Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Easyjet ONLY

NoviceAngel

JPears wrote: »

And probably many many backlogged cases that could open up for them if found in favour.

Including my own!

It's a heavy going read, lol I think in my uneducated way Botts do have grounds for appeal, amongst all the boring bits, there's some misjudged nuggets in there.

I'll have to sieve them out and post again when I've got a few hours to spare.

joolywooly

I have previously been successful in making a compensation claim (against TUI) which I made in 2013 and for which I had to go to court - quite a stressful experience as this was at a time when precedents were being established and I had to wait for several important cases to go through the high court. I have not had any lengthy delays since then until now but I was therefore fairly confident when my most recent flight was delayed that the procedure in claiming this time would be much more straightforward - but it seems not!

We were delayed for 6 hours on our flight from Verona to Gatwick last week due to thunderstorms in the area. The incoming flight was diverted to Venice as airport control was not allowing planes to land, although it was allowing flights to take off. The flight eventually got to Verona once the storms had abated and then took off again 6 hours late.

I completed the Easyjet claim form online and have just received back the standard reply stating that the claim was being rejected as the reason for the delay was extraordinary circumstances - I quote:

'To further explain what happened on the day and as you will be aware; the aircraft scheduled to operate your flight arrived late into Verona. Thunderstorm activity over the area meant that the aircraft was unable to land and had to divert to Venice. Weather conditions took an extended period to clear the Verona area and for it to be safe to reposition the aircraft there. We do take reasonable measures to avoid delays and cancellations to our flights by having replacement crews and spare aircraft available in our network. In the circumstances, these options were not possible as the delay to your arrival at London Gatwick was as a direct result of the adverse weather conditions over Verona.'

It also states that if I wish to appeal against this decision then I must go through CEDR.

My understanding is that it is the actual flight which needs to be affected by severe weather to count as an extraordinary circumstance and that if the preceding flight is delayed then this does not qualify.

I have read through Vauban's guide again and have entered the flight information into Bott and it would appear that they would be happy to take on the case - but having already been successful with a previous claim on my own I'm reluctant to pay them to do so.

So - do I really have to go through CEDR - could I just write another letter to Easyjet? Or should I start the ball rolling on a court case straight away? Any advice would be appreciated...

legal_magpie

You certainly don't have to use CEDR if you don't want to but I think you'll have your work cut out on this claim as it is too close to the storm situation and a court might hold that, even though it was the previous flight that was affected, the airline did all it could.

JPears

Agreed. As this is both a weather issue AND an ATC issue.

NoviceAngel

Odd that the OP posted that after not reading the above judgment - it’s the ATC that’s the ace in the pack and until the Blanche CoA - I can’t imagine the courts will entertain it let alone CEDR. They at the very least could issue ‘stays pending the outcome of Blanche’.

The clever person would just stay quiet and if Blanche is successful get onto MCOL- I should take my own advice there !

JPears

In this case, and regulars will know that I am never "with the airline" in many, if any cases, I believe the airline had no choice here. ATC would not allow landings, airline then got aircraft to correct airport as soon as possible and OP back to Gatwick 6 hours later.
If aircraft were not allowed to land, what else could EJ do?
That is assuming EJ have been completely honest with their reply. Someone with the correct app will be able to check aircraft movements at Verona on the date in question...

joolywooly

JPears wrote: »

In this case, and regulars will know that I am never "with the airline" in many, if any cases, I believe the airline had no choice here. ATC would not allow landings, airline then got aircraft to correct airport as soon as possible and OP back to Gatwick 6 hours later.
If aircraft were not allowed to land, what else could EJ do?
That is assuming EJ have been completely honest with their reply. Someone with the correct app will be able to check aircraft movements at Verona on the date in question...

One thing that we found interesting was that the predicted delay kept being put back, even though the weather at Verona had improved considerably just an hour or so after the scheduled departure time. We wondered why the flight from Venice to Verona took so long to arrive as other flights were arriving and taking off and as you say, maybe Easyjet are not being being totally honest.

I don't suppose anyone knows the name of an app that is able to check aircraft movements....?

joolywooly

NoviceAngel wrote: »

Odd that the OP posted that after not reading the above judgment - it!!!8217;s the ATC that!!!8217;s the ace in the pack and until the Blanche CoA - I can!!!8217;t imagine the courts will entertain it let alone CEDR. They at the very least could issue !!!8216;stays pending the outcome of Blanche!!!8217;.

The clever person would just stay quiet and if Blanche is successful get onto MCOL- I should take my own advice there !

I confess that I did not read the Blanche judgement in minute detail and having now done so can see close similarities to my own case. The Blanche appeal was apparently due to be heard 'early this year' - any ideas on when? Obviously, if it's successful then I should almost be home and dry!

NoviceAngel

joolywooly wrote: »

I don't suppose anyone knows the name of an app that is able to check aircraft movements....?

Flight radar 24
And also planefinder are two that instantly spring to mind.

NoviceAngel

joolywooly wrote: »

I confess that I did not read the Blanche judgement in minute detail and having now done so can see close similarities to my own case. The Blanche appeal was apparently due to be heard 'early this year' - any ideas on when? Obviously, if it's successful then I should almost be home and dry!

Blanche appeal at the CoA due early next year 2019 - not this year