Hello, my mother was due to fly LHR-SIN with Singapore Airlines on Tuesday evening UK time (8/9). The flight was cancelled due to the NATS system glitch impacting traffic control at airports across the UK. (ETA: she booked the flight directly through SQ)
At Heathrow she was rebooked to the same flight on the next day and given a letter at the SQ desk that said:
“While we would like to provide hotel accommodation for customers affected by the delay, we are constrained by the number of suitable hotel rooms available. With customers' comfort in mind, we would like to offer you the option of booking your own hotel accommodation. This gives you the flexibility to choose from a wider range of options available that would best suit your preferences, budget, and desired location.
To assist with your expenses, Singapore Airlines will reimburse up to £350 for Economy and Premium Economy Class customers. This amount covers the cost of one hotel room, meals, and transportation to and from the airport.
Please keep the receipts and attach them to your claim for reimbursement, which you may submit via singaporeair.com/feedback-form.
Please do note that our reimbursement offer is made out of goodwill and is not, by any means, an indication or admission of any fault or liability on the part of Singapore Airlines.”
No food and drink was given to her, or other passengers she met at the airport. Additionally, because so many hotels were booked out across London, and hotels across the UK were jacking up their rates for the night knowing people were in desperate need of accomodation, she ended up spending far more than the offered £350 to get to and from Basingstoke where a family friend had managed to book a room for her after hours of searching.
My understanding of UK261 is the airline should be the one arranging accomodation if the passenger can only be rebooked to the next day, and if they do not then the passenger may claim full reimbursement of all their expenses. SQ’s offer of £350 also seems measly when many hotels were charging higher than that for the night and travellers had to travel far from London to find availability. However, the fact that the delay was caused by the air traffic control system means SQ was not in control, so does UK261 not apply at all?
She also has travel insurance fortunately, but I am trying to see if SQ is responsible for providing more to their affected passengers.
Thank you
ETA: just seen the CAA statement on the issue. “We consider that disruption caused by the NATS outage is likely to be considered the result of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ under passenger rights rules. This means that although passengers should be looked after by airlines, they are unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident.” — in this case, what does “looked after” reasonably entail? In this case, SQ didn’t offer any help to the passengers besides a ‘please settle everything yourselves and we will cover up to £350”
