Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Jet2.com ONLY

JPears

Shocking behaviour from Jet2 again. They are almost as bad as Ryanair for attempting to circumvent the letter of the law.
Once again, shame on you Jet2.

Reg_Hedge

Folks - massive thanks for the great responses so far - I really appreciate it.


I'll try to give you as much context as possible:-


We boarded the original flight completely normally about 25 mins ahead of the advertised departure time. It became obvious that there was something going on, when the doors weren't closed half an hour later and there hadn't been the usual "welcome on board" announcement from the flight deck. Then the captain came onto the tannoy to apologise for the hold up, and said that there was a problem with the rear door, and an engineer needed to be called.


The upshot was that about 90 mins later, Captain announces that the door is fixed, BUT we need to offload 21 passengers, without an explanation as to why. I'm making an assumption here; we could see from the window that they were having problems with the emergency chute, and it ended up on the tarmac, and then driven off on an airport truck. I assume that the door would have therefore been unuseable in an emergency, and hence the regs would prevent the flight carrying its full capacity of passengers?


Anyway, regardless of the reason, we were told that 21 passengers would be selected for refusal, and these would be the last 21 people to check in. They did NOT ask for volunteers (although a couple did present themselves anyway) and I now understand that this was a breach of the EU regulations. We were on the shortlist, so were told at our seats that we needed to leave, and would be put onto the later flight to Glasgow which had spare capacity.


So, we ended in baggage reclaim (which took ages) then out into arrivals, where we were given a letter explaining our options. This did NOT state our rights, did NOT mention EU regulations, and did NOT mention compensation. Basically the choices offered were 1) get on the Glasgow flight, followed by onward travel to Manchester 2) change to a different J2 flight another day or 3) get a refund and make our own arrangements.


Next we were handed "meal vouchers" for 8 Euros each, and directed towards a caf!. The only hot food available was toasted sandwiches, which is hardly a "meal" in my book, but anyway. We repeatedly asked when we would check in for the Glasgow flight, but we couldn't because none of our information had not been uploaded into the system for that flight. We all ended up queuing in the check-in area while time slipped away and while they got their act together.


When they eventually checked us in, we were about 40 mins from flight departure time, and they were asking us to hurry up (!) It was at this point, that everyone was asked to sign the second letter to accept a free flight (but please hurry up and sign it because the flight is about to leave). I can post the full letter if anyone is interested, but the paragraph I'm concerned about says:-


"I accept the offer of the free of charge flight voucher and its associated terms and conditions of use in full and final settlement of this matter."


We asked whether this affected our statutory rights, and the option to claim compensation, and were very clearly told that it did NOT, and was in addition to this. We signed the letters in haste, and were them rushed through passports, security and on to the plane. When I say "rushed" I mean that my 83 year old Mum was literally running through the airport at various points.


So, at Glasgow at 0100 we were met by J2 reps who told us that we were going straight onto a coach which would drive us overnight to Manchester. We point-blank refused to get on the coach on the basis that it was completely unreasonable to expect anyone to travel through the night in a coach after already having travelled all day, and should have been at our destination by 1930. And given that we had an 83 year old lady with us, we were staying in a hotel overnight, whether J2 booked it for us or not. They made a few calls and got us into one of the airport hotels at their cost with some of the other passengers. Several others meekly got on the coach, although I think they should have refused as well.


We were offered a 9am drive the following day down to Manchester. We refused this on the basis that we live in Yorkshire and our original train tickets back home from Manchester would not have been valid the following day. We took a taxi and trains directly back home, which we managed to do for less than £70 each, which I think was very reasonable for that journey. I've asked J2 to also cover those costs.


Anyway, there you go...we've submitted a claim to J2 and I await a response (and I will definitely keep you posted here). I haven't made any reference at all to the disclaimer letter/free flight at this stage on the basis that I will fight that fight if/when necessary. I'm absolutely adamant that the "agreement" is null and void, and I'd be surprised if a court of law didn't agree if it comes to it.


Thanks again guys, happy to post any other info.


Reg

Reg_Hedge

PomBear wrote: »

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.

Actually, that's fine as we live less than 20 miles from Leeds. I'm happy to turn up in person if needed. (I've never been through the small claims process before - don't know if that's even possible? In my mind, it'll be just like "Judge Judy" with her shouting abuse at their defence people, but I suspect the reality is completely different!)

JPears

Reg Hedge - download Vauban's superb guide - he will lead you through the whole claim process.
Our point is that Leeds court has, in the past, given some dubious legal decisions whereas Liverpool, which is more of an expert centre in flight delay, has been more consistent.

Tyzap

Reg_Hedge wrote: »

Folks - massive thanks for the great responses so far - I really appreciate it.

The upshot was that about 90 mins later, Captain announces that the door is fixed, BUT we need to offload 21 passengers, without an explanation as to why. I'm making an assumption here; we could see from the window that they were having problems with the emergency chute, and it ended up on the tarmac, and then driven off on an airport truck. I assume that the door would have therefore been unuseable in an emergency, and hence the regs would prevent the flight carrying its full capacity of passengers?

Reg

Hi Reg,

I have just had it confirmed by a pilot friend that your assumption is correct.

You're on the right track so good luck.

NoviceAngel

Tyzap wrote: »

Hi Reg,

I have just had it confirmed by a pilot friend that your assumption is correct.

You're on the right track so good luck.

So does that mean it’s an open and ‘chute’ case ?

Reg_Hedge

Tyzap wrote: »

Hi Reg,

I have just had it confirmed by a pilot friend that your assumption is correct.

You're on the right track so good luck.

Cheers,


I've read Vauban's Guide which looks really helpful. It's raised a query for me though; I was under the impression that if/when J2 say no, that raising with CAA was mandatory before going for legal action? The guide seems to suggest that this is optional (and more likely a waste of time anyway, as the CAA normally come down in favour of the airlines).

Reg_Hedge

NoviceAngel wrote: »

So does that mean it’s an open and ‘chute’ case ?

Absolutely
Brilliant


I reserve the right to pass that joke off as my own when discussing with anyone else Ta.

NoviceAngel

Reg_Hedge wrote: »

Cheers

.... I was under the impression that if/when J2 say no, that raising with CAA was mandatory before going for legal action? The guide seems to suggest that this is optional (and more likely a waste of time anyway, as the CAA normally come down in favour of the airlines).

The guide hasn’t been updated for quite some time, but I still believe that everything in it is still relevant today, so no there is no legal requirement to first notify the CAA, but now I would because Jet2 refused to sign up to an ‘independent’ adjudication process. So they may be interested, but don’t wait for a response before starting MCOL, or if you don’t fancy the DIY route you could use a good NWNF solicitor.

.....and no! You can’t nick my jokes - I’m sure I have copyright but we can argue that out in court with J2

NoviceAngel

Reg_Hedge wrote: »

.... In my mind, it'll be just like "Judge Judy" with her shouting abuse at their defence people, but I suspect the reality is completely different!)

Yes, it’s not quite Judge Judy in the UK, to save you hunting, here’s a case that myself and Tyzap attended, this is my take on it all if you want some interesting reading ......


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5182256/the-liverpool-allen-case-result&highlight=allen