Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Flybe ONLY

StokerStu

Another success. Thanks for the update vasilieff: same experience. Declined first time, restated the facts* and Flybe gave in. Once again I took the cash.
:beer:

HINT: use 01392 268510 not the 0871 number. It's much cheaper and, not being the generic number, I seem to be treated a little better?

* Namely, Flybe chose GLA as the flight to be cancelled, swapping a faulty plane for a operational one. Therefore, within their control. Therefore no extraordinary circumstances

garethe

garethe wrote: »

I've sent a few letters to flybe who are still insisting that according to their records the flight left on time.

This is a load of rubbish - I don't understand how they expect me to accept it, as I remember being stuck in the airport for 5 hours!

Anyone else had this?

I've approached CAA who say they can't continue my case as it's not far off 6 years, and so I should raise it with small claims.

Just an update, after threatening small claims I got a cheque for £200......

Karenfinlay76

Was anyone else on this cancelled flight who has managed to successfully claim?

I wrote to Flybe on the 26th June, chased on the 17th July, wrote to them last week to say I was writing to the CAA because they had not replied to me. Wrote to CAA last week and still waiting from something from them?

Flybe just haven't replied, all I get is the standard email response that they have recieved my email and will reply within 28 days...

What can I do if they just don't reply? Any ideas?

Could do with some refund as just recieved a £2500 bill from EDF because they have been messing around with our gas bill for the last 2 years!!!:mad:

Vauban

Karenfinlay76 wrote: »

Was anyone else on this cancelled flight who has managed to successfully claim?

I wrote to Flybe on the 26th June, chased on the 17th July, wrote to them last week to say I was writing to the CAA because they had not replied to me. Wrote to CAA last week and still waiting from something from them?

Flybe just haven't replied, all I get is the standard email response that they have recieved my email and will reply within 28 days...

What can I do if they just don't reply? Any ideas?

Could do with some refund as just recieved a £2500 bill from EDF because they have been messing around with our gas bill for the last 2 years!!!:mad:

If they don't reply, you have little option but to drop the matter or take them to a small claims court. CAA are unlikely to be helpful, I'm afraid.

y_geordie

We were delayed by nearly 4 hours yesterday. Very sunny in Newcastle and Exeter.

As usual, they kept us hanging on an hour at a time, teasing us with imminent departure, then moving the goalposts again. We had 2 small children and live quite close to the airport so could have gone home and come back if they had been honest.

Explanation given was:
1) Plane was held up at Gatwick due to adverse weather conditions there
2) When it arrived, crew was over 8 hours so needed a new crew, adding another 1.5 hours to the delay. They must have known this when the plane left Gatwick

Do you think they will pay out or claim adverse circumstances?

111KAB

y_geordie wrote: »

Explanation given was:
1) Plane was held up at Gatwick due to adverse weather conditions there
2) When it arrived, crew was over 8 hours so needed a new crew, adding another 1.5 hours to the delay. They must have known this when the plane left Gatwick

Check if any other flights disrupted around the time of yours yesterday (from Gatwick) and crew out of time is not an extraordinary circumstance. Subject to weather confirmation you should have a good case.

gterr

Hi there,

Could someone advise if we have any grounds for compensation - before I pursue this. I have emailed Flybe customer relations twice but had no response. Our flight was delayed just short of 3 hours - but there were added customer services inadequacies, so I'm hoping they might make a discretionary payment. I've attached the whole text of my email to Flybe, since it's complicated. Sorry about the long read, but could someone advise if there's any point pursuing this?


My husband and I took the following flight:
Flybe BE7xxx London Gatwick to Inverness which was scheduled to depart at 09.25h. Our booking reference was FWxxx.
When we checked in we were not told of any delay. We went straight to the departure lounge where we were disturbed to see that the departure screen said "Flight information at 11.25". Since this was two hours after the scheduled departure time I went to the flight desk to ask for clarification.

There was only one person at the flight desk in departures, and he was a SwissPort handling agent, and had no information about Flybe flights. He told us we needed a Menzies agent. There was a notice on the desk which said that if there was no Menzies agent at the desk it would be because they were dealing with another passenger and they would be back in a few minutes. There was also a telephone, with a number to call to summon a Menzies agent. I waited a few minutes but nobody came, so I dialed the number on the phone. It was engaged. In fact, it remained engaged for the next 50 minutes. The SwissPort agent tried to help by phoning a different number and managing to speak to Menzies agent, who promissed to be at the flight desk within 5 minutes. Over the next 50 minutes the SwissPort agent called again for us three times, and each time was told to tell us that a Menzies agent would appear at the desk within 5 minutes.

At about the same time I was joined at the flight desk by passengers destined for an Easyjet flight to Prague, which was also listed as delayed. Easyjet flights are also handled by Menzies at Gatwick. These passengers also had no joy in summoning a Menzies agent. The Easyjet passengers were very frustrated, and owing to their large numbers the SwissPort chap now made a more urgent call for assistance. Eventually two Easyjet staff arrived at the flight desk, but not surprisingly they were not interested in helping us - FlyBe passengers - even though both of them had Menzies passes round their necks. When I asked them if they were working for Menzies or for Easyjet they said Easyjet. These Easyjet employees told the Prague passengers that their flight would be delayed over 2 hours, so they were able to issue vouchers for snacks there and then. No such luck for us! Eventually, when the Easyjet staff had dealt with the Prague passengers they looked up our Flybe flight on the computer and confirmed that there would be no more news before 11.25am. However, the helpful SwissPort chap had already checked, and told me that our plane was already on the stand at Gatwick and had been turned round and was ready, so he could not see any reason for a delay. He thought it might be an error on the screen, and that our flight might depart on time anyway.

The reason that I needed advice concerning the flight delay was that my husband and I had to travel on from Inverness to our home on the Isle of Skye. We had tickets for the coach that was due to leave Inverness at 13.15. If we were to miss this then we would need to re-book tickets on the only other coach that day, which departed at 17.15. If we waited until we got to Inverness it might well be too late to get places, because it is the holiday season and coaches get full. Also, our dog was in kennels on Skye and we were supposed to pick him up at 17.30pm. I did not even know if the kennels could take him for another night if this became necessary. So, I really needed to know if there was a delay or not. Surely someone could tell me? I asked the Easyjet staff if they could find me a Flybe representative, but they told me they didn't exist - that there were no Flybe staff available to deal with customer enquiries at Gatwick. However, they then said I could speak to a Flybe person on the phone, and they dialled the number for me. The man I spoke to - a Flybe representative - told me not to worry about missing our coach at Inverness, since if this did occur then Flybe would be responsible for getting us to our final destination, since any delay would be their fault and not ours. He said that when we got to Inverness we should present ourselves to the Flybe desk and they would look after us. That was all the information I could get from Flybe or Menzies at Gatwick. Nobody could tell me whether the information on the departure screen was true (whether there was a delay or not, or why), and nobody offered any refreshment vouchers.

There was, indeed, a delay on the flight. The flight left the stand 147 minutes late. During the flight the captain explained that the reason for the delay was that, although the plane was present and ready for the Inverness flight in good time, Flybe were considering asking the crew to fly to Jersey first to pick up some passengers who had been fog-bound. They could have done this without any significant delay to the Inverness flight, except that this 'rescue' mission was itself delayed because there was still fog at Jersey. Eventually, Flybe gave up on this attempt to fetch the Jersey passengers and the flight to Inverness was allowed to proceed. So, this 147 minute departure delay was for nothing.

When we got to Inverness airport we presented ourselves to the Flybe desk, as instructed, and the staff there - whilst being very pleasant and polite - said they had absolutely no responsibility whatsoever for getting us to our final destination, or to offer any compensation. Only when I asked them how to make a complaint did they give me a copy of your "Passenger Charter", and "Passenger notice - delayed flights". My husband and I had to arrange new coach tickets back to Skye, and had to pay for an extra night's accommodation in kennels for our dog. We also had the expense of extra meals en-route since we did not arrive home until 20.30pm.

Now I have read your Passenger Charter, and I see that it says in the Introduction that we have the right to expect
- a safe, reliable and punctual journey
- staff who are readily available to provide help if you need it
In' 5. Our Staff', it says
we expect them to be
- able to deal positively with your problems
- knowledgeable of the Flybe product
In '10. When things go wrong' it says
Delays: In the event that your flight is delayed for more than two hours we can provide you with a notice confirming your rights...

The Passenger Notice - Delayed Flights (which we only received at Inverness when we indicated we wished to complain) says that since our flight was delayed for more than 2 hours we should have been provided with meals and refreshments, plus free phone calls etc.
These were not offered at any stage.

You will appreciate from this account that you have fallen way short of the terms of your charter, in more than one section. Had you provided accurate and timely information about the flight delay we could have altered our coach tickets by telephoning from the departure lounge at Gatwick, and we could have alerted the kennels to the likelihood of our delayed return home. This would also have left us less anxious.

As a result of these deficiencies on your part I ask that you offer us compensation, not just for the extra costs we incurred, but also for the worry and anxiety caused by your failings. The Passenger Notice says that for delays of more than 3 hours we are due compensation of 250 Euros. I do not know the precise extent of the delay. The flight left the stand 147 minutes late, but then was held waiting for a take-off slot, so the actual departure delay will have been around 3 hours. Our journey home was certainly delayed by much more than 3 hours. Even if the flight was not delayed for quite 3 hours I ask that you grant us each compensation of 250 Euros, plus the value of the refreshment vouchers we should have been given, and also that you feed back this information to your handlers at Gatwick so that other passengers are not left without information and support in the way that we were.

Yours faithfully

Caz3121

EU compensation applies if your arrival time is 3 hours or more later than scheduled. Have you checked flightstats? if it is under 180 minutes late there is no claim. The airline is contracted to get you to Inverness only and is not responsible for any onward travel, meals after arriving or for other consequential losses. (obviously if over 3 hours and qualify for €250 this would no doubt help with these costs)

as you will see from the thread there are a large number of cases where Flybe are not paying out when people have a fully valid claim so they are unlikely to make an exception and pay out when someone does not have a valid claim.

Myself and some colleagues have to use them fairly regularly, they are known by us as "fly maybe" and more often than not they are delayed...about 2 hours tends to be the norm for us although a colleague ended up in a hotel overnight last week when his flight was cancelled rather than delayed. We now end up travelling the day before if we have meetings as cannot rely on a morning flight actually getting us to the office on time

gterr

Caz3121 wrote: »

EU compensation applies if your arrival time is 3 hours or more later than scheduled. Have you checked flightstats? if it is under 180 minutes late there is no claim.

Hi thanks. The flight stats are giving 147 minute delay, so not quite the required 180 minutes, (Though although we departed the stand 147 minutes late we were held for about 15 min awaiting a take off slot.) We should have received snack vouchers after 2 hours and didn't, also a free phone call - which would have been useful in our case.

My main issue was in poor handling of the delay, and I was hoping for some discretionary compensation for this. But I understand now that that's extremely unlikely.

Thanks for your time.

trishx

My success story - including compensation at the true exchange rate


My flight was cancelled a couple of weeks ago from Edinburgh to Manchester (I also had a connecting Flybe flight from Manchester as Flybe stopped doing direct flights a couple of months ago) so ended up having to stay another night and get up at 4.30am to get the next flight - I was late for work, had to rearrange meetings etc.

I sent a letter and got an email response saying a plane was hit by lightning earlier in the day and therefore it was an Extraordinary Circumstance but they offered me Flybe vouchers worth £150 as a "good-will gesture". I replied and I pointed out that I couldn't find anything reported in the news about a Flybe plane being hit by lightning although coincidently a Ryanair flight leaving Edinburgh 15 mins after mine was due to depart was hit by lightning, redirected to Glasgow, was checked over and still managed to make it's destination with a mere 2.5 hour delay. I also pointed out that as I was stood at the desk for about half an hour (I was one of the first there as I saw the cancellation before the tannoy and it took them a while to sort out a hotel for me etc and then I had to wait for a taxi) I reckon I saw everyone who came to the desk, there were very few other passengers (I reckon 15 max) - their option was to transfer to the Birmingham flight (on which there was "plenty of room" and get bussed to Manchester). Anyway I basically pointed out that regardless of any extraordinary circumstance affecting Flybe earlier in the day, I believed my flight was cancelled as a business decision. I also pointed out that the same flight was cancelled the following day and made a snide comment about lightning hitting the same place twice. I reminded them that the onus was on the airline to show that the EC caused my flight to be unavoidably cancelled and I presently did not feel that to be the case.

Anyway - I got a reply back saying it had been reviewed and I was entitled to the compensation and could pick either £200 or £300 worth of vouchers. To be honest, I'd probably have been interested in the vouchers but I don't trust flybe's terms, they didn't given any more information other than they have to be used in 9 months but I've got a feeling that you have to use them over the phone and then you don't get the cheaper internet prices and also I've no idea if they cover the taxes too. Anyway I took a leaf out of vasilieff's book (post #69) and pointed out the exchange rate was not current and gave the latest Bank of England spot rate and asked for £217.42.

Few days later I got an email confirming and yesterday it arrived in my account.

I have to say that, for me, the compensation is disproportionate - I paid £173 for the return flights (although I'm a bit bitter about that as they stopped the direct flights) but generally Flybe treated me pretty well, I was put up in a 4* hotel and given a £30 voucher for meal, I was taxied to and fro - so apart from not having any clean clothes, having to get up at silly o'clock (4.30am) and it being a PITA work wise, I wasn't that inconvenienced - although I can appreciate that if you have dependants it would be a nightmare. I party claimed because I was annoyed and wanted some minor revenge - "how dare they just cancel my flight" etc and partly because my trip was especially to see a friend for her birthday and she's one of those people who feels really guilty about stuff and I knew she felt awful because I was messed around. I also found out after I put in the claim that Flybe made a £40m lost last year, as one of my friends pointed out "you're really kicking them when they are down".

So, that's my story. Hope it helps someone. I didn't use any one letter template but looked at a lot of them and took the bits I wanted. My situation was a bit different to the MSE template as my flight was cancelled rather than delayed and I had two connecting Flybe flights.