Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Easyjet ONLY

dollydaydreamer

I've had the following reply from easyjet for my flight with a 5 hour delay. Could i ask your thoughts please?

# Having looked into your booking I can see flight 5332 on 11th July was delayed by 5 hours on arrival into London Gatwick.

The reason for this delay as per our Flight Delay Report is due to the engine starter needing replacement. There were no parts available in Toulouse so one from London was sent. Please be advised that when a flight is delayed or cancelled it will be classified under EC261/2004 as either extraordinary or non-extraordinary. As this was outside of easyJet reasonable control and could not be prevented it is classified as extraordinary.

Under EC 261/2004 if a flight is delayed due to an extraordinary circumstance compensation is not payable.#


Thanks

111KAB

dollydaydreamer wrote: »

I've had the following reply from easyjet for my flight with a 5 hour delay. Could i ask your thoughts please?

# Having looked into your booking I can see flight 5332 on 11th July was delayed by 5 hours on arrival into London Gatwick.

The reason for this delay as per our Flight Delay Report is due to the engine starter needing replacement. There were no parts available in Toulouse so one from London was sent. Please be advised that when a flight is delayed or cancelled it will be classified under EC261/2004 as either extraordinary or non-extraordinary. As this was outside of easyJet reasonable control and could not be prevented it is classified as extraordinary.

Under EC 261/2004 if a flight is delayed due to an extraordinary circumstance compensation is not payable.#


Thanks

Load of bull .... your flight was delayed due to a technical problem and therefore you are due compensation.


As an aside slightly worrying that there were no parts in Toulouse as that is where the plane was put together in the first place. If Airbus do not stock off the shelf parts for their own planes who does?

David_e

dollydaydreamer wrote: »

As this was outside of easyJet reasonable control and could not be prevented it is classified as extraordinary.

If nothing else, you might hope that the CAA would take some action against airlines that basically completely misrepresent what the Regulation says.

disgruntledpuppy

Hi,

I have put in a claim to Easyjet for a flight at the end of June from Manchester to Belfast delayed for more than 3 1/2 hours, using the precedent letter from here. This is the response I have received:


Dear xxxxx,
I am sorry for the time taken to reply to your e-mail. We have recently received a large number of e-mails which has affected our response time.
The disruption has been classified as Extraordinary, which means uncontrollable. The delay was due to original G-EZGB AOG in HAM after suffering damage during flight operation. Aircraft requiring a tyre change which would cause major delay over 3 hours. Flight operated in reverse from Belfast as this was the option with the least delay.
Regrettably, we are sorry as we are unable to offer you compensation, as this situation was uncontrollable i,e we could not control it.The classification of disruption type whether Extraordinary (uncontrollable) or Non-Extraordinary (controllable) is classified by our disruption support team. The team is a group of aviation lawyers and the decision made by them is defendable in the court of law.
Safety is our number one priority and we work hard to ensure that all our aircraft are maintained to a high standard. Unfortunately from time to time technical faults do occur and we always take immediate action to address any issues which on this occasion has meant a delay to your flight.
We do recognise the inconvenience that this delay has caused you and would like to assure you that we strive hard to make travel easy and provide the best possible service for all our passengers.
We sincerely hope that you will give us a chance to serve you better in the future.
Regards

Aside from the fact that the explanation of the fault is not overly clear it does seem to me that it is a technical issue and therefore not extraordinary circumstances? Does anyone agree?

It seems from Martin's guide that as I am in NI I need to apply to the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland rather than the CAA - has anyone done this? Or should I just proceed to a Letter Before Action?

Thanks for any help.

David_e

disgruntledpuppy wrote: »

Hi,

I have put in a claim to Easyjet for a flight at the end of June from Manchester to Belfast delayed for more than 3 1/2 hours, using the precedent letter from here. This is the response I have received:


Dear xxxxx,
I am sorry for the time taken to reply to your e-mail. We have recently received a large number of e-mails which has affected our response time.
The disruption has been classified as Extraordinary, which means uncontrollable. The delay was due to original G-EZGB AOG in HAM after suffering damage during flight operation. Aircraft requiring a tyre change which would cause major delay over 3 hours. Flight operated in reverse from Belfast as this was the option with the least delay.
Regrettably, we are sorry as we are unable to offer you compensation, as this situation was uncontrollable i,e we could not control it.The classification of disruption type whether Extraordinary (uncontrollable) or Non-Extraordinary (controllable) is classified by our disruption support team. The team is a group of aviation lawyers and the decision made by them is defendable in the court of law.
Safety is our number one priority and we work hard to ensure that all our aircraft are maintained to a high standard. Unfortunately from time to time technical faults do occur and we always take immediate action to address any issues which on this occasion has meant a delay to your flight.
We do recognise the inconvenience that this delay has caused you and would like to assure you that we strive hard to make travel easy and provide the best possible service for all our passengers.
We sincerely hope that you will give us a chance to serve you better in the future.
Regards

Aside from the fact that the explanation of the fault is not overly clear it does seem to me that it is a technical issue and therefore not extraordinary circumstances? Does anyone agree?

It seems from Martin's guide that as I am in NI I need to apply to the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland rather than the CAA - has anyone done this? Or should I just proceed to a Letter Before Action?

Thanks for any help.

It's disgraceful that, contrary to what the law says, the airline is stating that extraordinary has the same meaning as controllable.

disgruntledpuppy

David_e wrote: »

It's disgraceful that, contrary to what the law says, the airline is stating that extraordinary has the same meaning as controllable.

I agree. To be honest, the delay in itself did not make me think any less of Easyjet as a company, but this response has made me think twice. I can quite understand that they are not keen to pay compensation, but to twist the meaning of the legislation in such a manner is to treat its customers like they are stupid.

David_e

disgruntledpuppy wrote: »

I agree. To be honest, the delay in itself did not make me think any less of Easyjet as a company, but this response has made me think twice. I can quite understand that they are not keen to pay compensation, but to twist the meaning of the legislation in such a manner is to treat its customers like they are stupid.

If I thought the CAA were in the slightest bit interested in carrying out their statutory obligations, I would send them a copy of the letter and point out that the airline appears to be deliberately misleading passengers.

an0n1

Hi guys

I can see loads of advice on claiming compensation for delayed/cancelled flights online but can't seem to find anything relating to the situation I encountered yesterday so wanted to seek people's advice here (sorry if it's not really the right place, but I can't think of anywhere else!)

I was booked on an Easyjet flight to go from London Stansted to Bilbao yesterday for a long weekend with two other friends. We got to the airport well within time but the flight was delayed by more than 30 minutes. We wait for the gate to appear on the screen. When it did (only 30 mins before it was due to depart taking into account the additional 30min+ delay), it was a gate that we had to get to via the transit train within the airport so we got on the train but due to technical fault, the train did not move – when we finally got told to get off the train and get there via alternative routes, we got directed to the wrong way and by the time we got there, the gate was closed and they wouldn’t let us in.

There were 6-9 people who missed the flight in total (including us) – other people must have been able to get on the previous train or actually directed through to the correct route.

The only thing Easyjet could offer us was free transfer and none of the options they gave us were suitable (only 2 seats available for 3 of us / Monday flight out there when our return flight was booked for Monday also).

We spoke to the Airport Manager also, who just gave us an email address to send our claim and said there was nothing else she could do.

So now I have to make claims against:

• Stansted Airport (technical issue with the train and incompetent staff who don’t know their way around the airport)
• Easyjet (knew fully there was a train breakdown but still didn’t wait for us and didn’t let us in on the flight despite us getting there before departure)
• Travel insurance (do they pay out in this sort of situation)
• Credit card company with whom we booked the flight and accomm (though I think this would be the kind of claim they would accept)

Do you have any advice you could give me re how I best to proceed with the claims?

Also, in this kind of situation, don’t airlines usually give extra time for passengers to get to the gate? Having only given people 30 mins or less to get to the gate, they had even had time to remove checked-in luggage one of the passengers who missed the flight. Do you know how long it takes to remove checked-in luggage from the plane? My feeling is that they had no intention of waiting for more passengers in the first place despite knowing about the train breakdown (which they verbally confirmed that they were aware and said they waited as long as they could…).

Sorry for the long message, but as you may be able to figure out, I am rather angry :mad:

Any advice you could give me on how to deal with this situation and claim compensation would be gratefully received.

richardw

Your claim is against Stansted Airport so pursue them.

Nodding_Donkey

See my answer in your identical thread