Flight Delay Compensation, Lufthansa Only

Vauban

No claim. She flew on a non-EU carrier and was delayed outside the EU. That it was booked with Lufthansa is irrelevant, unfortunately.

palaeodave

Hello. On a flight from London to the States in August, we (my wife, son and I) turned up to the gate to find that the flight had been cancelled due to mechanical failure. We were put on a plane the next day. I emailed United's customer services quoting EU Regulation 261/2004, asking for €600 in compensation to each of us. I just got this reply:

Dear [palaeodave],
Thank you for contacting us regarding the cancellation of United flightUA941 on August 19, 2014, and your request for cash compensation. Please accept our apology for the inconvenience you experienced during the interruption to your travel plans.
United Airlines has determined that, in this case, European Union Regulation EC261/2004 monetary compensation is applicable and will be issued only to customers who were holding a confirmed reservation, a fare paid ticket, and were checked in and available to board the aircraft in accordance with United’s Contract of Carriage.
As alternative options to your claim for cash compensation under European Union EC261/2004 regulation, we would like to offer you a choice of a $1,000 (USD) United Travel Certificate* (redeemable and transferable toward the purchase of any United or United Express-operated flight) or 30,000 United MileagePlus® miles (redeemable on flights operated by United, United Express or by Air Canada, ANA, Austrian, Lufthansa, SAS Scandinavian, Swiss, Thai and 20 additional Star Alliance partners worldwide.)

To view additional MileagePlus® services and award options within the world’s largest network, including Star Alliance and our other global partners, please visit us at:
[link removed]
Travel Certificates are valid for twelve (12) months and MileagePlus® miles are valid for 18 months. If you are not already a MileagePlus® member, simply enroll online at: [link removed], respond with your new account number and we’ll credit your account.
Please advise us with your preference and we’ll facilitate delivery via e-mail within 3-5 business days. Should you have questions or still wish to pursue cash compensation under EU regulation, we’re happy to respond accordingly.
We consider it a privilege to serve as your preferred travel partner and look forward to the opportunity to see you aboard the friendly skies of United soon. I truly hope your next travel plans with us delivers the seamless customer experience you deserve.
Thank you again for your business.
Sincerely,
Gail Shobe
Corporate Customer Care
United Airlines

ezcare 8197746

*Travel Certificate(s), including but not limited to (1) the validity period of one year from the issue date with no extension, (2) there will be no refunds, (3) the Travel Certificate(s) will not be reissued if lost or stolen, (4) the certificate may be redeemed for credit up to its face amount only towards the purchase of an electronic airline ticket(s), where eligible, from United, and (5) if the face amount of the certificate exceeds the cost of the ticket for which it is surrendered, any residual amount will be applied to the same Pin for use toward another ticket until either the original issued amount is depleted or the expiration date has been reached, whichever comes first.

Apart from their obvious tactic of trying to fob me off with air miles instead of cash, I'm not sure if they're saying that only I am entitled to compensation. As far as I understand it, the compensation should be per passenger, even though we were all on the same booking. I'm going to reply to thank them and say I choose the cash compensation and to ask them to clarify that this is paid per passenger i.e. a total of €1800. I just wanted to check what the very knowledgeable commentariat here thought, first. Thanks in advance for any help.

JPears

palaeodave wrote: »

Hello. On a flight from London to the States in August, we (my wife, son and I) turned up to the gate to find that the flight had been cancelled due to mechanical failure. We were put on a plane the next day. I emailed United's customer services quoting EU Regulation 261/2004, asking for €600 in compensation to each of us. I just got this reply:



Apart from their obvious tactic of trying to fob me off with air miles instead of cash, I'm not sure if they're saying that only I am entitled to compensation. As far as I understand it, the compensation should be per passenger, even though we were all on the same booking. I'm going to reply to thank them and say I choose the cash compensation and to ask them to clarify that this is paid per passenger i.e. a total of €1800. I just wanted to check what the very knowledgeable commentariat here thought, first. Thanks in advance for any help.

They have admitted liabilty as such and therefoe you are due 3x Euro600. You are entitled to cash.

Caz3121

I read the letter as they are offering you vouchers, airmiles or the cash
"Should you have questions or still wish to pursue cash compensation under EU regulation, we’re happy to respond accordingly. "

some people may have been happy to take one of the other options, just respond and say "thanks for the offer, I'll just take the cash"

regency_man

Just got back from a disastrous trip (flight wise) to Turin. 4 Lufthansa flights, 2 delays, 1 cancellation and 2 missed connections. (1 missed connection was also actually cancelled resulting in chaos in the later flight).

So just got back home, a day late, fuming from a combination of poor customer service, mis-information, downright lies and stinky smelly clothes (overnight without baggage). Compo is on the brain.

My booking was for Turin to London Heathrow via Frankfurt, all on a single Lufthansa ticket. The flight out of Turin was delayed due to technical reasons (had to swap aircraft around due to a fault according to check-in desk). Ultimately this made us miss our connection in Frankfurt and ended up requiring an overnight stay, horribly exacerbated by the fact Frankfurt was still recovering from a large storm so also had to cancel a lot of outbound flights. Our intended connection did fly however - just without us.

So, I'm a little confused as to how this is covered by the EU regulation (if at all). My total delay to my ticketed destination was over 12 hours, however no single flight segment was either delayed by more than 2 hours, nor cancelled.

Does the EU regulation cover this? If so, what are the parameters of the claim - is it for the total distance of the ticket (TRN, FRA, LHR) or just the flight we 'missed' (FRA, LHR)?

Thanks in advance!

Vauban

This is explained, I recall, in my own guide - which is linked to in the main sticky.

But the long and short of it is that if it's a single through ticket, it is the cause of the initial delay and final delay at arrival that counts. The European judgement that deals with this is called Folkerts.

How to progress your claim is all in my guide.

Caz3121

Worth having a read of the Lufthansa thread too
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4395437

regency_man

Thank you.

This might sound petty... but under 'costs' in the EU regs, can I claim for 'consequential' loss from this? 2 things:

1. Due to the nature of the delay it was not possible to inform the car service that we would not make it to Heathrow that night until after the driver had arrived. They wanted to charge us full-fare for this but I convinced them to reduce it to 50% (which is still 75 quid).

2. I get fresh food delivered on Saturdays, as a result of the delay, all the chilled meat has spoiled, thats another 30 quid.

Vauban

No you can't. Just reasonable expenditure incurred during the delay.

azizi28

How can I claim compensation from Lufthansa for luggage delay. I have contacted them several times, but they just ignore my emails.