 to book an extra days car hire and change his connecting flight and they say he will not get any of it back. Of course taking an extra day could also have employment implications for many people who have taken annual leave and may not have any spare.

This is happening on far to regular a basis (thats 3 flights I have heard of in 2 days and all for different dates)and I suspect they are consolidating half empty flights to save on fuel etc but when you have other arrangements booked around it then that should be taken into consideration.
[/quote]
And all the flights are on a Wednesday - strange don't you think?

[steph_goodrum]

And they're all Aer Lingus.

Blott I dont think the insurance would cover any of the flights because they are all being changed for "operational reasons" and I can't see the insurance companies being willing to pay out for that, I think they would argue that any compensation should come from the airline.

[blott]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
And they're all Aer Lingus.

Blott I dont think the insurance would cover any of the flights because they are all being changed for "operational reasons" and I can't see the insurance companies being willing to pay out for that, I think they would argue that any compensation should come from the airline.
[/quote]My travel insurance does provide cover even for strikes Steph but not when 'a reasonable alternative has been offered' which, in this case I suppose it could be argued, were flights the next day or a refund. But it never hurts to check your insurance policy as lots of them cover different things.

The EU rulings are set out here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4267095.stm It's a bit confusing on whether you're entitled to compensation if you're offered an alternative flight or a refund.

Aer Lingus are completely useless at answering complaints so if anyone's going down that route, you need lots of patience!

[MandyfromSheffield]

Thanks for everyone's replies. My brother in law who was on the same flight called today to complain and cancel his flight and Aer Lingus told him that they could make alternative arrangements to get him there the same day using a different carrier, we called customer service and they told us they knew nothing about this. I know this could happen with any airline but personally I will never use Aer Lingus again. If we take the Thursday flight, I am faced with paying another £280 with Ryan Air to get across there then as our villa is booked when we leave moving into a hotel for the last night and paying for an extra days car hire, when I explained this to AL customer service she very helpfully told me not of that was there problem. I think we will probably ditch it all and fly from Manchester, American Airlines are coming up at £350 which is a good price.

[merlin]

Hi everyone

This is my first post so be kind to me. We also were informed yesterday that the return leg of our flight was cancelled and yes it was a wednesday too! We should have been returning on Wednesday 19th July 2006 with Icelandair. We have cancelled the flights and are now going with KLM.

PS I have been reading the forum for about 2 years now but this is the first time I have had the courage to post - I just thought it was too weird not to join in

Audrey

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

Welcome to the forums Audrey - why not introduce yourself in the http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/forum_55.asp section of the forums - we're a friendly bunch [msnsmile].

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by merlin
PS I have been reading the forum for about 2 years now but this is the first time I have had the courage to post - I just thought it was too weird not to join in

Audrey
[/quote]