Part loss of airline ticket

[Eboli]

In February/April 2020 I booked a 6 week holiday to New Zealand returning via Australia to Thailand for a break there and then via Dubai back to the UK with Emirates. The ticket issued covered 6 flights (LHR-DBX, DBX-AUK, AUK-SYD, SYD-BKK, BKK-DBX, DBX-LHR) and all of the flights were business except the DBX-AUK which was first class. Whilst in Thailand on 20 March Emirates announced they were closing down their operations from 23 March. My business flights BKK-DBX and DBX-LHR were flex-plus tickets and I attempted to re-schedule them (from 5 April) to before 24 March, but with no avail. In the end I 'escaped' Thailand with a direct flight to Heathrow with Thai Airways which was very expensive but when needs must...I accept the cost of the Thai flight is dead money.

I fly a lot with Emirates so I enquired whether a cash refund would be of the same amount as a future travel voucher. I should explain there is nothing in the original receipt that tells me what was the cost of the two cancelled flights and because of the nature of the ticket it is difficult to apportion the whole cost anyway. Emirates suggested that the amount of a cash refund could 'possibly' be different to the amount of a cash voucher for a future flight and referred the matter to their Dubai office.

It may be relevant to add that Emirates accept I could leave the unused tickets open and use them at a later date but the cost of a one way trip to Bangkok, for example, is far more (80% more) than half the cost of a return flight, so re-scheduling seems to waste the value of the tickets.

It has now been 3 weeks since the referral (though I was told to expect a delay because of the COVID-19 situation). I am just wondering whether (a) my request to spell out the amount of a refund/voucher has altered any of my rights and (b) whether I should do anything else to ensure maintain that I have a valid claim and (c) whether there is any point in raising the matter with the credit card I used for payment.

Any thoughts?

Eb

[pochisoldi]

The cost of the Thai flight isn't "dead money". You paid for a ticket with Emirates and they cancelled.

It's my understanding that they had a duty to either get you back to LHR, or to give a refund.
Given that they abandoned you, and you had to mitigate your loss, their duty to get you back became "pay the cost of the replacement ticket, plus additional accommodation"

If I were in your position, my starting point would be "I paid £X to fly LHR-DBX-AUK-SYD-BKK-DBX-LHR", and you only got me as far as BKK.
Give me the cost of the replacement flight, and accommodation I had to book because you cancelled."
(Note that the word "refund" does not enter the conversation - the proper word is "compensation". Delete the reference to accommodation, if you didn't incur any additional costs)

Don't mention the r-word, and don't mention the cost of the replacement ticket in the first request - you want an admission of liability/responsibility or for them to tell you the value of your cancelled ticket (which would probably be less than the last minute direct flight you booked).

If all else failed, and irrespective of any "frequent flyer" status, I would go down the credit card route, with my argument being that Emirates repudiated the contract - they were capable of completing the contract (they could have paid Thai to fly you), but they walked away.

PochiSoldi

(I get the impression that Emirates attitude seems to be "if we can't fly you back on Emirates metal, you are on your own until we can". Perhaps you might wish to dangle the "disappointment" and "take this experience into consideration when choosing the carrier for my next long haul trip" carrots.)

[Eboli]

Many thanks pochisoldi for your considered reply.

I did not incur any extra costs of accommodation. Basically the sequence of events is 20th March Emirates announce they are stopping flight on 23rd. On 21st I tried to book another Emirates flight because by the the Foreign Office advice to Brits abroad had changed from "consider returning home" to "should return home". Hence I tried to book a flight asap. Instead of returning to UK after a few days in Dubai on 5th April, I returned on 28th March primarily because of the Foreign Office advice. Emirates could not get me home hence the Thai direct flight.

But your help has made this all clear. XSo thank you.

Eb