Flight delay and cancellation compensation, KLM/AF ONLY

Steve56 · 3 February 2014 at 10:39AM

chunkiedunc wrote: »

I have followed some of the advice on this forum and contacted KLM to initiate a claim for a 3 hour delayed flight out of Schiphol. They have tried to wriggle out of paying with the following response;

'The flight concerned was delayed due to a wiring repair on the aircraft. A technical issue like this, that is encountered unexpectedly, which presents itself beyond our scope of influence and is a threat to flight safety, can be regarded as an extraordinary circumstance and therefore is not one here there is an entitlement to compensation under EU regulations.'

Is this really an extraordinary circumstance or down to poor aircraft maintenance/lack of spare fleet capacity, etc and do you think I would be able to take this any further?

I am completely underwhelmed by their offer 'As a gesture of goodwill, I have credited 5,000 each to your Flying Blue accounts.'

Thanks.

Hi, see my posts on pages 17 & 18 - I exchanged many mails back and forth with KLM (always via their website compensation form using the case ID that was issued with my first message).

The only advice I can give is to put the onus back onto them to explain why this was an extraordinary circumstance. If there was a wiring problem, then I would challenge this on the basis that KLM should have reasonable expectations that things can go wrong on their aircraft and should have contingency plans in place, whether it be replacement parts or stand-by engineers. And as their aircraft are surely maintained and checked on a regular basis, why was this fault not discovered earlier as surely the wiring should be getting checked on a regular basis etc etc.

Personally, I did not accept the offer of airmiles. There were far too many terms and conditions attached to their use which virtually rendered them unusable to us.

RhiManchester · 3 February 2014 at 12:20PM

RhiManchester wrote: »

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone thought we would be able to claim for our delay back to Manchester from Bangkok last April?

We flew from Bangkok to Paris with Air France/KLM on flight AF165 - this set of on time but landed 40mins late. This in turn (coupled with the hurrendous security at CDG airport) meant we missed our connecting flight on to Manchester. There was no space left on the next flight out of Paris so they put us up in a hotel overnight, finally flying back to Manchester the following afternoon...

Would we be able to claim in these circumstances? And if so could we claim for the full flight (booked on a through ticket) or just the Paris - manchester leg?

Many thanks in advance,
Rhiannon

Hi everyone,

Just to let you know I sent a claim through on the offchance that it would be accepted by KLM...less than a week after sending the email I have had a reply offering me 800E each in vouchers or 600E in cash!!!! (We are taking the cash). I wasn't very optimistic to be honest but just shows it's worth taking 5mins filling in the form...

Good luck to everyone else!

Rhiannon xx

LianB · 25 February 2014 at 4:10PM

My first time posting so please bare with me...
In 2012 I travelled with my husband and infant girl (20 mths old) from Manchester connecting in Paris onward to Johannesburg. We departed from Paris on time but about 90 min into the flight they announced that we will be returning to CDG as they have an 'electrical' fault of some kind. (never received explanation). This was about 1 am... with a baby! They gave us hotel room at 3am and told to return to check-in desk at 12 am next day to see if they have any other flights to JNB. (room was not suitable for child so we didn't get any sleep either). They also said that even if fault is fixed they would not be able to fly as the flight crew would exceed their allowed hours??

So on return to check-in desk and queuing for over 2 hours we were placed on a 4:30pm flight. Only to arrive over 40 hrs later than initially expected.

I'm pretty sure I have grounds to claim as the Flight Stats website says the flight was cancelled. But we were given another flight which delayed our arrival? So which is it?

And ho much do I claim for an infant? or does it not matter? And I don't have the details (flight number, boarding passes) of the replacement flight. But surely they should have record of the new flight etc.

any advice would be appreciated...thx

tomtontom · 25 February 2014 at 8:31PM

After two years, AF has caved! When I first complained they quoted the Montreal Convention, my flight was over two years before, and refused to enter into any further correspondence. I put it aside and contacted them again a year later, and this time they argued exceptional circumstances. Again, no further communication was answered. Then on Sunday I decided to give them one last try, this time intending to see it through to small claims. Monday morning an email arrived, and I opened it expecting the usual. But no, they acknowledged my previous correspondence and, due to my continuing dissatisfaction, offered an 800€ voucher or 600€ cheque!

Persistence certainly paid off

razorsedge · 27 February 2014 at 11:42AM

I love the dodgems...

Bumping for Newbies

Captain99 · 4 March 2014 at 6:38PM

Captain99 wrote: »

Hi,

My wife, daughter and I booked to fly to New York via Paris on 13th December. The flight times were as follows:

LHR-CDG dep-1600 arr-1810
CDG-JFK dep-1910 arr-2120

However, the first part of the journey was delayed (I am unsure of the reason but we were on the plane in time to take off at the correct time). This meant that we missed the CDG-JFK flight and as there were no more flights until the following morning, we were given hotel/food vouchers for the night. We left the next morning and finally arrived at JFK at 1030 (12+ hours later than originally booked.

After reading through this forum, I believe we could be due the 600 Euro compensation and plan to apply accordingly.

However, I had also booked and pre-paid for a hotel in New York (via Hotwire) at a cost of $1522 for 5 nights ($304 per night).

Obviously we were unable to use the first night and the booking conditions do not allow for a refund. The room we were given in Paris can in no way be compared to the one we booked in New York so I believe we should be able to claim the cost of one night back.

Can anybody advise me how to do this? Should I claim it on the same form as the flight delay or is there a separate form to apply? I cannot find any information regarding how to claim for this so would be grateful if anyone can advise.

Thanks.

Just to follow my post up:

We applied through the AF website for compensation for the above journey – using the MSE template.

Within 3 days (yes, three!) we received a reply agreeing with our claim and offering us E800 each in travel vouchers or E600 each in cash. (as Centipede100 says in reply to my original post, we were not offered any compensation for the hotel as it was a consequential loss).

Obviously, I was really pleased to get such a prompt response and the compensation offer. We decided to take the cash.

I have waited until now to post this as I was waiting for confirmation that the cash was in my account In fact, it still isn’t but I have today received an email from AF Refunds Dept stating that it has been processed and will be paid within 14 working days (it has been just under 7 weeks since they agreed to pay the compensation).

I realise that our experience is very different to some on here but I am posting the details to encourage people to claim as it is not always difficult. Apologies to the people that are struggling to seemingly even receive a reply to their claims – I hope things work out.

Captain99 · 4 March 2014 at 6:41PM

PS - Thanks once again to Centipede 100 for replying to my initial posts

yping930 · 29 March 2014 at 12:02AM

Dear all,
Please may I have some advise on these topic?
I flew with KLM on Feb 2014. flight delayed in Birmingham to Amsterdam for 45mins, result connecting flight was missed by mere 10mins. Was put in a hotel overnight with a exhausted 3 years old & both of us not feeling well for the next flight that took longer journey, and 16hours later than the original schedule.
KLM been replied to my both claim emails first says the delayed was due to technical problem, when I ask for specification of 'Technical Problem' they then replied 'Oh no it's not technical problem it's due to another delayed plane & airport restriction'. They did offered voucher of 200euro/passenger as a good will gesture only, instead of the full claim, which will cost them 600euro/passenger.
I will be more than willing to accept it, but is it worth to fight for the full compensation?
Thank you for all comment.

JPears · 29 March 2014 at 12:22AM

If they are willing to offer a voucher, essentially it would indicate that they are palming you off to shut up & go away. It more than likely they know compo is due and I suspect if you take it to a NWNF company they would probably take it on.

PamG · 29 March 2014 at 1:12AM

I sent a letter to Air France definitely over 14days ago and heard nothing...
Can anyone tell me what the next step is?

Flight delay and cancellation compensation, KLM/AF ONLY

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