Air France flight cancellation

[olliepolly]

Absolutely gutted. Going to bed at 2200 on 25/7 before getting up at 0300 to head for the airport when got txt from Air France to say that our flight had been cancelled.LOng awaited and meticulously planned family holiday for me dh and children 16/18/20. First ever big adventurous trip .
Going to Costa Rica flying from Newcastle to Paris and then on to San Jose. Except that is now not happening. Newcastle to Paris flight cancelled. Would have been prepared to travel to any northern or Scottish airport to try to make the long haul flight. Unable to speak to anyone from Air France. Travel agent helping. I suspect that they will say it was down to the weather and that compensation under eu rules will not be possible. It seems that we may have to travel to Edinburgh and then be routed via Paris and Panama City. I had carefully avoided the extra sector. Had also paid for seat plus seats with extra legroom for my tall children. Any of you more seasoned travellers got any thoughts? Been up all night as could not sleep.

Adventure is part of the adventure. Things go wrong when you are doing big trips. Of course it’s a pain and I am sorry it’s happened, but try to roll with it as part of the intrepid trip. We had flights cancelled last year due to weather and had to take a day long train instead - turned out to be the most memorable part of our entire holiday!

Good luck and enjoy the trip x

That sucks. Is there only one flight a day from Paris to Costa Rica? Maybe go via Madrid?

Hope it gets sorted.

Surely you can get a flight this morning to Paris from somewhere? Have you checked online with other operators? Or is the Costa Rica leg also cancelled?

You would have thought we could make the short hop to Paris from somewhere today but seemingly not. So 24 hour delay it is.
I get it that things happen on a trip but seems much worse because we haven’t even started yet, we aren’t frequent flyers so there is a lot invested on many levels.
I hope I will look back and see just a glitch after a good holiday but at the moment that seems quite far away. Thanks for your replies nice to know there are some mumsnetters out there it has been a long night.

Ps mumsnetters are the best. Also posted on a flying forum and many read post but no replies. I guess they are mostly frequent fliers with platinum airline cards , feel like a minnow in comparison.

I would also now check both parts of your return leg I.e. San Jose to Paris and Paris to Newcastle to ensure these are still valid. I mention this now because on occasion return tickets are cancelled if the outward part of the flight is not taken.

I would also talk to your travel insurers about your 24 hour delay and talk about loss of enjoyment.

Good point Attila I will check the return legs.
My delay compensation is pretty modest though of course there are 5 of us.
Eu compensation rules are much more generous however I have a strong suspicion that untoward weather is an exclusion which they will use even if our problem this morning is due to an aeroplane being out of position because the incoming CDG to NCL late last night was cancelled.

Definitely pursue EU compensation, no matter what they say. We’ve been successful every time, no matter what the airline has originally said - using weather as an excuse is only successful if the airline can show all flights were affected. If some airlines got flights away, then weather can’t be an excuse.

Thank you Molto ,
Is the process to start with the Airline in this case Air France and when they say no take it to Who next ?

Check the money saving expert website, they have a big section on how to claim. You start with the airline, and then if they say no (they almost always do) then follow the escalation steps on Moneysavingexpert. You sometimes have to get as far as threatening small claims court but there are template letters to use.

The compensation is in addition to rearranging flights etc.

Hopefully Air France will not say no.

Have a look at Resolver's website www.resolver.co.uk/

At the very least you should get a refund for the amount paid for the extra legroom seats if these are not provided.