EuroWings flight cancelled - how to get rerouting?

Question

Possibly related: First leg cancelled - Etihad Airways refuse to rebook - but a different airline

I have a booking with EuroWings (booked directly on their website) to fly on 26 July from LHR (London Heathrow) to TBS (Tbilisi). Today I got an email saying that my outgoing flight has been cancelled (looks like STT to TBS leg). The email suggests I change my booking for free in "manage my booking" section on the website. Having looked on the website, there are no flights available anywhere between 10 July and 10 August.

I understand that under both UK and EU rules, I am entitled to be rebooked on a different airline if they don't have flight availability any more. For example, Lufthansa is one of their partners and they do have availability for this date.

I attempted to call their contact centre (German number only), after 20 minutes on hold I was given a different German number to call; with that number, after 30 minutes on hold, the call was simply disconnected.

Of course, I can get a full refund and book another flight, however I purchased this flight long time ago and booking another flight now would cost almost 3 times as much; considering this is for 4 people, the difference in price is nearly £2000.

What are my options for getting the rerouting I am entitled to?

Answer 1

Under EU 261/2004 regulations, you are entitled to comparable transport, including via other air carriers (under UK law, its less clear cut, as this requirement stems from the EUs "Interpretative Guidelines" to the EU 261/2004 regulation, and the UK only transcribed the regulation itself into UK law after Brexit).

However, you don't exactly have a huge amount of options as to what to do here, because you need the airlines cooperation to do anything reasonable.

In addition to attempting to continue to contact the airline to arrange re-routing, you can lodge a complaint with the "appropriate body" for Germany (I assume that STT meant Stuttgart as the intermediate airport). Under EU 261/2004, Germany must appoint an "appropriate body", and that is listed in the EUs "National Enforcement Bodies" document.

If you attempt to book the replacement leg yourself and claim it back afterward, the airline may attempt to fall back on this text from the "Interpretative Guidelines":

However, where an air carrier can demonstrate that when the passenger has accepted to give his or her personal contact details, it has contacted a passenger and sought to provide the assistance required by Article 8, but the passenger has nonetheless made his or her own assistance or re-routing arrangements, then the air carrier may conclude that it is not responsible for any additional costs the passenger has incurred and may decide not to reimburse them.

However, you may be able to fight back with the text just above that:

Where the air carrier does not offer the choice between reimbursement and re-routing and, in the case of connecting flights, reimbursement and a return flight to the airport of departure and re-routing, but decides unilaterally to reimburse the passenger, he or she is entitled to a further reimbursement of the price difference with the new ticket under comparable transport conditions.

By using the argument that, by not providing suitable re-routing options, the carrier has not given you a valid choice between reimbursement and re-routing, but instead reimbursement is the only valid option, you could conceivably opt for reimbursement, book the alternative flights and charge the difference in fares to the original airline.

For this to work, you will need legal advice and probably the "appropriate body" to support you in your complaint - neither of these should be all that difficult to obtain.