Flight delay compensation, US and Canadian Airlines

Al1x

Looks like I may have to go down the court route too.

Hope you enjoy your holidays

gallaghb

Should I take United to court now? I complained to CAA 2 months ago today, and not heard anything back. I think they are going to be a waste of time.

United originally rejected my claim on 6th March saying the flight was cancelled due to 'Unexpected Safety Shortcomings'. The flight was cancelled 2 hours after the original departure time, we could see engineers were on site attempting to fix the aircraft. So I maintain that it was a technical issue with the aircraft which caused the cancellation, we were also told this by airline staff at the airport.
I can't seem to find a definition of what safety shortcomings could actually mean!

Has anyone had the safety shortcomings response from any airline and later had compensation paid?

Wondering if I should now just send a notice before action giving them 14 days to cough up and then take them to court.

romanby1

gallaghb wrote: »

Should I take United to court now? I complained to CAA 2 months ago today, and not heard anything back. I think they are going to be a waste of time.

United originally rejected my claim on 6th March saying the flight was cancelled due to 'Unexpected Safety Shortcomings'. The flight was cancelled 2 hours after the original departure time, we could see engineers were on site attempting to fix the aircraft. So I maintain that it was a technical issue with the aircraft which caused the cancellation, we were also told this by airline staff at the airport.
I can't seem to find a definition of what safety shortcomings could actually mean!

Has anyone had the safety shortcomings response from any airline and later had compensation paid?

Wondering if I should now just send a notice before action giving them 14 days to cough up and then take them to court.

Asuming you were flying from an EEC country a big yes. Technical faults are not ECs. You were denied boarding.

P_Doff

gallaghb wrote: »

Has anyone had the safety shortcomings response from any airline and later had compensation paid?

Yes but I had to go to court to get it.

gallaghb

My flight was from Heathrow.

Ok well I've sent them the NBA letter and given 14 days, so lets see what happens! I've tried to maintain that it was a technical issue and not a safety shortcoming and have requested full details of what the issue was so that I can see if the regulation applies. Although they did previously write to me and said they couldn't tell me what the issue was!

romanby1

gallaghb wrote: »

My flight was from Heathrow.

Ok well I've sent them the NBA letter and given 14 days, so lets see what happens! I've tried to maintain that it was a technical issue and not a safety shortcoming and have requested full details of what the issue was so that I can see if the regulation applies. Although they did previously write to me and said they couldn't tell me what the issue was!

If they do not reply or refuse to answer, there is a post somewhere on this forum with the correct wording to use, putting them on notice you will use the fact they will not tell you the reason for the delay if the case goes to court.

Al1x

romanby1 wrote: »

If they do not reply or refuse to answer, there is a post somewhere on this forum with the correct wording to use

Does anyone know where this is? I've been looking but can't find anything.

Vauban

romanby1 wrote: »

Asuming you were flying from an EEC country a big yes. Technical faults are not ECs. You were denied boarding.

For the avoidance of doubt, he was not denied boarding. He was delayed. The distinction is important because it is more difficult for an airline to defend denied boarding.

Mark2spark

Al1x wrote: »

Does anyone know where this is? I've been looking but can't find anything.

It's part of the court pre action protocols, where it says that all parties must divulge info between them to attempt a resolution without going to court.

So, "it's a tech issue but it's a secret tech issue" is as good a reason as any to go to court.

kittykat15

Hi I'm not sure if I should post this here and I'm new to forum posting so please bear with me. Me, my husband, daughter and disabled son flew on April 24, 2008 from Heathrow to Dallas with NWA and had a connecting flight in Minneapolis outbound and return...all on the same ticket and airline.
We were delayed sitting on the runway at Heathrow for just over 2 hours with no explanation but.....as luck would have it we were the last passengers to get on the plane as there was a delay in getting assisted help to the bus that took us to the plane, (sorry if this is long)
While we were being transported to the plane one of the ground crew on the bus with us and had said there was a delay, I heard conversations going back and forth over the transmitter that there was a problem with the "air start" and when I asked her, she said it shouldn't take long to fix.
When we finally arrived in Minneapolis, we had missed our connecting flight, and a NWA representative there said there wasn't another flight to Dallas until the next day. They did put us up in a hotel...at 1am after I argued with them because they told everyone the delay was because of bad weather and passengers had to pay for any accommodation themselves to which I disagreed telling her what I knew....quick as anything she pulled me to one side and said she would help us out as we had a disabled son and asked me not to mention the "air start" problem. We arrived in Dallas the next day... 13 hours later than scheduled and I would just like to know if anyone believes I or we, have a case? I have all the tickets and boarding passes, the only thing I'm unsure of is who to contact as Northwest merged with Delta 6 months later. Again I apologise for the length of my post as I have never used a forum before.:o