Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

Daisysmom

Hi Guys

Can one of you lovely people help me please??? As u may know I am awaiting a court date from our delay after Virgin refused us compensation with the usual EC claims .... We actually needed a Pylon Bleed Value replacing apparently even though they told us it was a starter motor that was needed when one of the engines wouldn't start ... anyway under these new guidelines it states ...

22. Failure of the bleed-air system/environmental control system on an aircraft (which had been properly
maintained) either immediately prior to departure or in-flight

also

26. Any other technical defects which become apparent immediately prior to departure or in-flight (where
the system or part had been maintained in accordance with the required maintenance programme)
and which require investigation and/or repair before the aircraft is airworthy for the intended flight.

are both now considered Extraordinary Circumstances so what do I do now??? I know they are only guidelines but they are going to be used in court ... Do I carry on to court with my case or ?????????????????

Thanks for all your much appreciated help and advice xxx

Mark2spark

flor2012 wrote: »

Just about to finally complete my MCOL. Just a bit worried my case isn't strong enough as reading through the forum all the payments have been made in respect of pilot sickness in flights leaving the UK. My flight was delayed as the pilot took ill (not seriously) in Orlando. Virgin are stating it was extraordinary as he took ill a few hours before the flight and as it was in Orlando they could not have a standby crew in place. They claim the delay was unpredictable, unavoidable and external therefore have refused compensation. Do you think I have a strong enough case for court?

How strange. Virgin appear to adopt a stance that staff sickness in the UK is something that is inherent in the day to day running of the business, but that staff sickness whilst abroad is extraordinary?
Keep going Flor

Mark2spark

Daisysmom wrote: »

Hi Guys

Can one of you lovely people help me please??? As u may know I am awaiting a court date from our delay after Virgin refused us compensation with the usual EC claims .... We actually needed a Pylon Bleed Value replacing apparently even though they told us it was a starter motor that was needed when one of the engines wouldn't start ... anyway under these new guidelines it states ...

22. Failure of the bleed-air system/environmental control system on an aircraft (which had been properly
maintained) either immediately prior to departure or in-flight

also

26. Any other technical defects which become apparent immediately prior to departure or in-flight (where
the system or part had been maintained in accordance with the required maintenance programme)
and which require investigation and/or repair before the aircraft is airworthy for the intended flight.

are both now considered Extraordinary Circumstances so what do I do now??? I know they are only guidelines but they are going to be used in court ... Do I carry on to court with my case or ?????????????????

Thanks for all your much appreciated help and advice xxx

The guidelines represent a 'wishlist' of what the airlines would like incorporated into any new amendments to the legislation/regulation 261. In the meantime, the Law remains Wallentin & Sturgeon.
Technical issues are not EC's on their own. They have to be caused by EC's such as manufacturer recall etc etc

If you dissect the new 'guidelines', there doesn't actually seem to be any circumstances whatsoever where the regulation 261 applies in the case of delay.

Vauban

Daisysmom wrote: »

Hi Guys

Can one of you lovely people help me please???

... I know they are only guidelines but they are going to be used in court ... Do I carry on to court with my case or ?????????????????

I suggest that in your witness statement you say something along the lines of:

"In the event that the Defendant attempts torely on the “preliminary and “non-binding” guidelines recently posted by someof the National Enforcement Bodies (NEBs) on the European Commission website, the Claimant contends that these guidelines have no force in law, andthat the rulings of the European Court of Justice have clear primacy. The Claimant also notes that, as the minutes of that meeting of the NEBs at which the guidance was drafted show, this document is to be regarded as a work in progress which is “still to be revisited by the NEBs”.

That last quote from the minutes says:

Following themeeting, several NEBs made comments on the list [of extraordinary circumstances] and one NEB considered thatalso the document "best practice guidance note and flow chart"deserves further discussions. Therefore these documents are still to berevisited by the NEBs.

So basically these documents are non-binding, have no force in law, and are in draft still - and not agreed by European NEBs.

Continue full steam ahead!! Poop poop!

dxc_chappie

Daisysmom wrote: »

I know they are only guidelines but they are going to be used in court ... Do I carry on to court with my case or ?????????????????

Yes carry on.

You will need to build your case based on settled law (Wallentin ruling) where technical faults inherent in running an airline are NOT ECs.

And when you get to court you must point out to the DJ your case is based on law and that speculative, biased, non-binding, non-authoritative, opportunistic wishlists should not come under consideration in deciding your case.

Daisysmom

Thank u all so much for your help and advice ... its full steam ahead for me ... I was wondering how much these new guidelines mattered ... obviously not much so Virgin ... Watch your backs .. Im coming to get ya!!!!

cadmus

we had the usual declined claim reply due to EC .... my explanation was - accidental damage to of one of the engine blades during a previous service .... do i have a good cause and take this further with the NBA and then the MCOL

derekbr

Psaila wrote: »

Hi, i too am claiming for this flight. I had the exact response and i am taking it further, it is not a valid reason so i have sent an NBA and its now been 2 weeks with no response so i shall be starting to file a claim with MCO. I will keep you posted on my progress.

I have been pursuing a similar claim - although for a different light. VS0015 from LGW to MCW in August 2010. Their response is similar to yours.

Would appreciate hearing how you gt on ith your claim please.

Rgds

bazaar_2

Daisysmom wrote: »

Thank u all so much for your help and advice ... its full steam ahead for me ... I was wondering how much these new guidelines mattered ... obviously not much so Virgin ... Watch your backs .. Im coming to get ya!!!!

as your case has not been allocated, you could always throw a CPR18 into them, to flush out what they really are going to rely on as a defence. go through what theyve already stated, in there token defence and pick it apart.
(read up on the CPR 18 so you know what youre doing, ) 14 days to respond, if they dont ( most likely) then file an order to court to force the issue.

semx5

Hi, just wanted to say thank you to this forum. I sent my claim in for four passengers VS16 15th June 2013, Orlando - Gatwick expecting a decline. Flight was delayed 24hrs due to pilot sickness.
Have today received cheques. YEH. :j