Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Jet2.com ONLY

NoviceAngel

Hi Red Hedge,

Welcome to flight delays and denied boarding with Jet2!

I think it depends on the precise wording of what exactly you have signed, sadly J2 rely on passengers either not understanding EC261 or signing away their eligibility to compensation. They often will do this by immediately offering a refund for a flight, then it’s you the passenger that has just waved your ‘right to care’ away.

It would be extremely helpful for us if you could post the full wording of the document that you have signed.

NoviceAngel

Tyzap

Hi Reg Hedge,

What a mess and how badly handled by Jet2, no surprise there!

Firstly the regulations say that they should have asked for volunteers to take the alternative flight for a price, not to force passengers against their will, unless there were not enough volunteers.

Any act which try's to circumvent the EU261 regulations is itself a breach. Signing in the queue to get home, or not, is signing under duress imo, and I would argue that it's null and void for that very reason.

Were you given a full explanation of the regulations? If not you should have been, otherwise how can you know what your options are.

You are due compensation because there is no defence to involuntary denied boarding, which this will be classed as.

This exact scenario is unprecedented as far as I know and is completely wrong.

The best way forwards will be to see how J2 reply to your claim and we'll take it from there.

It sounds like the aircraft was too heavy to safely take off, but that remains to be confirmed at this point.

Good luck.

PomBear

NoviceAngel, sadly is right. I believe the way the law stands in relation to contract law is that it doesn’t matter if you haven’t read what you have signed. It’s binding.

But, Reg Hedge (and welcome from me too!), I am wondering if there might be some legal protection. Was the free flight offered a replacement flight, or were you re-routed and offered an additional free flight to use in future?

You do have a point though, My understanding is contracts can be found void for duress. Were you made sign at boarding? It is difficult to prove.

Personally, I would never get off an aircraft unless I got the airline to promise they would re-route me (at their expense) PLUS pay compensation to recompense me for any additional loss I suffered AND pay me statutory compensation for denied boarding. But, to be fair, I’m on this forum because I’ve been stung!

I’m pondering the reasons they may have needed to ask 21 passengers to offload ‘for technical reasons’. Offloading passengers reduces weight and number on board. I’d link that to lack of fuel or cabin crew to passenger ratio...

That said, technical reasons are not an extraordinary circumstance and you could normally claim compensation

If you want to fight this, I think you may we’ll need a specialist solicitor

PomBear

Tyzap gives excellent advice too, I inadvertently cross-posted

NoviceAngel

PomBear wrote: »

Tyzap gives excellent advice too, I inadvertently cross-posted

Yes I fully agree with Tyzaps helpful response.

It’s just if Jet2 stick their heals in and you had to take the matter to court, I fear some judges are not as clued up on EC261 as Tyzap, but we can all help the OP with some posh wording!

I hope Red Hedge keeps us all informed, I’d like to see this one run its course...

PomBear

Jet2’s cases all appear to go through the same judge at Leeds, their ‘home court’.

NoviceAngel

PomBear wrote: »

Jet2’s cases all appear to go through the same judge at Leeds, their ‘home court’.

Yes, and I think it’s fair to say that Leeds give mixed results unlike the specialist DJs at Liverpool.

Tyzap is very optimistic, I tend to be pessimistic - Tyzap gets things correct more than me, so I’ll hang on his coat tails once again....

I know in law - anything signed can be overturned by a judge if he/she finds it to be an unfair contract.

I do admit to having a little experience of this where I paid to place an advert in a publication by a major UK company. Even though they failed to print the advert as agreed in the contract, the small print said that if in error that they failed to print the advert as agreed that they would accept no liability for their error and all I would get back was the cost I had paid for the advert.

I started MCOL and the major UK company settled for a few thousand pounds out of court. Apologies for going slightly off topic, but I do think that experience shows you, if you sign a contract that is so unfair you still have a right to redress. Although J2 seem to make the law up day by day so I don’t think you’ll get anything from a general claim and not even by starting MCOL.

Like the OP has already guessed, I could imagine their barrister, ‘I have here, signed by the claimant that “In FULL and FINAL” settlement’.

We can all shout boo from the public gallery- I’m not sure if that would help or hinder the OP though ....

Definitely an interesting case and I can’t recall seeing another quite the same.

legal_magpie

I do not consider this to be binding at all for several reasons. First, it is a lesser amount for which no consideration was given. Second because there has been a breach of the regulations as pointed ou5 by Tyzap. Third, because there has to be informed consent. In other words if all the options had been explained to you and you were then offered a free flight instead, you would have accepted it with your eyes open. I would make a formal claim to Jet2 and report them to the CAA.
If they still refuse, then sue them. When you issue your claim you should put your preferred choice of court.

PomBear

Preferred choice of court is to no avail.

I requested my local court (due to childcare responsibilities), but the case got transferred to Leeds. The court is taking a case management approach at the moment. ‘If’ it gets to court, it will be heard in Leeds.

Tyzap

:Legal Magpie was up early today and puts the legal aspect more succinctly than myself:)

J2 seem to be attempting to drive a steamroller through the regulations again, an area where they do have past form.

To further support what PomBear says, a relative recently had his local court allocated but it was then switched to Leeds. The court at Leeds then asked J2 to supply details of all other cases from the same flight. Managing cases in this way is a more efficient way of using resources but it does take longer and forces LIP's to travel to Leeds for the hearing. Convenient for J2 but not the LIP.

J2 did their best to fend off PomBears case but failed miserably! which is my way of saying never give up when taking on the might of the J2 legal department. It can be done and done well;)