Airline (lowcost) has changed my reservation, what are my options?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 5 Aug, 2023
- |
Given that it’s a European flight, EU regulation 261/2004 is relevant, and covers your options.
In addition to the full regulations (linked above), there’s a summary on Wikipedia which covers your situation.
In short, as the flight is more than 2 weeks away you are not due any compensation, however Atricle 8 of EU 261/2004 does explicitly call out what options the airline has to give you in this case. Specifically :
Right to reimbursement or re-routing
Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between: (a) — reimbursement within seven days, by
the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket
at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the
journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight
is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger’s
original travel plan, together with, when relevant, — a return flight
to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity; (b)
re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final
destination at the earliest opportunity; or (c) re-routing, under
comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later
date at the passenger’s convenience, subject to availability of seats.Paragraph 1(a) shall also apply to passengers whose flights form part of a package, except for the right to reimbursement where such
right arises under Directive 90/314/EEC.When, in the case where a town, city or region is served by several airports, an operating air carrier offers a passenger a flight to an
airport alternative to that for which the booking was made, the
operating air carrier shall bear the cost of transferring the
passenger from that alternative airport either to that for which the
booking was made, or to another close-by destination agreed with the
passenger.
The airline will be very aware of these conditions (and is likely in breach of other section of the code if they have not advised you of it’s existence and that it is relevant), so if you’re finding them uncooperative, then you should need to do little more than mention that you are aware of your rights under EU261 and they will most likely change their answers very quickly!
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘