Sarah

Ok my situation is this -
My Virgin flight from London to Manchester was canceled in December 2010. No alternative transportation was offered. We made our way from London to Manchester via tube and train - which cost us an extra couple of hundred quid in tickets.

My query is, Virgin have refunded the money for our flights, but are they also required to pay for the extra costs we laid out because no alternative transport was offered? Basically is there a basis for a claim to refund the money we spent on train tickets?

Michael

I don't know about the UK but about 5 years ago when I was flying on American Airlines to San Diego from the San Francisco bay area on the last flight of the night, 5 minutes after we checked in, they cancelled the flight because the plane would be arriving too late.

I tried to get my bags back but they wouldn't look for them. So we went over to Southwest Airlines and got the next flight out that night.

When I called them about a refund, they offered me a coupon for future travel on American for the cancelled flight cost plus 50%. I said no and said I wanted them to pay for our Southwest flight plus the pharmaceuticals we had to purchase. They said ok.

So I think it depends on how well you negotiate.

GeoffM

I think that would come under consequential loss, in which case anything they offered would have been discretionary/goodwill. However, there is a European thing which says airlines do have to go some way to accommodating you - but it depends on other factors.

Were there any other factors like weather? Was it simply a LHR-MAN flight or was it part of a combined ticket?

tonrob

Try asking the same question on Flyertalk. They'll tell you where you stand, including quoting the rulebook number!

Bob

That's what travel insurance is for, unfortunately.