Can I claim for lost earnings after easyJet axed my flight?

Simon Calder on easyJet compensation, passport rules and baggage

Compensation rules for airlines can be tricky for customers to navigate (Getty)

Q Last month my easyJet Sunday evening flight from Liverpool to Amsterdam was cancelled. This is the flight I use to commute every week to the Netherlands, where I am a contractor – and I get paid only for the hours of work I do. The airline offered me an easyJet flight the next day, which would get me there too late for my shift. There was a KLM flight the following morning from Manchester, which would have got me there almost on time. But easyJet’s “new Alternative Carriers option” says this applies only “from the original departure airport to the original destination airport”. The cash fare was £560, which I didn’t want to pay. Can I claim for my loss of earnings of £240? I have already successfully applied for my £220 in compensation for the cancellation.

Arthur Farley

A I regret that you are out of pocket as a result of some understandable confusion. Whenever an airline cancels a flight, for any reason, it immediately becomes responsible for getting passengers to their final destination as soon as possible. If the carrier cannot offer you a flight on the same day, it must – according to European air passengers’ rights rules – pay for a flight on another airline. Ideally. the cancelling carrier will book and pay for the replacement. But in many cases, the passenger must pay and reclaim from the airline.