Your refund rights explained as fierce storm cancels hundreds of flights
Passengers whose flights are cancelled or delayed because of a strong storm should know their refund rights.
Hundreds of flights to Amsterdam have been cancelled today as a storm batters the Netherlands.
On Wednesday morning a code red alert was declared in three Dutch provinces by the national meteorological institute as Storm Poly brought heavy rain and strong winds, with one gust reaching over 90mph.
Airports in the UK including Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick, are seeing lengthy delays for arrivals and departures to and from the Netherlands.
"At the moment, 400 flights have been cancelled," a Schiphol spokesperson said. The airport is a major hub for connecting flights from Asia, the Middle East and the United States to the rest of Europe.
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Have you been caught up in any travel chaos? Email [email protected]
Hundreds of flights to and from Schiphol have been cancelled (Getty Images)“Due to strong gusts of wind, rain and poor visibility caused by storm Poly, very limited air traffic is possible between 9am and 4pm on Wednesday, 5 July. Both arriving and departing flights have been cancelled or delayed,” the spokesperson added.
The storm is forecast to move towards Denmark and Germany as the day goes on, so arrivals and departures from those countries may also be impacted.
If you find your flight does get cancelled because of the weather, then the good news is you have the right to either a full refund - including other flights from the airline that you won’t use in the same booking such as onward or return flights - or a replacement flight to get you to your destination.
If you’re part-way through a journey and you don’t want a replacement flight, you also have a right to a flight back to the airport you originally departed from. Ask for a refund or replacement at the airport if you can. If not, you can claim from the airline later.
The bad news is that despite the potentially considerable inconvenience of having a flight cancelled, you're unlikely to get any compensation.
Airlines are not required to pay compensation for delays or cancellations caused by extraordinary events outside of their control.
EasyJet has delayed some services to Amsterdam (Andrew Stuart)While there are strong storms in northern Europe every now and again, it's generally considered a rare enough event to not be covered by compensation law.
The more common storms are in your area, then the higher the chance that you could be inline for some compensation if the the wind and the rain does lead to travel disruption.
“It’s a common misconception that bad weather is always an extraordinary circumstance, which would stop the airlines having to pay compensation, Coby Benson, flight delay compensation solicitor at Bott and Co, said.
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"However, delays caused by weather conditions that are not considered ‘freakish’ or ‘wholly exceptional’ are indeed covered by the regulation and many passengers could be owed compensation of up to £520 each.
How much compensation you might be able to claim depends on how far you were due to fly, and how long you were delayed for.
Citizens Advice has a full breakdown of the requirements.
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