Flight delay and cancellation compensation, KLM/AF ONLY

Mr_Stroopwafel

matt_h wrote: »

I thought it was overbooked, it wasn't made very clear at the airport but yes you're right from their response it implies it was cancelled.

I've sent them a response anyway, managed to find the text of the EU regulations and it's written quite clearly in there that compensation is reduced by 50% as mentioned. Thanks for the help, I'll keep everyone posted.

Actually got the compensation back in Aug/Sept 13. Got vouchers for 600 EUR each, as I recall. We did get point blank refused twice but I was persistant, even quoting the section of the legislation they refused, but after the 3rd or 4th time it was paid out. Wasn't that hard but I would advise really knowing your rights, as they definitely tried to convince me I wasn't entitled to anything. Thanks to MSE & everyone who helped!:beer:

rdserv

Two weeks ago I was travelling on a multiple destination business trip.
Initially I was flying from Edinburgh to Lafayette LA.
My flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam was delayed by over 1hr due to the incoming aircraft returning to the gate in Amsterdam with a technical fault.
Whe I eventually arrived in Amsterdam I had missed my connection to Atlanta and KLM transferred me to another flight later in the day so I had a long wait in Amsterdam. The flight I got on to Atlanta was diverted due to weather in Atlanta and spent 90 minutes on the ground in Knoxville as the pilot said he did not have enough fuel. We sat for 45 minutes then the pilot said Atlanta was reopened but he need to call for a fuel truck.
By the time we arrived in Atlanta I had missed my connection to Lafayette and they earliest they could get me there was the next afternoon, but this was not acceptable as I had already cancelled a meeting that night and had meetings the next day at 9am. I insisted they get me a flight somewhere in the south and I would hire a car and drive. Eventually they got me on a delayed flight to Baton Rogue and I arrived at 01:15 in the morning, Hired a car one way to Lafayette at a cost of $409 and made it to Lafayette at 02:45.

When I tried to claim from KLM they said it was exceptional circumstances, I said there was nothing they could do about the weather but had the original flight from Edinburgh not been delayed I would not have been affected by the weather.

The have offered to pay for the hire car but only offer as a goodwill gesture £100 voucher off another flight, which I find quite insulting to say the least.

Can they do this and get away with it.

Vauban

rdserv wrote: »

Can they do this and get away with it.

Can they do this? Yes. Can they get away with it? Depends on whether you think you've got a good enough case to take them to court.

Personally speaking, I don't think the causal link is necessarily strong (ie because I was delayed for a while by technical faults, I then hit a storm). If the weather was the main source of your delay, and the technical fault delayed you for less than three hours, I think you might struggle to disprove extraordinary circumstances.

But then I am not a lawyer ...

Paula7

Hi All,

My KLM flight from Bristol to Amsterdam was delayed on 6th June 2014 due to a power outage caused by a fire at Bristol Airport which resulted in missing the connecting flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town. In the end I arrived at Cape Town 14 hours later than I should have.

KLM flew me to Amsterdam where they immediately advised me that there were no other connecting flights to Cape Town and would not be for 3 or so days so they flew me back to the UK (Heathrow) 3 hours later where I had a further 8 hour wait for a BA flight that KLM arranged. The BA flight was then delayed for 2 hours. I eventually arrived 14 hours later than expected but my luggage did not arrive. I eventually collected my luggage over 24 hours later from Cape Town International and items were missing (only valued at approx. £40).

I also lost pre-booked hotel and hire car costs for the first day due to this delay.

I submitted a compensation claim to KLM but they have said the following:

You make reference to additional costs incurred following your subsequent return to London Heathrow and I can confirm that upon production of the relevant receipts/invoices we will be more than happy to consider reimbursement of these expenses.

Finally, whilst I note your request for compensation following your flight disruption, I must advise that as such disruptions are an extraordinary occurrence no compensation payment is due.

Are KLM correct to claim this is extraordinary circumstances? I was really surprised by this as I was so delayed and can't understand why they put me on the flight from Bristol to Amsterdam which I questioned at the time knowing that I could not fly to Cape Town from Amsterdam.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Kind regards
Paula

David_e

Paula7 wrote: »

Any help would be much appreciated.

Have a look at the thread "Flight Delay Compensation Important Info - Please check before posting"

Paula7

I had already read your suggested thread - thanks. I was looking for a more tailored response to my particular circumstance as its not overly clear.

David_e

Paula7 wrote: »

I was looking for a more tailored response to my particular circumstance ....

In that case, your best bet is to speak to a no win no fee firm.

Alan_Bowen

The 'tailored response' is that the problems at Bristol Airport were entirely outside the control of any airline, there was a complete power failure, and therefore KLM will not be paying EU261 compensation.

petez1

Used 'electronic' form on KLM website. I didn't have any response or notification after I sent my claim - any thoughts on the usual response time or has it gone into a black hole ?

Thanks

wxy

I have just received an email from AF to say that they will offer me €600 bank transfer or €800 in AF/KLM/DL voucher. :j

I wanted to post back here to share the good news, and encourage others to keep pursuing their claims.

Long story short, I missed my flight connection at CDG back in Dec 11 when the first LHR - CDG sector was delayed, due to, at the time we were told on board, a late arriving passenger. At CDG, I (together with another 27 passengers) received appalling service from the AF ground staff, who offered us to either catch a direct flight 3 days later (at the time due to visa restrictions, we weren't able to leave the airport so would need to sleep in the terminal), or catch an indirect flight (without guarantee for seats on the onward journey), going past the destination then back. I took the latter option, which resulted in a huge amount of inconvenience (lost luggage, almost missing the third flight etc), and getting to my destination over 24 hours later than scheduled. They were not forthcoming with food/telephone vouchers, and once they were offered after prompting, they couldn't be used as all the "participating stores" were closed.

Needless to say, I started the complaint process in Jan 12 (when I was back in the UK), and after 5 or 6 rounds of going back and forth, all I was offered was their "renewed apologies".

Then in Jan 14, I made a further claim under the EU regs, and in particular requesting specifically, and repeatedly, for reasons behind the delay, the response was "it was due to security measures which were extraordinary circumstances" followed by "this closes our correspondence and no further response will be made". This was simply not acceptable to me, as the burden was on them to prove that it was indeed extraordinary circumstances, and they needed to provide me with the information.

After much perseverance (another 5 or 6 rounds of correspondence), I escalated the matter to the CAA, attaching a whole chain of correspondence which was more than 20 pages long

That was about 2 weeks ago. Today out of the blue AF emailed me to say that having reviewed my case, they are pleased to offer me the compensation as the EU regulation did apply. :T Of course they still didn't provide me with more information on the reason behind the delay, but I think I'll let that one go! :rotfl:

The whole process was really quite a drag, and being repeatedly told that I'm being unreasonable wanting to understand why my journey was over 24 hours longer than expected was also not the most encouraging thing that one can experience. But being someone who has learned to keep probing and being persistent over the years, it certainly paid off in this instance. The money isn't a lot (and needless to say I'm saying no thanks to the vouchers - no more AF for me!), but I feel soooo much happier now that thi is resolved. :beer:

I wanted to share this here because you guys have been really helpful when I felt like banging my head against a wall, and also to let you know that if you are not happy with the explanation, and do believe that you have a solid claim, then don't give up! I was ready to threaten to take them to court (whether I would is another matter) if the CAA route didn't work out, but have pretty much lost hope on this.

Good luck to you all on your claims! I'm sure many of you will receive a satisfactory result soon, too!