Flight Delay Compensation, Lufthansa Only

gaztaylor10

Hi,

My flight from Manchester to Johannesburg was recently cancelled due to staff strikes. However nobody from Lufthansa bothered to tell me about the cancellation. I only found this out for myself when I attempted to check in online.

I tried to call them to discuss my options but could not get through having been on hold for over 3 hours,. I also tried to email them but never received an incident number as promised.

As I had already booked all my hotels and activities in South Africa not going was not an option as I would have lost all the non refundable payments. I therefore has no option but to buy a flight from Emirates at a much increased price. To add insult to injury the only flight available was from London meaning that I had to drive to London in the early hours costing me even more money in petrol. I had also booked an internal flight to cape town (not with Lufthansa) to line up with my arrival to South Africa which I could not make owing to my original flight being cancelled.

I therefore feel that I should be compensated not only for the cost of the Lufthansa flight, but also for the additional costs incurred such as additional flights, petrol and phone calls. I also feel that I should be compensated for the overall stress and inconvienience they have put me through, especially given that they did not have the decency to contact me, which is contrary to their own policy as stated on their website.

Does anyone know what my rights are?

I bough the flights in good faith however Lufthansa have acted unreasonably and broke the contract with no consideration of the consequences or offer of assistance

The majority of posts on the forum appear aimed at delayed flights. Surely the situation I have found myself in, through no fault of my own should never be allowed to happen?

Whilst I can appreciate that strikes happen, Lufthansa should have contacted me to let me know!!

Any advise would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Gareth

austin9658

gaztaylor10 wrote: »

I therefore feel that I should be compensated not only for the cost of the Lufthansa flight, but also for the additional costs incurred such as additional flights, petrol and phone calls. I also feel that I should be compensated for the overall stress and inconvienience they have put me through, especially given that they did not have the decency to contact me, which is contrary to their own policy as stated on their website.

Does anyone know what my rights are?

There is a fixed amount of delayed/cancelled compensation in EU regulation according to distance. Airlines are not responsible for your additional losses.

Caz3121

same answer as on your other thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5112299
Speak to your travel insurance and see what they will offer for your stress

richardw

Airlines "decent"! No chance gaztaylor.

Caz3121

bump to page 1

Ash1599

I was recently on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro, which was delayed by 11 hours and 45 minutes.

When we boarded the plane there were engineers going back and forward on the aircraft trying to fix a fault, after approximately 40 minutes sitting on the tarmac the pilot announced there was an electrical fault and the plane would have to be restarted to try to fix it. After this the plane was apparently fine, but the pilot then announced that air traffic control wouldn't allow us to depart because we had missed the curfew time by a couple of minutes. We were put up in a hotel and the flight was rescheduled for the following morning.

Am I able to pursue a claim under these circumstances?

Thanks for your help!

Vauban

Yes. But prepare for an argument.

Eurosaver

I haven't posted about this before, but I thought my success might encourage others to try or to keep going. My first message to Lufthansa was sent via their online form on 3rd December:

I am writing regarding flight LH649 on 21st November 2014 from Astana to Frankfurt with the scheduled departure time of 0545. This flight was cancelled and I was rebooked on alternative Air Astana flight KC921. As a result I missed my connecting flight (LH954) in Frankfurt and the next available flight (LH958) arrived 9 hours later than I had been scheduled at Birmingham.

The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Tui & others v CAA confirmed the applicability of compensation for delay as set out in the Sturgeon case. As such, I am seeking compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for this delayed flight.

My scheduled flight length was 9134 km, therefore I am seeking compensation of €600.

I look forward to a full response to this letter within 14 days. If I do not receive a satisfactory response I intend to pursue my complaint further, which could mean taking it to court.

I received the standard automated reply to say they would respond soon and then nothing. I followed up on 24th December:

I regret that I have not yet had a response to my claim. If I have not received a satisfactory response by 9 January 2015 I will issue you with a formal Letter Before Action.


Again this resulted in an automated response and nothing else, so on 12th January I sent:

Further to my correspondence of 3rd December 2014 and 24th December 2014, I have not received any response to my compensation claim for flight LH649 on 21st November 2014.

The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Tui & others v CAA confirmed the applicability of compensation for delay as set out in the Sturgeon case. This has been subsequently acknowledged by UK courts, including the Supreme Court recently. As such, I am seeking compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for this cancelled flight. As I was delayed by approximately 9 hours, therefore I am claiming €600 plus interest @8% p.a.

Should you neither settle my claim in full nor provide a full and satisfactory defence to my claim within 14 days of the date of this letter, I reserve the right to issue legal proceedings without giving you further notice in writing.

Once again I received an automated response, but also on 16th January I received a phone call from Noel in Lufthansa Customer Services in Manila. He explained how because the cancellation was due to a technical fault, and how Lufthansa have the highest standards of maintenance, I wouldn't be eligible for compensation. I replied that this was not my interpretation of the regulations and that I would be happy for the court to decide. He asked me to stay on hold, and returned very quickly to say that Lufthansa would credit me with €600. I was still sceptical, but last Thursday £478.54 was credited to my bank account.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone here for their advice and information. It's well worth pursuing a valid claim. I should also say that Lufthansa were exemplary during the delay. They provided drinks while passengers queued for assistance, were happy to book flights on other airlines, and provided hotel accommodation and meals during the delay.

Tyzap

Well done Eurosaver,

Shame they still tried to wriggle out of it tho, a weaker, or less well informed person might have just fallen for it.

It's a good example for others to follow. In these cases 'knowledge is power'

Eurosaver

Thanks Tyzap.

It occurred to me that they have been very careful not to put anything in writing.