MSE News: Flight delay compensation floodgates open

goodwithmoney101

I have what is probably an extremely silly question, so please accept my apologies in advance if it is.

I am already pursuing KLM through the courts for a denied boarding claim, hence this is essentially a moot point, however I wonder if I could have chosen the 'section 75' route and pursued my credit card provider in order to avoid the hassle of a court case?

richardw

Call em up and ask them generally what S75 covers?

goodwithmoney101

In my experience, calling the general customer services line for advice on a potential s75 claim results in a blank stare (quite difficult to achieve over the telephone but it does exist!). The UK legislation website (unfortunately as a new user MSE would not allow me to paste the link here but it is very easy to find) would be more useful to find out what is covered but I am still unclear as to whether the option is available in the case of a valid claim against an airline under EC261/2004 when the flights were paid for using a credit card.


Centipede100 - you very kindly gave me advice in a previous post so in the interests of saving time I did not want to repeat myself. We were denied boarding due to the disruption at Schiphol airport in Dec 2010, when KLM refused to allow passengers who had a connection at Schiphol to board at their original departure point. My summons has already been served on KLM by the court so I am already part-way through my own battle, but I just wondered if others could avoid the hassle of a court case.

s75 (1) states:

"If the debtor under a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement falling within section 12(b) or (c) has, in relation to a transaction financed by the agreement, any claim against the supplier in respect of a misrepresentation or breach of contract, he shall have a like claim against the creditor, who, with the supplier, shall accordingly be jointly and severally liable to the debtor."

Not that I doubt that your intelligence in such matters is clearly of a higher standard than my own Centipede100, but are you sure the amount you can claim is limited to the purchase price?

As I understand it, section75(1) implies that a credit card provider is equally liable for a breach of contract, which I presume is the relevant point of law for most if not all denied boarding/delayed/cancelled flights?

I don't seen any mention in the legislation that the maximum amount that can be claimed is limited to the price paid - in fact the language seems quite clear ("any claim....jointly and severally liable..." etc) and from reading through some other examples/case studies (again I can't paste the link but if you google "financial ombudsman section 75 case studies" you should be able to find it) it is clear that credit card companies are regularly held liable for amounts higher than the total price paid on the card - i.e. when a deposit is paid on a cc, as long as the item costs between £100-£30k, the cc provider is still liable for the full loss under a breach of contract, regardless of the amount charged to the cc. In one case, the cc provider was held liable for consequential losses involved which followed the initial breach of contract, therefore it would seem the purchase price is not the maximum?

Faith177

Hi

I have just had a rejection from Easyjet because the reason my flight was cancelled was outside of their control.

The plane that was meant to be used for my flight was diverted to Milan due to a medical emergency. They had no other aircraft to use so had to cancel the flight.

Are they right to be rejecting my claim i'm really confused?

richardw

The reason your flight was cancelled was because easyJet don't have an adequate standby system in place.

Faith177

richardw wrote: »

The reason your flight was cancelled was because easyJet don't have an adequate standby system in place.

So is it worth persuing it with the CAA?

richardw

Faith177, do have the tenacity to pursue a small claim against easyJet? or legal expenses cover with an insurance policy?

Faith177

richardw wrote: »

Faith177, do have the tenacity to pursue a small claim against easyJet? or legal expenses cover with an insurance policy?

I might have cover on my home insurance I would have to check. As for going to small claims is that costly?

goodwithmoney101

Agreed, my s75 arguement is irrelevant for me due to the cast-iron nature of my claim, but I just thought I would throw the argument out there to you experts to shed some light on for those people on this forum who are either having difficulty in gaining a response from the airline directly or who are hesitant/unsure of how to go about lodging papers at a court etc. My intentions are purely altruistic - 'tis the season to be jolly after all!

As an aside, are you by any chance aware of the actual names of the previous court cases/precedents that I can quote during my case? I have read through the full stores on flightmole, flyertalk and MSE but none (obviously due privacy concerns) list the actual case names and I am unsure how to go about finding this out.

macdaddy1986

I was initially quite sceptical about this but have just received confirmation from the airline that they are going to pay the full amount once I sign a waiver!

To explain the story - I flew to Mauritius in March and was delayed by 3.5 hours from Heathrow, after reading this I thought I would give this a shot and sent an email using the template to the customer service department of Sri Lankan airlines. I had no response for two weeks so then followed it up with an email to about 3 other email addresses on their website - reservations@, bookings@ etc

A week later I finally received an email that they were looking into it and a week after that they offered me two free tickets to Mauritius or Sri Lanka in exchange for signing a waiver. I had no need of the flights so pushed back and stood firm on my claim for the full €1,200 and hey presto two days later I had an email to confirm that they were agreeable to the €1,200

Thanks so much to MSE! If in doubt remember- it takes 15 minutes to fill out the template and might take a couple of emails to chase but it's well worth it in the end!!:beer: