stuck in zante - eu regulation 261/2004 - how does this work?

elliebellie

Hi, currently stuck in zante airport with poss 10hr+ delay. Have read about the eu the above, it says to contact the airline to say u intend to claim compensation, just wondering what I need to say to ensure my claim is recorded? Also if they do "welfare" us, can I still claim?

Any advice gratefully received

Elliebellie

apt

The airline's duty of care does not affect the issue of compensation.

richardw

Which airline is it?

elliebellie

richardw wrote: »

Which airline is it?

Hi, it's skywings, a Greek run airline, have a phone number but can't get through. Apparently there is a rep at Birmingham airport, will have a word when (if) we ever get back. Zante airport rep useless.

richardw

re http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

At the moment just worry about 'Right to Care'

Article 6
Delay
1. When an operating air carrier reasonably expects a flight to be delayed beyond its scheduled time of departure:
(a) for two hours or more in the case of flights of 1500 kilometres or less; or
(b) for three hours or more in the case of all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres and of all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres; or
(c) for four hours or more in the case of all flights not falling under (a) or (b),
passengers shall be offered by the operating air carrier:
(i) the assistance specified in Article 9(1)(a) and 9(2); and
(ii) when the reasonably expected time of departure is at least the day after the time of departure previously announced, the assistance specified in Article 9(1)(b) and 9(1)(c); and
(iii) when the delay is at least five hours, the assistance specified in Article 8(1)(a).

Article 8
Right to reimbursement or re-routing
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:
(a) - reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,
- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;
(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or
(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.
2. Paragraph 1(a) shall also apply to passengers whose flights form part of a package, except for the right to reimbursement where such right arises under Directive 90/314/EEC.
3. When, in the case where a town, city or region is served by several airports, an operating air carrier offers a passenger a flight to an airport alternative to that for which the booking was made, the operating air carrier shall bear the cost of transferring the passenger from that alternative airport either to that for which the booking was made, or to another close-by destination agreed with the passenger.

Article 9
Right to care
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge:
(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;
(b) hotel accommodation in cases
- where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or
- where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary;
(c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).
2. In addition, passengers shall be offered free of charge two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails.
3. In applying this Article, the operating air carrier shall pay particular attention to the needs of persons with reduced mobility and any persons accompanying them, as well as to the needs of unaccompanied children.

When you are back home detail what happened.

CountryGoose

That's about it - care and nothing more, unless your flight is cancelled.

Check your travel insurance - you may be able to claim on that for food and drink if you have a substantial delay.

richardw

There's the Sturgeon Judgement CountryGoose.

elliebellie

"When you are back home detail what happened"

Well……finally got home!

As requested hereby follows my tail of woe:

Note: all times Local Greek Time and are approximate, unless otherwise specified. Zante is 2 hours ahead of BST.

02:30 – wakey wakey – time to get the taxi to the airport, though sad that holiday has finished, looking forward to getting home!

03:00 – arrive at airport to find that scheduled flight time has already been changed by half an hour, not too much of an issue as this happened on our outward flight and no drama.

03:30 – expecting check-in to start but no movement. Oddly enough the flight to Gatwick leaving after our flight, has started to check in??

03:45 – Olympic reps start to have hushed conversations with some people at front of queue about a technical problem on the plane that Skywings (the airline) are trying to fix.
Reps advise that it could mean a 6 hour delay, now when I say advise, Olympic seem to have an odd idea of communication – a version of Chinese whispers ensues - rather than walk up and down the queue and talk to small groups or even make an announcement via the tannoy, they talk to one group of people, walk off and leave that group to tell the one behind and so on.

However, when the rep was asked when they heard about the technical difficulties and knock on delay, Olympic reps said they had only just found out, interesting as based on the timelines, the plane should have been in the air for at least an hour and half already, but hadn’t actually left the tarmac in Birmingham.
Surely (and maybe a travel rep could help here – wouldn’t you have been advised by the company you work for if the flight you expecting to check people in on hadn’t left the tarmac in the country of origin??)

04:00 – we are asked to stop queuing and to move away from the check-in desks, so little encampments are set up in the departure hall, all very cosy….not!

elliebellie

04:30 – Announcement from an Airport person– although he doesn’t actually say who he represents - to say that Skywings have decided that the fault is unfixable and they are trying to source another airplane.
Got to give this guy some credit, as he was honest enough to say trying to get another plane at this time of year would be a nightmare and in his experience the delay would be nearer 10 hours.

He advised that the next update would be made at 08:00

Settle down in prime location i.e. near a plug socket to enable phone to charge for the long wait…………

Why is it that if you are sitting on a floor in an airport, people who walk pass you on their way to passport control, look at you as if to say “why on earth are you sitting there, do you not have a plane to catch?” AND why on earth do people from other flights take photos of people THEY DON’T KNOW sleeping on an airport floor????

08:20 – Announcement from chap from earlier.
Apparently Skywings have decided they are going to try and fix the plane.

The magic part required to fix an apparently unfixable plane and the engineer (who in my head I have named Bob) who can fit it, has been sourced in Heathrow. Therefore, “Bob”, would head up to Birmingham to fit and test the part, with the plane likely to arrive in Zante at approximately 14:30, with take- off at approx 16:00
However, he did say that estimated time of arrival was incredibly optimistic and in his experience quite wrong. The absolute earliest time of departure would be nearer 17:00, and that again was optimistic.

He advised that we would be “welfared” (interesting word) by the airline at approximately 09:30

Next update would be made at 10:00

09:30 – we were “welfared” – a soft drink and a [soggy] cheese, tomato and ham baguette mmmmm……..yummy!

10:20 – Announcement to say that the Bob the engineer has now left Heathrow and is on way to Birmingham – hoorah for Bob!

Next update at 11:30

Getting really rather bored by this stage, although seeing someone wearing a real proper pair of yellow Dutch clogs, cheered me up no end. They really don’t look very comfortable, but they were well worn and they obviously worked well for chap who was wearing them.

11:30 – Announcement that plane due to arrive into Zante at 17:00.
In meantime, we are to check-in our hold luggage and then we will be taken to a local restaurant where lunch will be provided for us

elliebellie

12:00 – Packed away our little camp, all the towels, clothes etc used to make the tiled floor slightly more bearable.

Checked in hold luggage

12:30 – transferred to local restaurant in Laganas for lunch.
This in itself is a VERY GOOD THING, air-con coaches, dropped off about 100 yards from restaurant, marvellous, however…..
on the coach we were told that we would be picked up again at 16:00, so we had the chance to have a wander round the town, this sounds lovely except most people were dressed for a night flight (planes get v cold at daft o’clock in morning) jeans, long sleeved tops, etc.

Now, using common sense wouldn’t it be better to have told us that before we checked in, so people could get some more suitable clothing out of case and possibly get any sunscreen they may have needed or anything else for that matter???

Lunch was very nice and service excellent, bravo to the restaurant, you certainly lifted our spirits!

Had a wander round Laganas for couple of hours, admittedly after buying a little cheap sundress, so as not to boil to death. V hot even in shade.

16:30 – return to airport, register taken at check in desk to make sure no-one lost in some of Laganas rather interesting entertainment venues. I wonder, what sort of entertainment do you get at a club called Wildcats, whose logo appears to be a pair of legs showing parts that only a medical professional and other very carefully selected people should be privy to???

There does appear to be a number of people walking back in wearing new clothes and carrying their original clothes in shopping bags, methinks the shops in Laganas have done well in last couple of hours

17:00 – hopes are rising as we move through passport control and into the hallowed grounds of the departure lounge (seems like an odd word, as lounge does seem to imply comfy sofas etc – just a thought!)

Departure board shows we should be taking off at 18:00, the excitement is palpable. There is a mad dash round duty free, picking up the last minute pressies and for some a bottle of something to take away the pain of the day.

18:00 comes and goes

18:30 – could it be??? A plane coming into land, is it, is it ours…………of course not, it’s another airline entirely. Apparently they are off to Rimini, lovely this time of year I hear.

elliebellie

19:00 – Another plane coming into land, there’s a collective holding of breath as we wait to see the name on side as it comes into focus – SKYWINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A massive cheer goes up, people are dancing, women are crying, the men try to maintain their composure, but you can see the joy in their faces – we are going home!!!!!!!!!

Whilst queuing to board the big beautiful bird, we are told we can collect a letter which we can use if we make a claim against our travel insurance. However, we are only allowed to have one letter per booking and they run out pretty quick, maths obviously not a strong point in the office.
When asked if they could run off more copies as some bookings are not necessarily covered by one travel insurance policy, the answer was No.
They did eventually run off some more, but not before threatening to deny boarding to people who had asked for another letter, when a member of their party had already got one.

The letter is woeful, no dates on it, no clear reference numbers etc etc.
Now some may call me cynical, but handing out badly written, incomplete letters just before we board a plane, with no opportunity to get the information required by our travel insurance, seems rather too convenient for Skywings to me?!

“Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay that you are currently experiencing with your flight to Birmingham. Regrettably, this flight has been delayed due to technical issues with the aircraft.

We now estimate to depart from Zakinthos at 20:00 local time, arriving into Birmingham airport at 23:30 Greek time.

For your comfort during this delay we have asked our handling agents in Zakinthos to arrange breakfast and soft drinks for 5 euros.

Please be assured that Birmingham airport has been advised of the new arrival time in case of enquiries made by anyone meeting you.

Once again, please accept our apologies for the disruption to your flight today, and we do hope that despite this issue, you have a thoroughly enjoyable journey with us.

Issued by Skywings Airlines
Customer Relations Department “

“a thoroughly enjoyable journey with us” – are you kidding me???????????????

19:30 – we are rolling down the runway, we are picking up speed, the nose lifts, wheels are off the ground – WE ARE FLYING!!!!!

Oddly enough, no duty free comes around on flight, although it has been asked for by a few people around me.

22:51 (20:51 BST) – land at Birmingham and disembark into the cool Birmingham air.

23:51 (21:51 BST) – still waiting for luggage, apparently due to “operational issues” our luggage will take some while longer to appear. Calls are made by a very nice lady at lost property to find out where our luggage is, it starts to appear within 10 mins. I didn’t catch her name, but she was a shining beacon of helpfulness in our hour of need.

Now just the small matter of the 150+ mile drive home………to get back for work bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 08:00 Tuesday morning.

04:00 (02:00 BST) – HOME AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!

04:10 (02:10 BST) – ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz