Hello,
In all cases involving flights covered by EU Regulation 261/2004,
the mistake you absolutely must avoid is requesting a refund for a canceled ticket from the airline.
Flights covered by EU Regulation 261/2004 include:
1° all flights departing from the European Union, regardless of whether the airline is European or not;
2° flights from a non-EU country to the European Union if the airline (
or one of the airlines operating a flight segment) is European.
Indeed, in the event of a flight cancellation by the airline, regardless of the circumstances, the airline is required to offer the passenger a choice between three options:
- a refund
-
re-routing "as soon as possible," including via flights operated by other airlines, even if they don’t belong to the same alliance, at no extra cost.- re-routing at a later date convenient for the passenger, at no extra cost.
The passenger’s choice is final. If they request a refund, they immediately lose the right to re-routing.
It’s important to note that for connecting flights, layovers don’t matter—only the departure and final destination airports count.
As long as the passenger hasn’t requested a refund, if they find a re-routing option themselves where there’s at least one available seat (or more if traveling with others) allowing them to reach their final destination at least one day earlier than the re-routing proposed (especially if none was offered!), they can book it and
DEMAND reimbursement for the price difference
+ compensation, even if the ticket was canceled due to "extraordinary circumstances," even if proven, and even if the reason for cancellation is war.
This is far more advantageous than simply requesting a refund for the canceled ticket!
More details here:
retardimportantavion.wordpress.com/...es-meille...
Best regards
