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

111KAB

A bird strike may beyond the control of the/a airline but this does not mean it is/was extraordinary or indeed, as you point out, beyond redemption - time wise. The circumstances surrounding your delay are not relative whether you had 5 hours or 50 hours sleep is immaterial .... you were delayed over 3 hours .... end of and if you think you have little chance of 'winning' you have played into Monarch's hands. At worse see if a NWNF is interested to at least achieve c 70% of your entitlement.
If delayed passengers keep 'folding' when the airlines object to justified claims then they will never seek to improve their punctuality.

onejontwo

If I thought I had a good chance then I would gladly pursue this, but never having been to court I would hate to blow my chance by presenting a below par case that gets thrown out. Having read Vaubans sticky it does seem quite involved but I would love the opportunity to take on and beat the "big boys". Also I take it that if I were to go to court and fail, would the door then be shut if I were to employ a nwnf solicitor? I am at present in the second escalated stage through resolver and I will escalate it to the last stage in a few more days. At this last stage would it be advisable to "lay my cards on the table" in respect of quoting previous lost cases regarding bird strikes, and possibly threatening them with a solicitor representing me to show them that I am serious and intend to take it all the way either by myself or through a solicitor?

111KAB

If you feel unable to front yourself (and many people do feel that way) then better to use a NWNF than walk away. If you failed in court that is the end of it unless you wanted to appeal (not really recommended) so if going NWNF may as well hand over now and cross your fingers and just sit back and wait.

Contessa_sailor

Monarch ZB 284 14/02/13 Gatwick LGW to Tenerife TFS.
Mechanical fault, flight delay 3 hours 25 minutes.
Have just paid out after involving Resolver.

Loobyloo1us

After chasing Monarch this afternoon and emailing them copies of my and my husband's claim, because they did not have them, even though I sent them on 15/10/15.

They have sent me an email to my private email address and not through Resolver saying that they have rejected our claims. The email states that the plane was declared unserviceable, Engineers found that the number 2 throttle was defective because of jamming and needed replacing. They added that In order to reduce the length of our delay, passengers on the flight were transferred to the first available aircraft from within the Monarch fleet. But that this aircraft had to complete the flight it was already scheduled on.

The delay was over 5 hours. The fact that the original plane could not be fixed, another plane had to be sent out from the UK to Larnaca to pick us up. I am not sure now what the next step is, the fact that I wished to go through Resolver and they contacted me direct! Can Resolver still help me appeal this decision?

Vauban

No - Resolver is no more than a letter writing tool. Monarch have responded to your letter with a big fat raspberry. So you're gonna need a bigger boat.

onejontwo

For Vauban, having read your guide on this thread and by all accounts you seem to be somewhat of an expert in these matters, could you tell me if taking Monarch to court is achievable to the average man in the street like myself, with no knowledge of court proceedings or of how and what to prepare for the hearings despite reading your excellent thread.

Loobyloo1us

Vauban wrote: »

No - Resolver is no more than a letter writing tool. Monarch have responded to your letter with a big fat raspberry. So you're gonna need a bigger boat.

Thanks for your post. I'm an amateur when it comes to complaints/appeals, so will try to find your Guide and ponder over what to do next. Thanks

111KAB

onejontwo wrote: »

For Vauban, having read your guide on this thread and by all accounts you seem to be somewhat of an expert in these matters, could you tell me if taking Monarch to court is achievable to the average man in the street like myself, with no knowledge of court proceedings or of how and what to prepare for the hearings despite reading your excellent thread.

If you feel secure with your case, fully undertake the necessary research, pose any questions on the forum (after reading Vauban's Guide) you should be ok. I managed it (twice) - admittedly I had been to court once before - but the whole idea of the small claims procedure is that the judge will appreciate your position and assist accordingly .... so long as you know your case.

brianposter

onejontwo wrote: »

Just to clarify this case, we accepted that a bird strike was beyond their control but having an engineer on standby or one less than two hours away was not beyond their control. Or maybe keep the airport open longer to allow for an inspection which would mean the engineer was not "out of reach" Also if they had given us the option of transferring to another airport would have lessened the delay by a good few hours. One last point, although this is probably irrelevant , was that if we had been transferred to a local hotel and had an extra night at the hotel with a good meal and drinks then we probably wouldn't have been so peeved.
But as it happens we stood around for ages waiting for three coaches to arrive then after queuing for 40 mins to check in we were provided with a meal around 23.30 and finally got to bed around 01.00. As we had to return to the airport at 07.00 an alarm call was arranged for 0600. therefore, all in all, of the five hours sleep that was available barely two or three were actually taken.
When we finally arrived home the worse for wear I had to book a days holiday off work to cover it.
Thanks for the replies by the way, and I really appreciate the comments and guidance but I wouldn't want to pursue something that I have very little chance of winning, so every comment is taken on board.

Seems to me that you were dealt with with unusual efficiency and that this is illustrated by your own post. Only possibility of improvement might be that they could have fed you whilst waiting for the buses.

If the pilot cannot decide on the basis of his own qualifications that the aircraft is fit to fly then you need a proper aircraft engineer, and they are not going to be sitting around any nearer than Malaga which is about 2 hours away.

As to keeping an airport open there are a whole lot of essential employees whose contracts tell them when the airport closes and they are unlikely to be prepared to sit around just in case an aircraft wants to take off ( and that is assuming that the aircraft will be permitted to land when it gets to its destination.) Keeping an airport open is, in practical terms, a non-starter.

Once the pilot had decided that he could not fly you were stuck for the night and overall it seems to me that Monarch deserve praise for the way in which they dealt with your situation – your experience appears to be far better than what happens to many people.