Flight delay compensation, US and Canadian Airlines

kateorama

Hi! I lodged a claim last week with United over a 5 hour delay on a flight from Heathrow to New York a couple of months ago. It was due to some sort of technical problem.

I just got my first response from United which says, "Prior to departure, an unexpected safety shortcoming beyond our control impacted the operation of the aircraft...Although EU261 compensation is not applicable in this case..." and they offered me $200 each flight vouchers.

Has any one else had the same response and any advice please on how to respond?

Thanks!

lyndac40

Al1x wrote: »

Just drafting my letter.

Does this sound ok?

---

Delayed Flight Compensation - Notice before Action
Flight number: DL149
Date: 25/06/2011
Booking Ref: XXXXXX
Passenger names: Mrs KXX, Mr KXX, Miss KXX, MR PXX, Mrs PXX, Miss PXX, Miss PXX, Miss PXX

Amount claimed: 600 euros per passenger total 4800.00 euros

Thank you for your reply dated 07/08/2013.

Your letter was incorrect in stating that the EU regulation rules do not apply on this instance.

You will be aware of the recent judgement in the Grand Chamber of the European Court (Folkerts v Air France) that confirmed that Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 "must be interpreted as meaning that compensation is payable, on the basis of that article, to a passenger on directly connecting flights who has been delayed at departure for a period below the limits specified in Article 6 of that regulation, but has arrived at the final destination at least three hours later than the scheduled arrival time".


So I am again writing to you to lodge my claim for delayed flight compensation. Our flight (detailed above) left Heathrow and arrived at JFK 23 minutes late missing the slot at arrivals, so we were left on the tarmac for well over another hour. This meant we missed our connecting flight to Cincinnati. Because of the delay we did not land in Cincinnati (our final destination) until the next afternoon, around 18 hours late.


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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

---

I'm trying to find something that confirms that if both flights are booked at the same time (as if it was one flight) then EU regulation rules do apply. Can anyone help with that?

Thanks

HI Al1x,

Your letter sounds great, I couldn't find anything either about a straight through ticket but as you know United paid out to me eventually so therefore it must be correct.

I meant to add don't bother with the CAA they are as much use as a chocolate tea pot.

Lynda x

lyndac40

kateorama wrote: »

Hi! I lodged a claim last week with United over a 5 hour delay on a flight from Heathrow to New York a couple of months ago. It was due to some sort of technical problem.

I just got my first response from United which says, "Prior to departure, an unexpected safety shortcoming beyond our control impacted the operation of the aircraft...Although EU261 compensation is not applicable in this case..." and they offered me $200 each flight vouchers.

Has any one else had the same response and any advice please on how to respond?

Thanks!

Hi kateorama,

My case with United was slightly different from yours in the fact that United never gave the reason for our delay as EC. They did however offer me $200 in flight vouchers and if you look back all my older posts you will see by the time we were finished they were offering me $1500 in flight vouchers each per passenger witch i declined and was eventually given the full amount in cash. Send them a NBA give them 14 days if no response start court proceeding. That's the only way to get anywhere with them.

Lynda x

Al1x

lyndac40 wrote: »

HI Al1x,

Your letter sounds great, I couldn't find anything either about a straight through ticket but as you know United paid out to me eventually so therefore it must be correct.

I meant to add don't bother with the CAA they are as much use as a chocolate tea pot.

Lynda x

Thank you

So do I contact the small claims court to get forms or to say I will be starting a case against Delta or do I wait till 14 days after I send the letter? Also is it expensive to take them to court?

lyndac40

Al1x wrote: »

Thank you

So do I contact the small claims court to get forms or to say I will be starting a case against Delta or do I wait till 14 days after I send the letter? Also is it expensive to take them to court?

Hi Al1x,

Give them the 14 days, but get all your paper work ready I handed mines into court on the 15th day ha ha didn't give them any grace period. In Scotland it costs £71 to take a company to the small claims court. If you are in England or Wales you can use the MCOL processes I am not sure how much it costs for this, but if you go here i am sure you will find out all the information you need. https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome you can add the cost of the court fees to your claim along with the interest from the date your flight was delayed. this then gives you a barging tool if and when they want to settle out of court.

hope this help you

lynda x

Al1x

Thanks Lynda.. Really hope it goes as well as your claim.. fingers crossed!

lyndac40

Good luck Al1x,

keep in touch and let me know how you get on.

Lynda x

Al1x

I will do..

actually I'm stuck already lol. Just looking at how to do a claim and it says I need:

full name (including title) of the person(s) you wish to make a claim against

full address (including postcode) of the person(s) you wish to make a claim against


I only have a the name of the person who replied to my email. Or do I put Delta as the name.. maybe I'm not looking at it clearly as its getting late!

lyndac40

Ali1x,

I am not sure how the MCOL works there is a thread called Taking an airline to court I am sure if you post in there they will be able to help you.

In Scotland there are 2 different forms one for a person and one for a company so may be the same with MCOL.

Lynda x

dmurray0

I am in the process of claiming against Delta for a near 6 hour delay recently from Dublin to Atlanta and onto Orlando on 29th June 2013.
To cut a long story short, some people in Dublin were handed a letter from Delta at the baggage drop apologising for the delay and blaming it on "mechanical issues." I received this letter. I have since found several other people on other websites who were on the same flight and have got a response from Delta blaming "bad weather" for the delay. I have now sent off my NBA to them enclosing both the letter handed to me in Dublin, and a copy of the e-mail I received from a fellow traveller blaming the weather.
Very curious to see how they deal with the various version of events.