Monarch delays & Compensations. Listed flights denied in O.P.

Hi guys,

I am a bit fed up with not hearing from Monarch and I am seriously considering taking them to court via small claims... Just wanted to doublecheck with you that there is no way they can get away with extraordinary circumstances with my claim?

Aug 24th 2012 I was flying to BCN with a 5pm flight (paying more to get there for dinner time but whatever). After keeping us waiting for ages we board the plane, and once ON the plane, when we couldn't buy food other than their own, they announce that our GTW-BCN flight is going to be re-routed thru Munich. They only offer 1 drink per person, despite myself quoting the 261/2004 EU Regulation which states they also need to provide calls and food for a delay over 2 hours. No explanation re the delay is offered.

Once in Munich I discover that basically a man had a heart attack on another plane that was going from GTW to Greece (or Turkey) and they had to fly a crew over to London as that one would be out of hours, and they decided to fly them on our GTW-BCN plane!!

Is this extraordinary circumstances? Surely
Do they directly affect our flight? No, until they decide they do
Was there other ways of sorting out the crew issue without affecting our plane? Definitely

Ah, to add to the damage I wasn't even able to purchase food on the plane as the trolley was EMPTY by the time it got to my seat (row 14), which means I was forced to skip dinner and the first place to purchase food was BCN airport at 1h30 in the morning. Ideally I'd also report this to the relevant organization (CAA?)

Cheers
E

... They finally replied to my letters, three and a half months on!

More predictably, they are claiming Extraordinary Circumstances!! I know - who'd have thunk it? This is what they have written:

Blah blah blah ...

Our records show that prior to take off of the outbound flight, the flight deck crew saw cracks in the right hand side windscreen of the aircraft scheduled to operate your flight. The aircraft returned to the stand where engineers attended in order to perform the requisite checks. It was ascertained that a new windscreen was required and this was transferred from Luton to Gatwick via taxi. Engineers from Virgin assisted in the rectification work which was carried out in the Virgin hangar. Extra sealant was required and was sourced by Virgin from their hangar in Heathrow. The rectification work took longer than first anticipated as the sealant would not set, as a result passengers and crew were required to ‘night stop’ in London and the flight departed the following day. This had an unfortunate knock on effect to your flight which resulted in passengers having to stay overnight in Egypt, before the aircraft arrived at Sharm El Sheik to operate your flight.

Windscreens are liable to break without prior indication as they are subject to extreme temperature changes at high altitude. The necessity to change a windscreen is rare and as such spare components are stored in the main stores at Luton.

Having considered the factual background of this incident, I am satisfied that this was indeed an extraordinary circumstance that could not have reasonably been prevented by Monarch. I am unable to agree to your claim for compensation.

So there we are.

Of course, it is more than likely that the crack developed on the flight before the flight before mine (the crack was "discovered" on the immediately preceding flight, but the windscreen is unlikely to have cracked whilst sitting on the tarmac, I'd have thought).

Anyway, as I've said elsewhere I think their claim of EC's holds no water for a variety of reasons. But I'd value the thoughts of the real experts on this.

By coincidence, I started the MCOL process on Monday evening, and look forward to the thrill of the chase. But what to do with this letter: should I respond to Monarch telling them that they are misinterpretting the law, with some key points why? Or should I keep my powder dry for Court?

hi jhaytch, was your flight zb305? if so my party was on the same flight with the 11 hour delay. i sent forms off in january 2013 and have just had the update letter what everyone has had saying they will update again in a month.