Cancel culture
Q: Our airline cancelled a booking due to industrial action. After several hours their customer service advised to either curtail the trip and return early, or try another airline as they had no available flights. Don’t they have some duty of care to get me home?
IW1966
A: Absolutely the airlines have a duty of care, and they know exactly what the rules are.
According to a letter from the Civil Aviation Authority and the Competition & Markets Authority sent to UK airlines on 21 July 2022, airlines that cancel a flight must “have in place reasonably appropriate organisation and support staff to source replacement flights and complete the booking if consumers wish to take up this offer”.
In other words, after a flight is cancelled you should not be left to get on with it.
The letter has stipulations for airlines that cancel flights, for whatever reason. The authorities make clear that ailines must have arrangements to find, and pay for, alternative flights for passengers.
The CAA and CMA say: “We note that some airlines ask passengers to make their own arrangements if rerouting is on another carrier. However, we have concerns that in some cases, this is likely to breach professional diligence standards for those consumers who are not in a position to do so.
“For example, those who may be unable to: investigate or book alternative routes; self-fund the purchase of flight tickets and accommodation; or to afford to wait for reimbursement, would not be able to benefit from their statutory rights in the event of flight cancellation.
“We urge airlines operating this practice to quickly put in place mechanisms for these consumers to ensure re-routing is a viable option for them.”
But the obligations that were set out so clearly at the start of the summer peak season have been widely flouted. I have asked the current transport secretary why airlines have not been brought into line.
I am still waiting for a response.
Q: Our airline has moved my wife and I on to a later flight for our return from Florida in May next year. It departs just over an hour later. But as they appear to have removed our original flight from the schedule and put everyone on to the existing later flight, we are no longer sitting together and the flight is full (as it’s now two planes’ worth of people).
We are nervous flyers and sitting next to strangers will not be fun for us or them. I’ve called the airline, but they say as they change is less than three hours…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Independent Travel…