Complaint Continental Airlines Delay/Cancellation

martin907

I would be grateful for any advice on how to proceed with a complaint I have against Continental Airways.

I have written to them with the complaint and also sent them the same text as was in the letter via their website form, for which I received an automated acknowledgement email, however this mentions that “we are experiencing increased mail volume and our response may be delayed”. I did eventually manage to get through by telephone to a Customer Complaints operator in Huston, Texas who confirmed that they had received my complaint via their website but because the airline had made a number of staff redundant recently there is a 30 day backlog of calls and there was nothing they could do.

Here is a brief synopsis of my complaint. Myself, my wife and my daughter were booked on the 10.30 am Continental flight CO77 from Bristol to New York on 21st August 2009. After checking in we found out that the flight had been delayed by one hour, this delay was then repeated at hourly intervals until 4pm when it was announced that it had been cancelled. After some time we managed to obtain through Serviceair/Continental some overnight accommodation in Bristol and confirmation of a flight to New York via Amsterdam the following morning. On reporting at Bristol airport for that flight it became apparent that we had been removed from the Amsterdam-New York leg overnight by someone in Continental Airways but we had not been informed of this. We suspect this was because we had been given business class seats rather than our original economy ones (no economy seats left on that flight). We were eventually provided with a taxi to get us to Heathrow and were booked on Virgin flight from there to New York which arrived about 8pm, 30 hours later than our original Continental flight was due to get there. We were due to sail the following afternoon on the QM2 to Southampton and so were therfore unable to take in many of the New York sights we had promised our daughter.

When the Continental flight was cancelled they gave us a printout with the heading NOTICE OF YOUR RIGHTS IN THE EVENT OF DENIED BOARDING, FLIGHT DELAY OR FLIGHT CANCELLATION. This indicated that we may be entitled under European Regulation 261/2004 to claim €600 each for the delay/cancellation and said that “If your flight is delayed for at least five hours, you are entitled to reimbursement within seven days ... “ Our flight was delayed by 5.5 hours before the announcement that it had been cancelled.

So even though any compensation we may be entitled to should be paid within 7 days, they will not even look at our case for a month. This is obviously compounded by the fact that there is no UK office and so the only avenue of complaint is their Texas office and they seem totally uninterested in European Regulations but surely if they are flying out of a UK airport they must abide by those regulations.

I have emailed the Air Transport Users Council who are one of the National Enforcement Bodies for the regulation but I have received an automated response saying they are taking about 10 days to reply.

Is there something else I can do or someone else I can approach to expedite this matter. Has anybody had any similar experiences.

dmg24

What was the reason for the flight cancellation?

martin907

They only announced that the plane had technical problems. Apparently it flew back to the US the following day but only with crew and no passengers.

1ipstick

Hi Martin. I was on that same flight and have just posted a message here about it:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=26440315&postcount=312

basically the airline said it was delayed, not cancelled and offere a $200 each voucher. I don't think that's good enough esp considering many people's trips were ruined. But not sure what the legal standing is.

dzug1

1ipstick wrote: »

Hi Martin. I was on that same flight and have just posted a message here about it:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=26440315&postcount=312

Different month I think you'll find.

1ipstick

dzug1 wrote: »

Different month I think you'll find.

Oops

Would be interested to hear what happened nevertheless...

Shona99

Martin907,

You may wish to look at the specialised Flightmole forum that has many members who have been in a similar position such as yourself and have recovered compensation under EC 261/2004 either before or after issue of legal procedings. Some have taken matters to court hearing and been successful. The judicial understanding of this law is evolving and isnt static.

Here is one example amongst many
http://www.flightmole.com/forum/showthread.php?t=703

It may be worth posting there for assisting coment.


Some of the issues are potentially quite involved and 1ipstick's circumstances might be somewhat different legally. The precise difference between a purported flight delay and a cancellation under EC 261/2004 is a somewhat vexed issue legally and would need a very close examination of the facts in 1ipstick's case and even then the outcome of any legal dispute might be uncertain.

However, in your own case it appears the carrier has admitted the cancellation and offered you a re-routing. Therefore that preliminary issue with respect to EC 261/2004 may not be subject to the same argument.

daz18000

we had a flight in May cancelled to Florida via Atlanta we to tried to claim compensation citing the E U regulations and they basically told us to get lost and ignored our e mails . I got the Air Transport Users Council involved which did take sometime mid June until early November but last week Delta airlines paid our family of 4 £2188 ($600 each ) so it is well worth perserving with it hope u get good news too :-)