Entitlement if Travel Disrupted
There has been some bad weather in the bad weather in the UK this week. Not as bad as forecast for most but increasingly travel companies and airports are becoming more proactive in their planning.
On far too many occasions in recent years they have all been caught out by either quick changes in weather, not taking weather forecast advice seriously or underestimating the disruption that can be caused by snow, wind, rain or all of the above.
This week for example several airline cancelled flights before the snow hit as a precaution. So, where does that leave you if you have a flight booked?
If you are delayed en-route through no fault of a travel company there is little you can do except explain your circumstances and see what the ravel company can do. If you have arrived late an airport the airline will often offer you a flight on a later flight, although there is likely to be a charge for doing so. This will vary for airline to airline, their schedule and your possibly your reasons for being late. In some cases where an entire motorway has been shot and many passengers are delayed they will be more lenient but if you are alone in being late don’t expect much sympathy.
If you are delayed due to a train delay or cancellation then remember you can claim part of your train fare back using delay repay. This applies for delays over 30 minutes for all train companies in the UK and some if delayed by 15 minutes.
If your flight has been delayed or cancelled you may be entitled to compensation. If the flight is cancelled at short notice then under EU regulations you must be offered a suitable alternative but if you do not agree to this then you are to be given a full refund of any unused tickets. If you are delayed then you may be entitled to compensation. ‘Extraordinary circumstances’ are not included and sever weather may well count as this. Its worth asking the airline and and if you are not happy with the first response then follow up on this. You are entitled to a full refund if you are delayed by more than 5 hours.
Package holidays that are ATOL protected will be protected meaning that they have to offer a suitable complete alternative. You are if not happy with this and not used it entitled to a full refund.
If you have onward travel, hotel bookings, car hire or other arrangements then you should speak to the provider of these in the first instance to see if you can cancel, re-book or modify. If you can’t or are having trouble then speak to your travel insurance company.
Main image by FaceMePLS
