Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

lexie167

MCHILLERMAN
I was on flight vs074 and I have today sent a complaint to the CAA, I put a complaint into virgin at the end of june which was rejected, the reason being extraordinary circumstances which were beyond their control, ie pilot illness, I have not heard that they have changed the reason from pilot illness, where have you heard this

lexie167

MCHILLERMAN


On 8/9/14 our claim for compensation for a 25hr delay from Orlando flying with Virgin Atlantic was dismissed in the Small Claims Court. The reason for our delay was the pilot reported sick pre flight. Virgin denied our compensation claim siting 'extraordinary circumstances'.
The Judge, after some deliberation, dismissed our claim but did express the view that it was a close run thing. The judge in question had previously ruled on a Jet2 case which was, I believe, successfully overturned on appeal by the claimant in the High Court. I also believe that Jet2 are now appealing that decision.



I have just found this on one of the other discussion pages, so virgin are saying it was pilot illness and the judge ruled in the airlines favour in the small claims court

JPears

lexie167, because of the vagaries of the SCC, decisions can run both ways. However, this case does not set precedent because it presumably was made in the SCC.
Another judge, another court may make a different decision.
I would be interested to read more on this case. What discussion page was it?
In addition, was there any comment on the second hurdle the airline must clear, namely taking all reasonable measures up to "intolerable sacrifice" to reduce the length of the delay? 25hrs is a long time just for pilot illness.
In addition, the date of this court ruling is pre Huzar.

Pud11

Hi

I am new to this so please bear with me. I tried to claim compensation for our delayed Virgin Flight from Gatwick to Vegas (VS043) about 18months ago. Virgin declined the the claim on the grounds that the delay was caused by 'extraordinary circumstances' at the time I referred it to the CAA and their response was that they had deferred it back to the airline after which I heard nothing. Hearing about all the updates on the 214/2004 Ruling is making me think again, so am I able to or am I too late to take this back up with Virgin for myself and the rest of my party?

The reasoning in their decline letter is as follows - The aircraft that was scheduled to operate your flight encountered an unexpected technical problem with one of its flying controls (elevator) on a previous service. This is deemed as an extraordinary circumstance. The repair proved to be extremely complex and lengthy, so we had to arrange for an alternative aircraft to operate your flight in order to minimise disruption. But due to the busy nature of our flying programme, a replacement aircraft was not available until the following day.

Thinking back to the event I am sure that at some point we were told that our aircraft was actually used for another flight that had been delayed from the day before but I have no proof of this.

Any help on how / if I can proceed would be gratefully received!

NoviceAngel

Pud11 wrote: »

Any help on how / if I can proceed would be gratefully received!

start by reading Vaubans guide, it sounds to me like you definitely have a claim....

Sounds like they didn't repair it properly at it's last service, their fault not an EC

Gophersnaps

We had purchased tickets for a nephew and niece who travelled on a different flight to us from Florida. Their return flight was delayed 24 hours.
Can we claim under ruling 261/2004 as we had originally paid, or do they have to make the claim?

lexie167

JPears wrote: »

lexie167, because of the vagaries of the SCC, decisions can run both ways. However, this case does not set precedent because it presumably was made in the SCC.
Another judge, another court may make a different decision.
I would be interested to read more on this case. What discussion page was it?
In addition, was there any comment on the second hurdle the airline must clear, namely taking all reasonable measures up to "intolerable sacrifice" to reduce the length of the delay? 25hrs is a long time just for pilot illness.
In addition, the date of this court ruling is pre Huzar.

compensation for delayed flights discussion area page 363
it is on page 363 of delayed flight compensation forum

NoviceAngel

Gophersnaps wrote: »

We had purchased tickets for a nephew and niece who travelled on a different flight to us from Florida. Their return flight was delayed 24 hours.
Can we claim under ruling 261/2004 as we had originally paid, or do they have to make the claim?

Now that's an interesting one, I've always argued that the person making the booking and paying for it, is the customer of the airline after all your agreeing to the airlines T & C's, that makes you the rightful beneficially of any compensation (even though that may be thought as unfair).....

I wish I knew the answer 100% but I would start the claim and get written letters of authority from your nephew and niece and I'd like to think that you would give them any compensation you receive

razorsedge

NoviceAngel wrote: »

Now that's an interesting one, I've always argued that the person making the booking and paying for it, is the customer of the airline after all your agreeing to the airlines T & C's, that makes you the rightful beneficially of any compensation (even though that may be thought as unfair).....

I wish I knew the answer 100% but I would start the claim and get written letters of authority from your nephew and niece and I'd like to think that you would give them any compensation you receive

Aaaah, NoviceAngel. Still a bit to go to earning your wings;).

The answer lies in the regs:

Article 7
Right to compensation
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall receive compensation amounting to:
(etc.)

Don't forget, according to the Regs Pre-amble 12 this is compensation for the 'trouble and inconvenience to passengers caused by cancellation of flights...' (and post Sturgeon also for delays).

Only the passengers are entitled to any compensation payable. Of course a friendly relative can assist them in claiming (in much the same way a NWNF firm does) but the claim has to be in the name of or on behalf of the passengers.

NoviceAngel

razorsedge wrote: »

Aaaah, NoviceAngel. Still a bit to go to earning your wings;).

Lol, yes I should have done better with that one, thanks for the correction.

I seem to recall a thread on here where this was debated at length, it was something to do with a business flight, who should keep the compensation the person, ie business making the booking or the actual passenger that was delayed and inconvenienced I got it right back then, please forgive me I'm getting old lol :A