Denied boarding notice

This notice is required by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (as amended by The Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulation 2019) and informs you of your rights should you be denied boarding.

In exceptional circumstances, there may not be enough space available on a flight to accommodate all persons with confirmed reservations.  If such a situation arises for your flight, we will try to avoid any need to deny you boarding against your will by offering you and all other similar passengers the opportunity to volunteer to surrender one or more confirmed reservations in exchange for mutually agreed benefits.

Where no volunteers are identified, it may be necessary to deny you boarding against your will. If you are an unaccompanied child or a person with reduced mobility or a person accompanying a person with reduced mobility, we will not deny you boarding unless otherwise unavoidable.

You will be entitled to the Available Assistance and Benefits described below if:

• you are denied boarding involuntarily;
• your flight is scheduled to depart from an airport in the United Kingdom;
• the flight is scheduled to be operated by us;
• you hold a confirmed reservation for the flight;
• you have met the applicable check-in deadline for the flight;
• you are not travelling free of any charge or at a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public; and
• you are not, or would not have been, precluded from boarding the flight by reason of application of our conditions of carriage or for other reasonable grounds such as, but not limited to, reasons of health, safety or security, or inadequate travel documentation.

Travelling pursuant to a frequent flyer programme or as part of a package holiday will not be treated as travelling free of any charge for the purposes of this notice.

If you meet the Eligibility Criteria, you will be entitled to the following benefits:

Re-routing/Reimbursement

If you are denied boarding on a voluntary or involuntary basis, you may choose one of the following three options:

• Option 1 - we will reimburse the fare paid for your ticket for the part of carriage not used, and for those parts of the carriage used if, as a result of the denied boarding, the flight to which you were denied boarding no longer serves any purpose in relation to your original travel plans, and, when relevant, we will carry you to the first point of departure in your contract of carriage at the earliest opportunity; or
• Option 2 - we will re-route you under comparable transport conditions at the earliest opportunity to your final destination airport (or to another airport serving the same town, city or region, in which event we will provide you with surface transport to your final destination airport or another close by destination agreed between us); or
• Option 3 - we will re-route you under comparable transport conditions at a later date at your convenience, subject to the availability of suitable space, to your final destination airport (or to another airport serving the same town, city or region, in which event we will provide you with surface transport to your final destination airport or another close by destination agreed between us).

If you want to use Option 1 or 3 above, any right to Available Assistance will cease as soon as we receive such notification.

Reimbursement as mentioned in Option 1 above is due within seven days. Payment is subject to completion of all reasonably necessary formalities such as, but not limited to, satisfactory identification of the party entitled to the reimbursement and return of unused tickets/coupons.

The right to reimbursement will also apply if your flight forms part of a package, except where such right arises under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.

Available assistance

If you are involuntarily denied boarding, you will be entitled to:

• Meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to waiting time together with two telephone calls, telexes, faxes or e-mails. 
• Accommodation, if a stay of one or more nights, or a stay additional to that intended by you, becomes necessary when the reasonably expected time of departure of the new flight is one day or more later than the scheduled departure date of on which you were denied boarding, you will be entitled to hotel accommodation and surface transport between the airport and such accommodation (or transportation to your own accommodation if you choose not to stay in hotel accommodation).

The assistance described above will be provided free of charge. You will be entitled to such assistance only to the extent that we reasonably expect its provision would not cause delay.

We will pay particular attention to the needs of people with reduced mobility and any people accompanying them, as well as to the needs of unaccompanied children in accordance with Article 9(3) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (as amended by The Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulation 2019).

Compensation

If you are involuntarily denied boarding, you may be entitled to compensation at the levels specified as follows:

• £220 for flights of 1500 km or less;
• £350 for all flights between 1500 km and 3500 km; or
• £520 for all other flights.

Compensation will be reduced by 50% if any re-routing offered to your final destination results in a scheduled arrival time which does not exceed the scheduled arrival time of the original flight by:

• Two hours for flights of 1500 km or less; or
• Three hours for all flights between 1500 km and 3500 km; or
• Four hours for all other flights.

Compensation will be paid in cash, by electronic transfer, bank orders or bank cheques or, with your signed agreement, in travel vouchers and/or other services.

Downgrading

If, whether as a result of being denied boarding or for any other reason such as, but not limited to, substitution of an aircraft with a smaller passenger cabin, you are placed in a class lower than that for which your ticket was purchased while you are being re-routed, you will be entitled to reimbursement as follows:

• 30% of the applicable fare for flights less than 1500 km; or
• 50% of the applicable fare for flights between 1500 km to 3500 km; or
• 75% of the applicable fare for flights of more than 3500 km,

for the part or parts of the journey that you were placed in that lower class.