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

Vauban

Mark2spark wrote: »

I take it you've not read the FAQ's then Monty?

I suppose that's the point of Monarch's strategy: most won't claim, most that do won't know their rights, most of those that remain probably won't go through the (perceived) hassle of a court claim. Thus Monarch only have to settle with - or lose to - a tiny fraction of those that are owed the money. Thank goodness for websites like this.

Scottish_Princess

Just got this email....not even a letter......from Monarch....More bad news I'm afraid......
Dear

Re: Flight ZB655 Malaga to Manchester on 4th November 2012

Thank you for taking the time to contact us in respect of your flight.

I am sorry to learn of the disappointment that prompted your correspondence. Providing our passengers with safe and efficient service is our first priority. I would like to reassure you that every effort is made to ensure the flights depart on time and in the unlikely event we are unable to do so, we aim to get you to your destination at the earliest opportunity. That said, our ability to keep disruption to a minimum is always dependant on the resources available to us on the day.

In some circumstances, passengers may be entitled to compensation under European Union laws.
However, any monetary payments are subject to certain criteria being satisfied. Where the disruption is caused by an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ which the airline was reasonably unable to prevent, the carrier is not obliged to pay compensation. Extraordinary circumstances have been defined by the courts and the European Regulations themselves provide a non-exhaustive list of which circumstances can indeed be categorised as extraordinary. In addition, the CAA has provided some guidance on its views of “extraordinary circumstances” (please see the guidance notes accompanying the 261 compensation claim form).

Our records show that the aircraft scheduled to operate your flight developed a nose landing gear fault upon arrival in London Gatwick from a previous flight, which rendered the aircraft inoperable. The aircraft was required to return to the hangar at Luton for engineering work and was unable to complete the remaining flights that it was scheduled to operate on that day. As a consequence and in order to reduce the length of your delay, your flight was transferred to the first available aircraft within the Monarch fleet.

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.

Yours sincerely,

Monarch EU Claims Team
Monarch Airlines
Tel: +44 (0) 1582 531712
Email: euclaim@monarch.co.uk
www.monarch.co.uk

Not even signed from anybody! crap service! but would be interested what you think about this and what if anything I should do next!

Vauban

Scottish_Princess wrote: »

Just got this email....not even a letter......from Monarch....More bad news I'm afraid......

Not even signed from anybody! crap service! but would be interested what you think about this and what if anything I should do next!

Gosh - I bet that was worth waiting for!

What do you think you can do SP - you can write again, walk away, or take em to Court. I think only one of those is going to get you any money though ...

Bolly13

Another standard reply...3 months they have had my claim form!!! I only got his as I sent a chaser email last week! Seriously considering the next step...even though I know it was technical problems and so they are going to wrongly claim these are extraordinary! Losing patience with this company! They are a disgrace!

Dear Ms xxx

Thank you for your recent claim under EU Regulation 261. We are writing to you to maintain contact with you and explain the timetable for providing you with a definitive response on your claim.

You may be aware that compensation under this particular EU Regulation only covers delays and cancellations which have not been caused by extraordinary circumstances. This requires careful consideration by the airline around the precise reasons behind the original delay.

Monarch want to ensure that every passenger is provided with a substantive response to their claim and this requires quite a lot of investigation. This includes but is not limited to obtaining detailed information from a number of different areas of the business and, in some circumstance, third party suppliers and the Civil Aviation Authority. Nevertheless, our aim is to respond to you as quickly as possible.

Monarch wishes to assure you that we will deal with your claim as soon as we have all the relevant information. We apologise for the delay and we will revert to you once we have completed our investigations. In the meantime, thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Should we not have been able to assess your claim within the next month, we will provide you with a further update on progress.

Kind Regards
David Bulut
Monarch EU Claims Advisor
euclaim@monarch.co.uk

Vauban

Monarch checked the status of my claim, confirmed that a decision had been taken, and that they were simply waiting to send out a letter. When pressed, the person I spoke with said that he did not know the outcome (anyone want to bet they cite "extraordinary circumstances"), but that he thought I would get my letter within the "next few weeks". Yes. Weeks.

Well an update. The CAA contacted me today to say:

Thank you for your complaint about the delay of flight ZB249 on 8th April 2012. We have reviewed the copies of the correspondence between you and Monarch that you provided to us. Monarch has told you that the delay was due to an extraordinary circumstance and therefore compensation is not due.

The legislation, EC Regulation 261/2004, does set out a number of circumstances when airlines are not required to pay compensation. Generally when the airline can prove that the reason for the delay was unforeseen and outside their control, they do not have to pay compensation.

We will investigate your complaint and to do that we will need to request some further information from the airline. Once we receive that information, and based on that and any other information available to us, we will take a view, (alongside technical expertise from other colleagues within the CAA), on whether we consider the airline’s claim of extraordinary circumstances to be reasonable. If an airline gives us information which is confidential, we will not be able to share that with you. As I am sure you will understand, an investigation of this nature will take months rather than weeks, so we would ask for your patience while we give full attention to your claim.

Our view on whether the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances will not be legally binding, but will be evidence based, and as such we are hopeful that it would be accepted by the airlines. The CAA does not have the power to impose decisions upon airlines in the way that an ombudsman-type scheme does. Alternatively, it may be that after our investigation we find that the airline’s claim for extraordinary circumstances is reasonable, and we would not be able to help you further with that element of your claim. If you did wish to take your complaint further, then at that stage you may wish to consider action in Court.

We will be in contact with you again when we have concluded our investigation.

Yours sincerely

Consumer Affairs Officer
Regulatory Policy Group
Civil Aviation Authority

So although Monarch have refused so far to answer my claim, they have nevertheless been in touch with the CAA to say it's "extraordinary circumstances". Nice!

You'll see that the CAA are saying it will take months to investigate. I'm not inclined to hang around. Let's just get it to Court.

Bolly13

Monarch checked the status of my claim, confirmed that a decision had been taken, and that they were simply waiting to send out a letter. When pressed, the person I spoke with said that he did not know the outcome (anyone want to bet they cite "extraordinary circumstances"), but that he thought I would get my letter within the "next few weeks". Yes. Weeks.

What a sad excuse for customer service.....

Vauban

Centipede100 wrote: »

Why wait until Monday, get that claim started...

Has anyone seen a template for the MCOL "short statement" that we need to fill in? I thought I'd seen one somewhere, though perhaps I've imagined it!

Vauban

That's very kind Centipede - thank you. As Monarch haven't even yet given me the "technical difficulties/extraordinary circumstances" response yet (though they have apparently indicated that to the CAA), I've amended slightly as follows:

I am claiming compensation for myself, my
wife and our three children under Article 7
of EC 261/2004, pursuant to the Sturgeon
judgment in the ECJ (Case C-402/07 of 19
November 2009), which provides for €600 per
passenger to be paid in the following
circumstances.

These were that Monarch delayed our flight
from Sharm el Sheikh to London Gatwick on
08/04/12 and did not return us until
09/04/12, a delay of some 24 hours.

Despite writing to Monarch on four occasions
since this event, most recently on 27 January
with a final notice before action, they have
declined to respond to my request for
compensation.

It's pretty short and sweet - but the proper submission comes later, I understand, once Monarch offer an initial defence. Hope I've understood that right.

LBD

Hi everyone, been away for a few days and came back to check my email and hey guess what....... a response from Monarch........ ha ha ha guess what ti is????? lol.....EC

Thank you for taking the time to contact us in respect of your flight.



I am sorry to learn of the disappointment that prompted your correspondence. Providing our passengers with safe and efficient service is our first priority. I would like to reassure you that every effort is made to ensure the flights depart on time and in the unlikely event we are unable to do so, we aim to get you to your destination at the earliest opportunity. That said, our ability to keep disruption to a minimum is always dependant on the resources available to us on the day.



In some circumstances, passengers may be entitled to compensation under European Union laws.

However, any monetary payments are subject to certain criteria being satisfied. Where the disruption is caused by an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ which the airline was reasonably unable to prevent, the carrier is not obliged to pay compensation. Extraordinary circumstances have been defined by the courts and the European Regulations themselves provide a non-exhaustive list of which circumstances can indeed be categorised as extraordinary. In addition, the CAA has provided some guidance on its views of “extraordinary circumstances” (please see the guidance notes accompanying the 261 compensation claim form).



Our records show that upon arrival of a previous flight, the aircraft scheduled to operate your flight was found to have a fuel valve fault. Engineers attended the aircraft and were able to establish the fault, however unfortunately as the rectification work was carried out it became apparent that several replacement components would be required. These components were transferred to Luton via taxi from the airports at which they were stored and then fitted. It was also unfortunate that, due to the nature of the defect, this was a time consuming process and the aircraft was taken out of service for your flight. As a result and in order to minimise the length of your delay, passengers on your flight were transferred to the first available aircraft from within the Monarch fleet.



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.

Mark2spark

Hi LBD, sorry to hear that, maybe worth you reading this?:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=59278849&postcount=8