American airlines cancelled flight UPDATED

jpsartre

It doesn't matter what their small print says, it cannot override the EU regulations.

Sues48

I am talking about our claiming on our travel insurance, not the EU compensation which we should be due from American Airlines

jpsartre

I see, my bad.

Sues48

I have spent some time reading the thread on compensation for delayed flights and realize that we cannot claim from AA for any consequential losses as a result of the rescheduled flights, so we won't be able to claim for the loss of the hotel at Manchester airport on the Friday before we were due to travel ,or the 1st night's accommodation in Denver or the additional charges we incurred for amending our car hire booking. However, we booked a further hotel in Manchester for the Saturday night as my son was originally driving us to the airport Friday evening and he wasn't available to take us early Sunday morning for the rescheduled flights. Also, all the airport hotels were fully booked and the room eventually booked was 7 miles away so we also incurred a further £12.00 for a taxi to take us to the airport. Would we be able to claim these expenses back from AA, my thinking is that had we not been aware that the flight had been cancelled and turned up for check in on the Saturday the airline would have had to put us up in a hotel overnight anyway? We intend to claim the cost of the meal at Heathrow as the vouchers they issued us with weren't valid.

I'm not holding my breath that they will pay out anything, so far they haven't even replied to our request for verification of the reason for the cancellation to enable us to try any claim something from our travel insurance.

Sues48

We are over the Pennines in South Yorkshire,about 75 to 90 mins drive depending on the traffic. if we had stuck with our original plans we would have been dropped off Friday evening at the Hilton at Manchester airport by our son so on Saturday morning we would have had no means of traveling home other than by public transport.

bagand96

Surely the €600 EACH you are untitled to under EU261/2004 should more than cover you for your consequential losses?

heavensbug

If I may put in my two peneth.

I have never looked at EU legislations and what I should be entitled to.

Yet having complained to Virgin on a couple of occasions been very successful.

Long story short

document every single expenditure, provide a copy of receipts, and claim that as your compensation.

Add on to the the €600 each compensation.

So list out

!) €600 compensation
2) £250 car hire change costs
3) Lost night in Manchester hotel
4) Lost night in denver hotel
5) Cost of meal at T5
6) Cost of mileage to home etc at the government agreed expenses petrol rate of 32p per mile (I have claimed and won this in the past).
7) Any other costs.

Total it up and e-mail it to the MD. It should reach their executive office which has a higher compensation level than customer services. e-mail address is [EMAIL="tom.horton@aa.com"]tom.horton@aa.com[/EMAIL]


I did this when Virgin flew me and my wife home 24 hours early from our honeymoon. First we heard was the morning of our last day.

That day we phoned Virgin who offered us £400 compensation. But we had no transport home from Gatwick. So they layed on an exec car for us which we claimed the cost back all the way to gloucestershire.

Our claim amounted

1) £400 each compensation as offered
2) £120 taxi fair
3) Lost nights accom in NYC

Virgin paid us a total of £1000 with no questions asked.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck

Sues48

Have just received this reply to our email sent to customer relations on 30.6.12, the date we were due to travel,




July 25, 2012





Dear Mr. xxxxxx



Thank you for contacting American Airlines Customer Relations.
I am sorry that your recent trip from MAN didn't go very smoothly. It must have been frustrating when your flight was cancelled.
While on-time performance is a top priority at American, the many variables of flight operations make it impossible for us to guarantee our schedules. Nevertheless, we should always do everything possible to make such situations a little less frustrating and I'm disappointed that we didn't do so on this particular occasion.
As you have correctly identified, European Union Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 of the European Parliament and Council has established common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of flight cancellations or long delays of flights.　
On June 11, 2010, TUI Travel, British Airways, EasyJet and IATA commenced proceedings against the UK Civil Aviation Authority challenging the Civil Aviation Authority's decision to implement a ruling - previously passed by the European Court of Justice on November 19, 2009 in the joint cases C-402/07 and C-432/07, Sturgeon v Condor and Böck v Air France - that required airlines to pay compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 to passengers whose flights are delayed for three hours or more.
On August 10, 2010, the English High Court, pursuant to Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, referred the case of TUI Travel, British Airways, EasyJet and IATA v UK Civil Aviation Authority to the European Court of Justice and ordered that all proceedings related to claims under EC Regulation 261/2004 concerning compensation for delayed flights are to be stayed until after the European Court of Justice has given its ruling on the matter or until further order of the English High Court.
While the European Court of Justice is currently considering legal submissions that compensation should not be paid in instances of delays, and pending its decision on the matter, we are at present not compelled to pay compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for delayed flights.
Should you have any further queries pertaining to this regulation as it relates to your experience, the contact details for the National Enforcement Body in the United Kingdom, are as follows:
Air Transport Users Council


Room K705 -- CAA House


45-59 Kingsway


London WC2B 6T


(For US passengers)
Should you have any further queries pertaining to this regulation as it relates to your experience, the contact details for the Enforcement Body in Europe, are as follows:
[EMAIL="tren-aprights@cec.eu.int"]tren-aprights@cec.eu.int[/EMAIL]
However, to express our concern for the inconvenience caused whilst travelling with us, I have sent you, under separate cover, 3 transportation vouchers of $1200 each toward future travel on American Airlines, American Eagle or any of the oneworld carriers in connection with a transatlantic flight on American. They are valid one year from the date of issue (mm/dd/yyyy) and can be used by yourselves, relatives or a friends. They cannot be replaced after expiration and if stolen or lost and is non refundable. You will receive them very soon.
Because we have already issued vouchers for you, processing a verification for trip insurance at the same time is considered as a double compensation. Therefore we have to decline your request.
Thank you for giving us the chance to address this matter. We appreciate your business very much and hope that we have the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon.




Sincerely,






Fabrice Lumingu
Customer Relations

American Airlines

I was under the impression that the stay on legal proceedings only applies to claims for compensation on delayed flights, not cancelled flights as ours was.

Although on the face of it $3600 in airline vouchers is a very generous offer I am reluctant to accept because,

a) we had no plans to travel to the USA again in the next 12 months

b) we incurred substantial extra costs, on top of an already expensive holiday, as a result of the cancellation

c) as I understand it, American airlines are in serious financial difficulties and are currently in talks with US airlines regarding a merger, if this were to go ahead would the vouchers still be valid?

Also I am annoyed that they will not provide us with the verification for travel insurance purposes, are they within their rights in doing this?

I'm not really sure how to proceed with this now.

cubegame

Did you pay for any portion of the original flight on a credit card?

Voyager2002

Sues48 wrote: »

Have just received this reply to our email sent to customer relations on 30.6.12, the date we were due to travel,




SNIP

I was under the impression that the stay on legal proceedings only applies to claims for compensation on delayed flights, not cancelled flights as ours was.

Although on the face of it $3600 in airline vouchers is a very generous offer I am reluctant to accept because,

a) we had no plans to travel to the USA again in the next 12 months

b) we incurred substantial extra costs, on top of an already expensive holiday, as a result of the cancellation

c) as I understand it, American airlines are in serious financial difficulties and are currently in talks with US airlines regarding a merger, if this were to go ahead would the vouchers still be valid?

Also I am annoyed that they will not provide us with the verification for travel insurance purposes, are they within their rights in doing this?

I'm not really sure how to proceed with this now.

You are correct, and I agree with your conclusion.

I suggest a quick response to the person who signed the letter, and be prepared to commence legal proceedings.