Cancelled flight on Avios ticket

I'm asking this on behalf of friends who have a convoluted problem.

They are using Avios points to fly Aer Lingus BOS-DUB in mid-November. After a stopover, they fly EI from DUB-PRG . (Train to VIE, then VIE-DUB-BOS but not relevant). Because of Avios points, BA is the issuing carrier (125 ticket stock).

BA notified my friends that EI will discontinue daily DUB-PRG service. BA says they can take the same flight 2 days later, or cancel that leg and purchase their own ticket. The cheapest DUB-PRG fares (sub-100 Euro) are long gone.

- Do either EI or BA have any obligation to rebook them on another flight on the original date? (There are plenty of connecting BA flights but BA won't entertain this option).

- Are there any EU regulations covering this?

- What LCC's should they consider (or avoid)?

I'm unfamiliar with Avios partner award tickets, EI and BA, and EU regs; I know a lot of people here are experts. TIA!!

Paging Globaliser!! Something's gone pear shaped in Aisle 12.

I might also try the BA forum on FT for another set of answers.

BA notified my friends that EI will discontinue daily DUB-PRG service. BA says they can take the same flight 2 days later, or cancel that leg and purchase their own ticket. The cheapest DUB-PRG fares (sub-100 Euro) are long gone.

 

- Do either EI or BA have any obligation to rebook them on another flight on the original date? (There are plenty of connecting BA flights but BA won't entertain this option).

 

- Are there any EU regulations covering this?

 

- What LCC's should they consider (or avoid)?

 

All they are entitled to is a full refund. No obligation for BA to rebook on another flight, as the flight was cancelled more than 14 days before travel. Have them read the rules of EU261.

Look at Article 5, 1. © (i)

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:439cd3a7-fd3c-4da7-8bf4-b0f60600c1d6.0004.02/DOC_1&format=PDF

Thanks for the EU link....and yes, "Cleanup on Aisle 12" LOL!!

EI winter schedule has been out for a long time, so why are BA only notifying them now?

How long is the layover in Dub? Is it a few days? Then ask BA to move to the Monday flight. (Winter schedule is M--TFSS, so if the option is two days later the original flight was on Tuesday DUB-PRG). Can they go one day previous on Monday?

All they are entitled to is a full refund. No obligation for BA to rebook on another flight, as the flight was cancelled more than 14 days before travel. Have them read the rules of EU261.

 

Look at Article 5, 1. © (i)

Article 5(1)©(i) covers compensation under Article 7. It's correct that as the cancellation was more than two weeks before travel, there is no compensation due.

However, Article 8 assistance (see Article 5(1)(a)) doesn't obviously have a two-week (or any) time limitation on this obligation. Under Article 8, assistance appears to include the passenger's choice of a full refund under Article 8(1)(a) or re-routing under Article 8(1)(b) or later re-booking under Article 8(1)©.

The wording of these bits of Article 8 is not the clearest, partly because the people who drafted 261/2004 appear never to have flown anything other than a simple out-and-back within Europe, and never contemplated many of the situations that give rise to difficulty. However, as Article 5(1)(a)'s invocation of Article 8 does not set out any express time limit, and as Article 8 seems to give the passenger the choice between different remedies, it must be at least arguable that the passenger is entitled to insist on a re-route at a time as close as possible to the time of the original flight.

The other question is who is responsible. As this was a BA-issued ticket for an EI-operated flight, the terms of Article 8 suggest that it's EI's responsibility and not BA's. That makes things rather more complicated. In this case, it may well be correct that BA is not obliged to do anything other than refund in accordance with the ticketing conditions because BA doesn't owe any 261/2004 obligations. But if the obligations are on EI, the difficulty may be in getting EI both to acknowledge that and to work with the ticketing airline (BA) to re-book (presumably at EI's expense).

Anyway, complex enough that proper advice is needed from someone who knows more about 261/2004 than I do, and who's actually qualified to give that advice! FT may well be a good place for the passenger to raise this question.

I read countless arguments about EU261.

OP's friends were offered rerouting, two days later.

All- My friends went ahead and accepted rebooking from Wed. to Thurs. It's one day less in PRG and fortunately the hotel rez could be reduced by 1 night (award stay).

Good question on how they were able to book the Wednesday flight in the first place; they booked through Avios only a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the comments, I learned a few things. My friends will feel better that event the most experienced here were a bit unsure too! Back to regularly scheduled programming.