New! Flight Delay and Cancellation Compensation Board

neilsedaka

Having posted on the specific thread for Qantas -- Flight delay compensation, all other non-EU airlines -- and not receiving a response so far, I thought I should try here.

I made a claim on Qantas for a delayed flight. They confirmed that my wife and I were entitled to compensation of 600 euros each, a total of 1200 euros. They said that they would have to pay me in Australian dollars (AUD), not Euros, and pay me via my credit card, which was fine because I get an excellent exchange rate AUD to GBP on my Halifax Clarity credit card. So far so good.

I received AUD$1597.00 (= GBP£959.04) on 1st July 2013 which was 6.47% less than the AUD$1707.47 I was expecting based on the exchange rate on xe.com of 1.42289 AUD to the euro on that day of receipt.

On querying this anomaly Qantas first of all said they used the exchange rate showing on their computer on 1st July 2013. Then they changed their minds and said they used the exchange rate as of the date of the flight 11th February 2012.

My question is, what date is the EU compensation based on? Is it the date of the flight or the date that compensation was made?

If there is no set date in the compensation rules, can the airline decide for themselves which date to use regarding currency conversion?

Fundamentally, can the airline decide to pay me in a currency other than euros, thereby keeping a slice of the compensation for themselves?

CobyBenson

neilsedaka wrote: »

Having posted on the specific thread for Qantas -- Flight delay compensation, all other non-EU airlines -- and not receiving a response so far, I thought I should try here.

I made a claim on Qantas for a delayed flight. They confirmed that my wife and I were entitled to compensation of 600 euros each, a total of 1200 euros. They said that they would have to pay me in Australian dollars (AUD), not Euros, and pay me via my credit card, which was fine because I get an excellent exchange rate AUD to GBP on my Halifax Clarity credit card. So far so good.

I received AUD$1597.00 (= GBP£959.04) on 1st July 2013 which was 6.47% less than the AUD$1707.47 I was expecting based on the exchange rate on xe.com of 1.42289 AUD to the euro on that day of receipt.

On querying this anomaly Qantas first of all said they used the exchange rate showing on their computer on 1st July 2013. Then they changed their minds and said they used the exchange rate as of the date of the flight 11th February 2012.

My question is, what date is the EU compensation based on? Is it the date of the flight or the date that compensation was made?

If there is no set date in the compensation rules, can the airline decide for themselves which date to use regarding currency conversion?

Fundamentally, can the airline decide to pay me in a currency other than euros, thereby keeping a slice of the compensation for themselves?

It sounds like you agreed to accept payment in AUD, so yes the airline can pay in a currency other than Euros.

There is no clear authority on when the exchange rate should be calculated. Two schools of thought are:-

1) Date of flight
2) Date of payment (The argument for this is especially strong if you've issued court proceedings and claimed an amount in a foreign currency).

Exchange rates are also confusing because they'll be different on xe.com, your credit card and Qantas' system.

I think you should see this is a victory and be happy you've recovered £959.04 from Qantas.

romanby1

CobyBenson wrote: »

It sounds like you agreed to accept payment in AUD, so yes the airline can pay in a currency other than Euros.

There is no clear authority on when the exchange rate should be calculated. Two schools of thought are:-

1) Date of flight
2) Date of payment (The argument for this is especially strong if you've issued court proceedings and claimed an amount in a foreign currency).

Exchange rates are also confusing because they'll be different on xe.com, your credit card and Qantas' system.

I think you should see this is a victory and be happy you've recovered £959.04 from Qantas.

Reading Article 7(3) The compensation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be paid in cash, by electronic bank transfer, bank orders or bank cheques or, with the signed agreement of the passenger, in travel vouchers and/or other services.

It could be argued that payment should be at the rate on the day of the delay. (If this is in the passengers interest)

In my case the difference between the conversion rate on the date of delay and the date of settlement was negligible.

neilsedaka

Thanks CobyBenson and romanby1 for your very helpful replies.

I have spoken to the Civil Aviation Authority who advised that I should receive either 1200 euros or the exact equivalent of that amount, regardless of currency exchange rates.

There is a grey area regarding the date used for currency conversion. It could be the date of the flight/delay, the date that compensation was agreed, or the date that compensation was transacted. In my case the latter date would be in my interest.

cadbury8e8j

So many threads on this, have just picked the one that was the most recent.

I recently emailed Freebird re a flight that was delayed 13 hours out of Dalaman.

This is the reply I got back:

"Freebird is operating her fleet in the highest standards, stipulated by strict aviation rules and regulations and safety is major concern at all our operations. Due to an unexpected technical problem which can be considered as AOG of our aircraft,

to avoid compromising the safety issue, the schedule re planned and delay has been occurred on flight FHY589" ...


... "Let me to clarify the compensation issue that the reference the EU Regulation EU261/2004, air carriers is entitled to pay compensation to passengers in case of cancellation and denied boarding, regulation does not explicitly impose an obligation to pay compensation in such a case.

Considering the facts above and such kind of delays are unexpected but often in the aviation industry, such delay is caused with the reasons beyond us and as Freebird Airlines, we did our best to prevent passenger inconvenience for every guest at every level, we regret to inform you that we are not in a position to compensate."

As this was a technical fault with the plane I don't think it classes as extraordinary circumstances and therefore that we should be compensated.

Don't think it can have been that serious a fault as we were waiting at the boarding gate when we were then told that the plane had a fault. Said plane then took off to go to another airport to have it fixed?!

Any thoughts out there would be appreciated before I reply to Freebird's email.

111KAB

cadbury8e8j wrote: »

Any thoughts out there would be appreciated before I reply to Freebird's email.

Assuming you were delayed over 3 hours and routed back to EU/UK you are entitled to compensation. First post I have seen re a Turkish airline - interested to know how you get on.

cadbury8e8j

Yep routed back to LGW. Got a very quick response to my initial email, but unfortunately as you can see, it said "no". Didn't really understand why as it was very broken English, but if you think I'm entitled then I will reject their reasons and go after them again.

romanby1

cadbury8e8j wrote: »

Yep routed back to LGW. Got a very quick response to my initial email, but unfortunately as you can see, it said "no". Didn't really understand why as it was very broken English, but if you think I'm entitled then I will reject their reasons and go after them again.

Don't mess around if you are sure of your facts an NBA with a 14 or 21 day response time or it's off to court.

cadbury8e8j

Sorry to be a pain. One last question. Do I threaten them with referring it to the CAA or ECC or Turkish regulator.

I'm not sure.

Flights booked were return LGW to Dalaman.

111KAB

cadbury8e8j wrote: »

Sorry to be a pain. One last question. Do I threaten them with referring it to the CAA or ECC or Turkish regulator.
I'm not sure.
Flights booked were return LGW to Dalaman.

Not worth doing this however Turkish NEB would be your point of contact but as with all NEB's a waste of time/stamp/effort.