Hi Sarah/Lesley,

I agree. The price I paid of £280 and my fellow traveller of £299 represented the price difference between the actual cost of the ticket (i.e. around £350) and the amount we had already paid (me buying the original ticket myself, and my fellow traveller via JY) so I can't imagine JY would just fork out nearly £600 for replacement tickets, but they must have known we'd be unable to claim anything back on our travel insurance so it was a complete cop out by them telling us to get new tickets and claim it back on our insurance. I'm presuming if I had all my flights with BA then if the same thing happened again they would make sure I got home safely, as I wouldn't trust JY to do so. I know this severely restricts the number of holidays I can do from now on, but I really can't take the risk of this happening again, especially not if it meant I could be stranded overnight at Heathrow.

Regards

Caroline

I've  already posted re my delay experience  earlier this year. It does seem there can be an advantage in booking internal transfers with BA if they are also supplying the overseas flights.   In view of recent comments from JY  about the airlines' responsibility  to provide flights and delay compensation, why was I sent a letter from JY telling me to claim on my travel insurance?   I'm  sorry you had problems in Croatia, but it  seems that highlighting the problem has got JY  reviewing procedures  and giving out correct  iformation.  I have to say, I would be most unhappy in the event of another cancelled flight to be told I had to buy another ticket with the same airline.  Surely this is where JY should get involved to ensure replacement flights are made available at no extra cost.

Hi Caroline

Pleased to hear that you have received some compensation for the cancelled flight. I too am seriously considering only doing short haul holidays that go from my local airport. Long haul is a different matter but I will continue to book my own internal flights as,I can see no benefits in getting JY to book for me.

Regards

Lesley

Hi,

Just an update. Croatia Airlines have now paid €250 (£224) into my bank account as compensation for my cancelled flight. My travel insurance will not pay anything so I'm still £100 out of pocket altogether. I'm happy with Croatia Airlines, and Resolver and the Martin Lewis website, but not so much with JY who wanted nothing to do with it and offered no help/guidance whatsoever.

Going forward I have a few options as I'm not going through this again if I can help it, that is to only choose holidays where all flights are with BA so hopefully they'll be responsible for getting me home without me incurring further expense, booking overnight hotel stays both before and after my holiday, though this would be no good if some other event occurred whereby I was delayed getting back into the UK by a longer duration (i.e. Hurricane, Ash cloud etc), or, my preferred option, only fly from my local airport, especially for short haul tours, as at least then it means I'll be covered from door to door via the ATOL scheme.

It's a shame as there were so many holidays I wanted to do, but I'm not running the risk of this happening again, especially when I was effectively on my own. I worry had I not been able to get on that last flight of the night I would have been stranded in Heathrow overnight or had even more added expense for hotel accommodation and transport between the hotel and airport ?. The reason I book with a travel company, and pay a fortune to do it, is so that I am looked after and feel safe in the knowledge they will help me if anything goes wrong, I was left feeling very disappointed with JY.

Regards

Caroline

Hi Solotraveller,

I used a company called Resolver, via the Martin Lewis site as I trust this site. I received acknowledgements as well, but last week I got an update from Croatia Airlines apologising for the delay and saying they will pay me €250 into my bank account, obviously I've had to provide these details which I was a bit wary about, but I had no choice and, like I stated earlier, I trust Martin Lewis. The compensation may take up to three weeks to go into my bank account, so I'll let you know as soon as I receive it.

I agree, although JY state they can not get involved on our behalf, they have done absolutely nothing to assist at all, not even point us in the right direction as to how to even claim compensation! Thank goodness for the Martin Lewis website, otherwise I would be out of pocket due to the excess on my travel insurance, not to mention the added inconvenience I had trying to get home.

I think this needs to be addressed by JY, and we should be advised what action to take in these situations, as not everyone uses the forum so would not know what to do.

Regards

Caroline

Good Afternoon Solotraveller,

I have spoken to my colleagues regarding this issue to see how we can offer assistance and I have been told that Croatia Airlines have stressed that claims must come from the passengers only, however should anyone require assistance we will be happy to help, however we should advise that airlines have no time scales to work too in regards to EU claims so can take a few months.

Kind Regards,

Mildred

I have now sent a claim to Croatia Airlines, twice, and have had an acknowledgement, but nothing more, so I have now contacted the Croatian National Enforcement Board. I'm not going to let this rest.

Is anyone from Just You reading this, and taking any notice? It would be nice to think that, as our whole party was affected, they might be doing something to help. It would also be more likely to encourage us to holiday with Just You in the future!

Thanks Solotraveller,

I have done the same but had no further update from Croatia Airlines but will be escalating if I have not heard soon. Vlatka did an excellent job getting us on the flight from Zagreb, but JY were woeful, and basically washed their hands of the whole issue as soon as we left Zagreb. Just as well the Martin Lewis site was so helpful as I have received no information from JY about claiming compensation, indeed, they have stated they do not get involved in these issues so we are left to work it out for ourselves.

Hopefully we'll hear something soon.

Regards

Caroline

Just to add that I, too, was supposed to be on the cancelled flight from Rijeka on September 28th. I rang my husband to tell him that we would be delayed. Later in the day he rang Just You to find out how far we'd got, and that was the first that Just You had heard about the situation! So, very poor communication there!

Vlatka was very efficient at getting us all to Zagreb and onto the plane there. The airline provided us with water, but no proper food, just a very simple airline snack during the flight, which was poor, as the flight cancellation meant that we were considerably delayed.

Re compensation: I have sent aan email claim for 250 Euros to Croatian Airlines, had an acknowledgment, but no payment. I have reminded them and will keep doing so until they pay up! All of our party should be doing the same, as it is clearly compensation that we are entitled to.

Good to hear JY has a proc 3vedure  in place, but it seems some tour managers need to be made aware of it.