Question about my rights during Covid re: international flight cancelled.

[Jahn]

Currently taking Etihad to court. I had return flights Manchester to Thailand. Because of Covid I paid to alter the return flight to a month later. Found out they should not really have charged me as they were offering free changes to customers.
Anyhow, I then was notified that my new flight was cancelled as they had stopped the route Bangkok to Manchester. Offered me a voucher which was obviously not great as I needed to get home. I then reached out to them and they told me they would offer a cash refund of approx. 25% of the total price of the ticket, with no consideration of the change fee also paid. They kept promising to give me an exact figure, but never did, despite many expensive phone calls.
Alternatively they offered to fly me to London and then put me on a train to Manchester. I pursued them to find out about travel from the airport to to the train station, and was told, in a call I recorded, that I was not entitled to a refund or an alternative flight.
Ended up paying for a flight home with another airline. Pursued for refund.compensation, got nowhere.
Took out this legal claim in small claims. They told the court they had already refunded. I was furious. Emailed court and them asking for proof as this never happened. Continued to insist that it had. Then refunded me last month, months after lying to the court. I emailed them and copied in court asking them to explain themselves and the misinformation. They have point blank refused to do so.
Wondering if anyone can help me put together my witness statement and point me to relevant legislation and court / law rules about my rights here? Due in a fortnight.

[Jahn]

Anyone? Wondering if there are any set in stone rights like Montreal convention? That I can point to as their obligations for getting me home?

[Jahn]

Anyone???

[R0b]

Hello

Your witness statement is not a document for legal arguments or opinions, it is a statement of fact and evidence to include that back up those facts. Your legal arguments come later when you have the hearing.

Witness statements are fact specific and not something you can pull off the shelf as your issues will differ from someone else's. I see you mentioned your statement was due around about now, have you submitted one or at least drafted something to show us (personal information redacted)?

[Jahn]

rob yes all done, but I am just wondering whether there are any legal statutes apart from Montreal convention that I should include as evidence?

[R0b]

Anything 'legal' shouldn't go in the witness statement, it's just factual evidence e.g. emails, receipts, invoices etc. that support your case. laws, regulations court cases and that kind of thing do not need to be submitted at this stage (unless a court order specifically states so) but you can submit them as a separate bundle 72 hours in advance of the hearing or earlier if you are happy to do that.

Doesn't the Montreal convention deal with personal injury and delays or damage to baggage? The main law on cancelled or delayed flights is Regulation UK261 (formerly known as Regulation EU261 before Brexit) and that deals with compensation which is fixed depending on satisfying the relevant criteria.

However, based on what you have described, this appears to me to be a breach of contract situation more than anything else. You paid for a flight, they cancelled and refused to assist you. As a result you suffered losses in getting yourself home in addition to any compensation under UK261.

One of the key issues is whether they have refunded you when they said they prior to proceedings being commenced. It sounds like you have evidence that they did not and only received it once proceedings had begun - that is either a mistake on their part or someone could be acting dishonestly in the defence that has been submitted.

I can't remember that if the flight is cancelled you are only entitled to the fixed compensation under UK261 or if your rights as to other claims are unaffected. I believe you can do both but I am not 100% sure. Either way, that's how I would sum up your dispute and it's up to them to prove you can't be entitled to anything else other than fixed compensation.

Even if they can prove the refund was given to you after proceedings started, that doesn't make the claim go away as you have already incurred costs for issuing the claim and should be entitled to recover that as of right. Then there is also the question of compensation for having to fork out your own flights home and that is something the court will need to decide/consider.

I do assume you booked your flight in the UK rather than Thailand as in that case your rights may be much more limited to a breach of contract subject to the terms and conditions you agreed to at the time of booking.

[Jahn]

Many thanks rob that is super helpful.