My partner and I recently booked easyJet flights for a weekend in Rome, leaving Gatwick on the Friday and expecting to return on the Sunday. Having spent a few hours in Rome we received a text from easyJet saying that our return flight had been cancelled due to an incident at the airport. We spent several hours trying to re-book; there were no flights on the Sunday with easyJet, and we couldn’t contact the firm.
We tried to book a British Airways flight but its website kept crashing – after several hours we felt we had no option but to re-book with easyJet to return on the Saturday afternoon.
We were staying in a lovely hotel in the centre of Rome and only got to spend one night there (having paid for two). We spent less than 24 hours in Rome and our weekend was ruined.
We were told that the reason for the cancellation was a fire at Rome airport a week before. EasyJet customer services said that, unfortunately, no compensation was payable as this was an exceptional circumstance.
While we agree that the fire was outside the airline’s control, we feel we should have been warned. Had we known in advance we would have been able to cancel our hotel booking and change our flights to another weekend. KW, London
We are sorry to be the bearers of bad news, but it looks as though easyJet can deny any liability – however wrong that feels. You would have thought that the airline would have told you that your return leg faced being cancelled before you flew out; however, it chose not to, and instead let you endure a dreadful weekend.
Who is at fault is not clear. The airline says the Italian Civil Aviation Authority had been constantly reviewing the number of flights that each airline operating from the airport had to cancel because of the fire. Why it couldn’t decide in advance which flights it was going to cancel, is not clear. It’s either cynical behaviour by the airline or stupidity.
EasyJet says: “We apologise that KW and her partner’s return flight from Rome was cancelled at short notice. Customers on cancelled flights have been able to change their flights free of charge or receive a refund, and easyJet is also providing hotel accommodation for those who required it.
“In line with EC Regulation 261/2004, as the cancellation was outside of easyJet’s control, compensation is not payable on this occasion.”
We asked Bott & Co, an expert on airline compensation, whether you could bring a claim. It told us it would not take up the claim on a no-win, no-fee basis because of the uncertainty surrounding the outcome. But it said there is nothing to stop you trying. Unfortunately, the rules around flight compensation remain murky with airlines skilful at blocking claims.
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