Flight Delay Compensation, Lufthansa Only

Vauban

jennikitten wrote: »

Fantastic, thanks so much! We did buy through tickets. What's my next step?

Read the FAQs - all the info you need is there. But you need to write to the airline to make a claim and, if they don't respond after a reasonable time, write a NBA demanding settlement within 14 days. If you don't get that either start court proceedings yourself or appoint a no win no fee solicitor (for a fee of about a third of the claim).

saayinla

Wonder if anyone can help me regarding a 12 hours delay by the airline.

In July Last year, I flew lufthansa to Lagos in Nigeria, my flight was meant to depart LHR as detailed below to arrive Lagos Same Day at 17:25pm however I did not arrive Lagos until 05:25am the next day with a 12 Hours Delay!

Your flight itinerary
Flight Date from to Departure Arrival Reservation

LH 925
operated by:
LUFTHANSA 06 July LONDON GB HEATHROW

TERMINAL 1 FRANKFURT DE FRANKFURT INTL

TERMINAL 1 08:20 h 11:05 h Economy Class
confirmed


LH 594
operated by:
LUFTHANSA 06 July FRANKFURT DE FRANKFURT INTL

TERMINAL 1 LAGOS NG MURTALA MUHAMMED INT

TERMINAL INTL 12:05 h 17:25 h Economy Class

So basically there was a Delay at Heathrow hence the Flight arrived 39 minutes Late, basically preventing me from taking the onward flight also operated by lufthansa to Lagos. After complaining etc, myself and other passenger were made to wait at the airport until around 6pm and we put back on a flight to London from where we were rebooked on another Virgin Atlantic flight to Lagos which Arrived the Next morning 05:25am. I got a stamped proof form the lufthansa customer service desk at frankfurt saying they caused the delay preventing myself and other passengers to miss our flight.

I contacted Lufthansa to complain and below is the response I got back which I have not pursued any further, Can someone please advice me on what to do next.

Thanks in advance.

Dear XXXX,

We deeply regret that your flights LH925 from London to Frankfurt on 6 July 2012 did not take place as scheduled.

We are very sorry that your feeder flight LH925 was affected by a delay in departure as the result airport congestion and you were unable to catch your onward flight LH594 in Frankfurt. We very much regret the delay this caused and offer you our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.

Of course, we do everything we can in order to transport you to your destination punctually and reliably. However, the delay of flight this flight on was caused by unusual circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all possible measures had been taken.

As is usual in air traffic, aircraft are used according to a fixed rotation plan. Unfortunately aircraft can be delayed for many different external reasons, such as, for example, airspace congestion or bottlenecks caused by official requirements. Regrettably, this was the case with your flight LH925.
This is how the aircraft used for your flight and arriving from Frankfurt landed behind schedule. As a result it was impossible for your flight to depart punctually.

As Lufthansa is not responsible for the reasons behind the delay in departure, in accordance with EU regulation 261/2004 we are not obliged to pay compensation.

In view of your experiences, we are taking the liberty of crediting 3000 award miles to your Miles & More account, which we hope you will accept as a token of our apologies and as a motive to restore your faith with Lufthansa.

While we are unable to comply with your request for compensation entirely, we would be pleased if you continued to trust Lufthansa. Rest assured that we will do our utmost to ensure your future flights with us proceed smoothly.

Yours sincerely,

Paolo Elmo

Lufthansa German Airlines

JPears

I think this maybe a case where it may be useful to get the CAA involved as the argument arises over the cause of the delay. Was it ATC (Heathrow or Frankfurt) that caused the delay or is this their excuse? What is the minimum transfer time Lufthansa allow for Frankfurt? Poor business if they let your second flight go without you, knowing how little you were delayed.

saayinla

JPears wrote: »

I think this maybe a case where it may be useful to get the CAA involved as the argument arises over the cause of the delay. Was it ATC (Heathrow or Frankfurt) that caused the delay or is this their excuse? What is the minimum transfer time Lufthansa allow for Frankfurt? Poor business if they let your second flight go without you, knowing how little you were delayed.

From googling it seems MCT (minimum connection time) for Frankfurt for Lufthansa is 60 minutes which is precisely the time between the first leg and the connecting flight, my main issue is if they knew they were cutting it that close, why bother putting me on the flight in the first place?

So you reckon I should Contact the CAA in the first Instance?

Thanks for your time.

CobyBenson

saayinla wrote: »

From googling it seems MCT (minimum connection time) for Frankfurt for Lufthansa is 60 minutes which is precisely the time between the first leg and the connecting flight, my main issue is if they knew they were cutting it that close, why bother putting me on the flight in the first place?

So you reckon I should Contact the CAA in the first Instance?

Thanks for your time.

See Eglitis, the airline should have taken reasonable measures when planning the flight to ensure that your flight would not be disrupted.

Such a short connection time is rediculous, because even a 1 minute delay could cause you to miss your next flight.

If you look back at that route every day for the preceeding 30 days then you'll see that they were delayed 29 out of 30 times.

I don't think the CAA will be much help to you.

JPears

CobyBenson wrote: »

See Eglitis, the airline should have
I don't think the CAA will be much help to you.

No not much help, but they may be able to establish if the delay was caused by ATC or not?
FYI BA allow 45 minutes transfer within terminal 5.....

saayinla

CobyBenson wrote: »

See Eglitis, the airline should have taken reasonable measures when planning the flight to ensure that your flight would not be disrupted.

Such a short connection time is rediculous, because even a 1 minute delay could cause you to miss your next flight.

If you look back at that route every day for the preceeding 30 days then you'll see that they were delayed 29 out of 30 times.

I don't think the CAA will be much help to you.

JPears wrote: »

No not much help, but they may be able to establish if the delay was caused by ATC or not?
FYI BA allow 45 minutes transfer within terminal 5.....

So am best to initially contact the CAA to determine if they did infact caused the delay in question?

JPears

saayinla wrote: »

So am best to initially contact the CAA to determine if they did infact caused the delay in question?

No CAA aren't air traffic control. But if CAA think you have a valid claim they will request a formal response from Lufthansa. Of course Lufthansa may just refuse to coperate as appears the CAA, although it is a National ENFORCEMENT body seems powerless to to do anything.
Or the CAA maybe able to get information from the relevant ATC?

saayinla

JPears wrote: »

No CAA aren't air traffic control. But if CAA think you have a valid claim they will request a formal response from Lufthansa. Of course Lufthansa may just refuse to coperate as appears the CAA, although it is a National ENFORCEMENT body seems powerless to to do anything.
Or the CAA maybe able to get information from the relevant ATC?

I ll put in a claim with CAA then, on another note I did a check for same flight as mine for past 30 days prior to my flight and 16 out of 30 flight arrived at least 2 minutes behind schedule at frankfurt, a few 30 minutes and above late. So lufthansa does infact know from that stats that at least 16 flight would have been delayed and in effect be unable to catch a connecting flight based on their MCT ( minimum connection time) required at franskfurt being 60 minutes.

JPears

Then I would get back to Lufthansa in the first instance and point this out to them.