Flight from Lyon to Düsseldorf cancelled 15 minutes prior to departure. Am I eligible for compensation?

Question

I had a confirmed ticket for a Eurowings flight from Lyon Saint-Exupery to Düsseldorf. I went to the airport well ahead of time, checked in, received my boarding pass, cleared security and was at the boarding gate well ahead of the stated cutoff time.

The flight was scheduled to depart from Lyon at 2030h. However, 15 minutes prior to departure, we were told that the flight had been cancelled due to technical reasons. I wasn't able to find out the exact nature of the issue. I wasn't advised of my rights, nor was I offered meal vouchers, or anything of the like. I was booked into a hotel for the night in the airport, the costs for this being borne by Eurowings. The hotel did not have anything that could be called a meal. They had some crisps and a bowl of fruits, far from what can be termed as a meal.

The next day I contacted Eurowings over phone to figure out a way to get back home. The alternative flights offered to me were either fully booked or extremely inconvenient to me. Thus, I travelled back to Düsseldorf at my own expense via train, and also incurred additional costs for coffee and lunch over the course of this journey. Am I eligible for reimbursement for these extra expenses (train tickets, lunch and coffee). Furthermore, can I file for compensation in addition to the aforementioned expenses? Does filing for reimbursement of additional expenses preclude any claim for compensation?

EDIT 1: Adding some explanations on what I mean by "extremely inconvenient". I am a non-EU national. The flights offered to me were via London, Istanbul and Munich. I was reluctant to fly out of the Schengen area because I wanted to avoid having to go through border control. The lines can get quite long in some places. Nonetheless, I agreed to travel via London. However, the Eurowings agent I spoke to on the phone told me she could not place me on that flight for reasons I don't know of. With Istanbul, it was the same reason, I wanted to avoid flying out of the Schengen area. Add to it a flying time of a little more than 3hours, and the fact that the flight to Istanbul was only one hour away when I was provided this option. I wasn't sure I would clear border control and security checks within this short span of time. Munich would have put me in Düsseldorf at 0600h the following day, with a night spent at the airport. The only direct flight was four days later, which would have affected my work.

EDIT 2: Adding some more information on why I decided to take a train I also asked for connections that would take me close to Düsseldorf, namely, Cologne, Berlin, and Frankfurt. Eurowings was unable to book me on flight to any of these destinations.

EDIT 3: I received the compensation for the delayed flight and the reimbursement for the mode of travel and the expenses incurred for coffee and lunch. Surprisingly, the claim was accepted within three weeks of my request.

Answer 1

Yes, you can get reimbursement of ALL expenses, as well as EUR 250 in compensation. Hopefully you didn't consent to a refund of the original ticket, which could make getting the expenses back awkward.

Claim from Eurowings at https://www.eurowings.com/en/4u/online-service-for-the-right-to-compensation.html

If they deny any part of your claim claiming extraordinary circumstances, tell them you've already been informed it was due to technical issues, which aren't extraordinary circumstances. Tell them that if they don't confirm full payment within 7 days, you'll escalate further. You can do this at https://droits-passagers-aeriens.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/public/signalement?new-signalement=true

Answer 2

Under the relevant EU regulation, you are entitled to three separate things:

• Right to care: basically meals, hotel, and transportation to the hotel. Meal could have been better but the airline does not seem to have denied you this right. If you were forced to pay for your meal, you could ask Eurowings to reimburse you but if I am reading you correctly there simply wasn't any food to be had beyond crisps and fruit. One commenter also note that it was arguably past dinner time.

• Right to reimbursement or re-routing: Eurowings seems to have offered a solution but, importantly, you are always free to choose reimbursement or travel at a later date if the next available flight is not convenient for you.

  Obviously they should also inform you of this and since you chose to refuse the flight they offered, they should at least agree to reimburse your original Lyon-Düsseldorf ticket. Alternatively, if you push for them to pay your train ticket, you would forgo that reimbursement. It's up to you to decide what's easiest to claim or more advantageous.

• Compensation: For Lyon-Düsseldorf, you are entitled to €250 per person unless the carrier “can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken”. If compensation applies, it's completely separate from the right to care and the right to reimbursement or re-routing and should be paid within 7 days. So it should in principle already be paid while you are figuring out what to do with the other claims.

As far as the regulation is concerned, you don't generally have the right to choose any arbitrary way to go to your destination and the idea is that the airline, not the passengers, is in charge or organising it. Since you were offered transportation to Düsseldorf, I don't see how you could claim reimbursement for a completely different means of transportation and the meals resulting from that but there is a discussion in the comments about what counts as a suitable re-routing so it might still be worth trying.