Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Easyjet ONLY

Morsicatio_2

Mark2spark wrote: »

It's up to the airline to *prove* that the EC's that they claim exist. I would ask for documentary evidence that supports their claim, and also for an explanation as to why several other flights were seen departing from the airport in the 3 hour delay time frame, in an airport that supposedly had 'complete' failure of the electrical system.
You may well also wish to ask why moving to a different departure gate was not achievable. I'll assume that you witnessed other passengers on other flights embarking through a gate in the normal manner?

Thanks for your advice. Indeed we did see other flights/passengers leaving from the same terminal, and I guess it will not be too hard to find flights that left from the same terminal either. I shall contact them with the above queries, as you advise.

I will update my original post with their response, keeps things a bit neater! Thanks again!

Mark2spark

"On those grounds, the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules:

1. Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91, must be interpreted as meaning that a technical problem in an aircraft which leads to the cancellation of a flight is not covered by the concept of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ within the meaning of that provision, unless that problem stems from events which, by their nature or origin, are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control."

Mark2spark

I've posted the snippet of the Wallentin-Hermann judgement above, to show that if the airline can prove that the whole terminal had electrical failure, then they could rightfully claim a circumstance that was beyond their control.
But as most airports have their own back up generators it still smells like bull to me.

andyg1

18th February 2013

Dear,

I apologise for the delay in sending a response to you, as I was awaiting more information on this case.

I am very sorry to hear that your flight was delayed. We work hard to provide you with a punctual and efficient service and every effort is made to minimise flight disruption so that we can get you to your final destination as quickly as possible. I understand that the delay you suffered was frustrating and inconvenient for you.

As you will remember from our Terms and Conditions, when your flight is delayed for more than one hour beyond its scheduled departure time, if you do not wish to travel on the delayed flight you can choose a free re-route on the next available easyJet flight or you can cancel your seat and receive a credit for future flights with us.

According to European Law (EC Regulation 261/2004), you may be entitled to compensation if your flight was cancelled or you were not allowed to board your flight. Compensation does not apply to delays, as was the case with your flight.

You mentioned the preliminary ruling (Sturgeon v Condor & Böck v Air France SA) which was only heard by the Fourth Chamber of the ECJ. In our view this preliminary ruling has only served to confuse an otherwise clear piece of legislation. Furthermore, a preliminary ruling is not afforded the status of binding authority on anything other than the case to which it refers. We are currently seeking to clarify this issue through the courts.

In addition, even if the Sturgeon ruling was upheld, the reason for the delay was "Technical" which, as this is classed under European Law as an 'extraordinary circumstance' outside our reasonable control, means that for all these reasons, I'm afraid we cannot offer you any compensation. I apologise again for the inconvenience caused and I understand how frustrating it must have been for you.


Yours sincerely

Vishal Murthy
easyJet Customer Services

Above is what i have received today from Easyjet i reply to an e-mail i sent yesterday

Mark2spark

andyg1 wrote: »

18
You mentioned the preliminary ruling (Sturgeon v Condor & Böck v Air France SA) which was only heard by the Fourth Chamber of the ECJ. In our view this preliminary ruling has only served to confuse an otherwise clear piece of legislation. Furthermore, a preliminary ruling is not afforded the status of binding authority on anything other than the case to which it refers. We are currently seeking to clarify this issue through the courts.

In addition, even if the Sturgeon ruling was upheld, the reason for the delay was "Technical" which, as this is classed under European Law as an 'extraordinary circumstance' outside our reasonable control...

Above is what i have received today from Easyjet i reply to an e-mail i sent yesterday

We've just been talking about this on another thread. Unbelievable that they are quoting this.
The 4th chamber ruling was superceded by the Grand Chamber ruling on 23 Oct 12.
Here:
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document_print.jsf?doclang=EN&text=&pageIndex=0&part=1&mode=req&docid=128861&occ=first&dir=&cid=5167328

Morsicatio_2

Mark2spark wrote: »

"On those grounds, the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules:

1. Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91, must be interpreted as meaning that a technical problem in an aircraft which leads to the cancellation of a flight is not covered by the concept of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ within the meaning of that provision, unless that problem stems from events which, by their nature or origin, are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control."

I suppose if they could prove there was complete electrical failure, that would be a way out, but between a few of the above responses they have gone from:

"unforeseen problem with the systems in the airport terminal and this affected the schedule of the aircraft planned to operate your flight."

to

"I can see that your flight was delayed by 3 hours 11 minutes due to complete electric failure at the terminal. The reason for the delay was classed under European Law as an 'extraordinary circumstance' which was outside airline's reasonable control."

to

"As I have mentioned in my previous response, your flight was delayed due to complete electric failure at the terminal. This resulted in shortage of crew."

So they're definite trying to pull one over. How an electric failure can lead to crew shortages, I don't know. Also, we know there wasn't complete elctrical failure because planes left from the terminal, and, well, none of the electrics went down inside the terminal, which is odd. Nonetheless, I shall await their response and see where to go from there.

Morsicatio_2

Centipede100 wrote: »

IMO you have given the airline long enough and ample opportunity to settle, time for a LBA and then small claims...

Sorry, complete newbie question...LBA? With a small claims, what would be my liability, in terms of fees, if I were to lose the claim?

Cheers
:beer:

Morsicatio_2

Mark2spark wrote: »

We've just been talking about this on another thread. Unbelievable that they are quoting this.
The 4th chamber ruling was superceded by the Grand Chamber ruling on 23 Oct 12.
Here: LINK REMOVED - Newbie Rules

Right! Well, I would send that on, but as I am already awaiting their response, I'll have to save it for the next reply!

Morsicatio_2

andyg1 wrote: »

18th February 2013

Dear,

I apologise for the delay in sending a response to you, as I was awaiting more information on this case.

I am very sorry to hear that your flight was delayed. We work hard to provide you with a punctual and efficient service and every effort is made to minimise flight disruption so that we can get you to your final destination as quickly as possible. I understand that the delay you suffered was frustrating and inconvenient for you.

As you will remember from our Terms and Conditions, when your flight is delayed for more than one hour beyond its scheduled departure time, if you do not wish to travel on the delayed flight you can choose a free re-route on the next available easyJet flight or you can cancel your seat and receive a credit for future flights with us.

According to European Law (EC Regulation 261/2004), you may be entitled to compensation if your flight was cancelled or you were not allowed to board your flight. Compensation does not apply to delays, as was the case with your flight.

You mentioned the preliminary ruling (Sturgeon v Condor & Böck v Air France SA) which was only heard by the Fourth Chamber of the ECJ. In our view this preliminary ruling has only served to confuse an otherwise clear piece of legislation. Furthermore, a preliminary ruling is not afforded the status of binding authority on anything other than the case to which it refers. We are currently seeking to clarify this issue through the courts.

In addition, even if the Sturgeon ruling was upheld, the reason for the delay was "Technical" which, as this is classed under European Law as an 'extraordinary circumstance' outside our reasonable control, means that for all these reasons, I'm afraid we cannot offer you any compensation. I apologise again for the inconvenience caused and I understand how frustrating it must have been for you.


Yours sincerely

Vishal Murthy
easyJet Customer Services

Above is what i have received today from Easyjet i reply to an e-mail i sent yesterday

Yep. It's exactly the same as the one I received. They really do think we are mugs!

Bossworld

Just found this thread from the main site as wasn't aware of it at the time.

We were delayed 5 hours 15 mins on a flight from Barcelona to Newcastle in Feb 2010, just shy of 3 years ago.

According to the site, it's 1550km.

I've filed a claim in for €800, will see what they come back with.