Flight delay compensation, all other non-EU airlines

Any

Hi,
Hope someone more knowledgable can help please.
We flew with Jet2 from Prague to Manchester (our return flight) and our flight was more then 3 hours delayed.
The whole handling of the delay was awful, they did not let us know until the moment we were supposed to be boarding (although flight checker someone had showed they did not leave Manchester yet!) and by the time they did, all food and drink places at Prague airport were shut.
They also did not offer any refreshments or anything at all - they just sent text.
I did a claim for delay on their website and they just answered today saying "we are sorry but delay on the day was caused by ATC (air traffic control) restrictions.
You can claim for drinks and food" - how thoutghtfull when we couldn't get anything there!!!

Now, I am not aware of any strikes or anything on the day. What does that sentence about ATC actually cover?
How can I check if they are just fobbing us off?

Thank you for reading

eskbanker

Any said:

I did a claim for delay on their website and they just answered today saying "we are sorry but delay on the day was caused by ATC (air traffic control) restrictions.
You can claim for drinks and food" - how thoutghtfull when we couldn't get anything there!!!

Now, I am not aware of any strikes or anything on the day. What does that sentence about ATC actually cover?
How can I check if they are just fobbing us off?

ATC restrictions can be caused by a variety of underlying reasons, not necessarily just strikes but weather conditions (anywhere along the route of your flight) and so on, but the key thing is that they're outside of the airline's control and therefore count as extraordinary circumstances, removing the airline's obligation to pay compensation for delays.

Unfortunately there's not much you can do to challenge the airline's version of events unless you compile evidence of other airlines' flights on the same or similar routes at the time....

Alex_Anna

Caz3121 said:

Alex_Anna said:

I'm nervous about going to claims court, but not sure I have any other option. 

I don't see a UK registered address for Aeromexico listed to enable you to take them to court...have you been able to find one?
Majority of airlines take the same approach with refunding a voucher booking with a voucher. Were you given any options for the initial cancellation of refund or voucher? (situation probably not helped given you booked with TravelGenio....surprised you even got a voucher, many people with them that booked are still fighting for anything!)
There was a case where some airlines that should have offered a refund initially were told to refund the vouchers (BA website gave voucher only option and was not clear to people that they could phone up and get a refund instead) however you will be a bit stuck with court without a UK address (I imagine it would be costly to use the Mexico court process)

Thanks for your help! I didn't realise that small claims only works with a UK address - I thought if the flight if took off from the UK that it might be covered.

Thanks for your explanation/time - I feel I should be happy that I got a voucher but I'm still so sad that they cancelled a flight on me twice and just took my money and now I'm out 550GBP, it feels so blatantly illegal. 

juni

It dosen't have to be a uk address we claimed and won  in small court from Emirates Airline from a flight that departed from Heathrow to Singapore via Dubai the Emirates flight departed from UK 

eskbanker

juni said:

It dosen't have to be a uk address we claimed and won  in small court from Emirates Airline from a flight that departed from Heathrow to Singapore via Dubai the Emirates flight departed from UK 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/money-claim-online-user-guide/money-claim-online-mcol-user-guide

You need to provide a full address within England and Wales for each defendant, including the post code. This is known as their service address. MCOL does not have jurisdiction outside England and Wales - claims issued to addresses outside England and Wales will be invalid.

juni

You can claim for flights out of Europe as long as you live in England and Wales  

juni

As long as flight departed from UK

Westin

juni said:

You can claim for flights out of Europe as long as you live in England and Wales  

Yes, to a claim against the operating airline for a flight delay or cancellation under EU261/UK261 - and it does not matter where you live - but that is not what you previously referenced and what you were corrected on by eskbanker.

juni said:

It dosen't have to be a uk address we claimed and won  in small court from Emirates Airline from a flight that departed from Heathrow to Singapore via Dubai the Emirates flight departed from UK 

Eskbanker pointed out the guidance on the small claims/MCOL process and conditions of both parties having addresses in England or Wales.

alecchalmers

Hi all,

I'm at a loss and don't understand the compensation system regarding international flights, so any advice would be appreciated.

We booked via Expedia to fly from Manchester to Chicago Via Heathrow on July 19th 2022 (the hottest day of the year). BA was flying us from Manchester to Heathrow, then AA was going to fly us from Heathrow to Chicago. As we pull up to the airport we get a notification that our AA flight to Chicago is cancelled, and have finally received a reason from AA. It was an operational failure and crew-related issues. There's no point getting on the connecting flight to Heathrow; we can't arrange anything in time, and the airline isn't offering alternative flights, so we just go home.

We eventually got through to BA on the phone (there was no one at the airport willing to speak to us about it) who offer to reschedule our flights to next year for a fee. Quite a big fee, over £350 for the privilege of moving our flights to the only time convenient for us to reschedule.

So much money was wasted on the cattery, parking, food at the airport while we waited for a response, insurance we didn't need, and multiple hotels abroad. I'm also not happy about being scared into paying to move the flight or we might lose the only window of time we can travel next year.

• Where do we stand with compensation?

• I can't find a dispute company that deals with AA, does anyone know of one?

I tried through BA and CEDR but because the flight has an AA code I can't use them, which makes sense.

• Do I also apply through my travel insurance company?

eskbanker

alecchalmers said:

Hi all,

I'm at a loss and don't understand the compensation system regarding international flights, so any advice would be appreciated.

We booked via Expedia to fly from Manchester to Chicago Via Heathrow on July 19th 2022 (the hottest day of the year). BA was flying us from Manchester to Heathrow, then AA was going to fly us from Heathrow to Chicago. As we pull up to the airport we get a notification that our AA flight to Chicago is cancelled, and have finally received a reason from AA. It was an operational failure and crew-related issues. There's no point getting on the connecting flight to Heathrow; we can't arrange anything in time, and the airline isn't offering alternative flights, so we just go home.

We eventually got through to BA on the phone (there was no one at the airport willing to speak to us about it) who offer to reschedule our flights to next year for a fee. Quite a big fee, over £350 for the privilege of moving our flights to the only time convenient for us to reschedule.

So much money was wasted on the cattery, parking, food at the airport while we waited for a response, insurance we didn't need, and multiple hotels abroad. I'm also not happy about being scared into paying to move the flight or we might lose the only window of time we can travel next year.

• Where do we stand with compensation?

• I can't find a dispute company that deals with AA, does anyone know of one?

I tried through BA and CEDR but because the flight has an AA code I can't use them, which makes sense.

• Do I also apply through my travel insurance company?

As it was AA who were to operate the cancelled flight, they're on the hook for resolving this, rather than BA.

If the cancellation wasn't due to extraordinary circumstances, and "operational failure and crew-related issues" don't sound like extraordinary circumstances, then they're liable to pay you compensation of £520 per person.

Additionally, when cancelling, they're obliged to offer you the choice between a refund or rearranged travel, either asap or at a time of your choosing, so you shouldn't be expected to pay more to rebook for next year, in that AA are liable to provide those flights at no extra cost.

No need to use a dispute company, you can just claim this yourself.

AA are also liable for costs of food at the airport, but other costs, like hotels (assuming not booked as a package), parking and cattery, are for your travel insurance company.

Not quite sure what BA's liabilities are when you didn't take their flight because of the cancellation of the second leg, but I think there should be an argument that if you made a through booking with them, they should provide MAN-LHR flights at no extra cost to align with your rearranged Chicago ones.