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Monarch delays & Compensations. Listed flights denied in O.P.
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I don't have any documentation but do know the flight number. In light of the lack of response should I complete the Monarch Claim Form first? Write to the or complete the other form someone mentioned?
I may be able to trace my credit card payment for the flight if it helps?
Any advice as to my best move would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
LBM Dec12 excl mort 47,207/42,784 Dec13
Excl mortg and CTC 39,578/35,995 Dec13
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Extra payment a week:this week £0 / YTD£1,457.55
Did you book with Monarch directly? If you used their website, log in with you email address and there should be a record of the flight under "My Bookings".
You'll need something, I think, to show that you were on the flight. Monarch should have a record too, but are unlikely to be helpful ...
I think you will need to fill in the form, not that it does much good!
Take Vauban's advice.
You have to go through the motions first, before court. That means sending off the claim form, and waiting and waiting for a reply. When one doesn't come, you send them a LBA, look at the FAQ's, basically it's given them 14 more days otherwise you'll file a court claim.
Most of us here are around about the 'just about to file a court claim' stage.
Unfortunately, because of the costs issue, you can't really go to court without having first given them a chance to settle out of court.
Firstly the Monarch claim form is, as you would expect, biased in their favour. If you have completed their form (the 4 page version) it is highly likely Monarch will refer to this if Court action occurs. They are totally within their right to refer to THEIR conditions regarding extraordinary circumstances and indicate to the DJ that they informed the claimant of the conditions and still they proceeded with the claim. There is a standard EU claim form (obviously this makes no reference to conditions) and if you do decide to lodge your claim with the standard/nonsense Monarch form you should, IMO, also complete the EU form.
Secondly if you are able to obtain the support of either the CAA or the equivalent body from the country where the delay occured this will be of benefit should you decide to go the MCOL route. In the case of Spain they are now stating that the standard EU claim form should be submitted to the airline prior to you seeking their assistance. When you seek their response they ask that you send them a copy of the EU form as submitted to the airline together with any response.
On the MCOL allocation questionaire (ie what Court would you like) you will be asked if there are any questions you would like answered by the airline when the matter goes to Court. IMO this is a good opportunity to ask (for example) why Monarch disagree with say the response of the CAA (or equivalent) however this presumes you have your reply. The CAA and equivalents are taking an age so my suggestion would be to get on with this aspect early on.
Finally my own belief is that there are not enough claimants (yet) to 'shame' Monarch and until such time as they realise it is affecting their customer numbers/profit they will continue to pursue a take us to court attitude. The social networking sites will carry more weight in possibly alerting their customers and I suggest this route may well result in Monarch accepting their obligations.
Accept your opinion Centipede100 however my approach has always been to try and settle before the matter goes to Court and if this means pointing out to Monarch the error of their ways then this is the procedure I would, and have, adopted by way of the relevant allocation question. As it happens I did exactly the same on my volcanic ash claim and it was settled out of but just prior to going to court.
Like Centipede, I am less concerned about this. Terms and conditions need to be consistent with the law, so Monarch cannot credibly argue that your statutory rights have been compromised by completing their form. On the contrary, I would fill in their form as comprehensively as possible so that you can demnstrate to the Court that you have done everything that is reasonable to reach a settlement.
This may be right. Of course Monarch claim quite the opposite - that their tardiness in responding to claims for compensation is due to the fact that they have been overwhelmed by claimants!
I think it is clear that their strategy is to deter as many people as possible from claiming in the first instance (hence the requirements of the form, the assertions about what the CAA regard as "extraordinary", and the suggestion that they will not deal with complaints over two years old). But the fact that no one has yet had a rejection of their claim (except in the Court sysytem, where arguable Monarch's hand is being forced) suggests to me that they may yet have not decided on whether to fight or to do the right thing. Of course, as Centipide notes, Monarch have form for this sort of behaviour, so no one should be particularly optimistic that Monarch will make the right call.
Cheers
Sueless, I think there are at least two versions out there. Monarch initially asked people (including me) to fill in a two page claim form. They subsequently expanded this two a four page form, I understand.
I wouldn't get too hung up about it though: whether two, four, or twenty four pages, Monarch are treating them all identically (ie no response, beyond an acknowledgement).
Seeing as there's NO requirement to fill in their claim form in the first place - this is a civil matter and they don't get to MAKE the rules - I would just go straight to MCOL from there. But they are on the countdown now for me to file so that stage has passed.
This is exactly what I though about them insisting on their own claim form but thought I'd probably do it anyway just to save further hassle. I've not done yet though so now, just to be as pig headed as them, don't think I will.