Flight delay compensation, all other non-EU airlines

tarric

looking for some help. I purchased a return flight Manchester to Fort Myers Florida. the outward route was Man-Paris(CDG)-Atlanta-Fort Myers
return Fort Myers-Atlanta-Amsterdam-Manchester
The outward ticket states Air France as the flight provider and the return KLM, I had a 24hr delay on the return flight and contacted the airline on my return, their response was that as the flight had been operated by Delta Airlines a non EU airline and departed from a non EU airport, therefore not under EC Regulation 261/2004 and therefore I am not entitled to any compensation but my booking states my return flights are KLM 5283, KLM 624 and KLM 1073.
Any advice on were I stand appreciate.

Caz3121

tarric wrote: »

The outward ticket states Air France as the flight provider and the return KLM, I had a 24hr delay on the return flight and contacted the airline on my return, their response was that as the flight had been operated by Delta Airlines a non EU airline and departed from a non EU airport, therefore not under EC Regulation 261/2004 and therefore I am not entitled to any compensation but my booking states my return flights are KLM 5283, KLM 624 and KLM 1073.
Any advice on were I stand appreciate.

they are correct. EU261 is based on the 'operating airline'....your tickets involved codeshare flights.
Your flight numbers would have stated KLM 5283 (operated by Delta)..in the case of EU261 it does not matter what the flight number is or who you bought your ticket from but the operating airline. (which in this case means no EU261)

Westin

#926/nnghks

Would I be correct in thinking your travel originates in Hong Kong? Are you wanting to still travel on the HKG/IST/LON flight (or have you already) and you are seeking a refund or options for the LON/IST/HKG sectors?

nnghks

Re Westin,


You are correct. The flight originates in Hong Kong. It is the return trip (from London to Hong Kong) being cancelled. I am still seeking to travel from London to Hong Kong on the same day as the original flight. I believe I am entitled to be flown by another airline according to CAA.

Westin

Using the HKG/IST/LON sectors is why the refund quoted for the return segments back to HKG are low. You can have a refund on the full value but you can’t use half the ticket. It also doesn’t calculate as an equally 50/50 fare split if you use the flight over to London and not the return. I think you will be better working with the STA/TK options for days either side for your trip back.

JPears

If the flight to HK has been cancelled you are entitled to an alternative flight , with another airline if this more convenient for you. The route from Ato B is irrelevant.
TA should arrange and pay. If not or they refuse you can buy ticket yourself and claim back off TA.

Aj07

Hi People.

I am after some advice on the following. Many thanks in advance.

My journey with Air China & Thai Airlines were booked as the following.

Air China flights
London Heathrow to Beijing (stopover flight) to Bangkok (return)

Thai Airlines (booked seperatly)
Bangkok to Phuket. (return)


In my situation my London to Beijing first leg flight was delayed by 1hr 30 mins due to technical issues with the plane. We was on the plane but it did not fly until the issue was resolved.

This caused me to miss my connecting flight as the stopover time was 1hr 45 mins in Beijing and by the time I got into the airport the flight had already taken off.

The offered flight was an 11hr wait to get me into Bangkok which would have resulted in missing the Bangkok to Phuket flight so this was not an option.
So Air China booked me to fly straight to Phuket bypassing the other flight I had already booked myself.

This resulted In my waiting around 9hrs in Beijing and I arrived into Phuket around 4hr 30mins later than I had planned. Resulted in missing booked transportation etc

Since I had not boarded the Bangkok to Phuket flight with Thai Airline I had to pay for the return flight again on my return leg to get me back to Bangkok to get back onto the Air China flight.

Hope this makes sense and I hope someone can help. I am unsure if there is a case for this and if I can do anything about this?

Thanks

Caz3121

Aj07 wrote: »

So Air China booked me to fly straight to Phuket bypassing the other flight I had already booked myself. - that was a good result as all they had to do was get you to BKK

This resulted In my waiting around 9hrs in Beijing and I arrived into Phuket around 4hr 30mins later than I had planned. Resulted in missing booked transportation etc

Since I had not boarded the Bangkok to Phuket flight with Thai Airline I had to pay for the return flight again on my return leg to get me back to Bangkok to get back onto the Air China flight.

as you had separate tickets there is added complexity as the delay would be counted as the delayed arrival in BKK
Had they routed you to BKK you would have needed to purchase new tickets from BKK to HKT and back anyway as you would have been a no-show.
Claim should be from Air China based on the missed connection and not being able to get you to BKK for x hours. (€600 + reimbursement of refreshments whilst waiting)
Check your travel insurance to see what cover you have on separate tickets (some insist on 12 hours between flights to be covered)

peter_333

Aj07 wrote: »

Hi People.

I am after some advice on the following. Many thanks in advance.

My journey with Air China & Thai Airlines were booked as the following.

Air China flights
London Heathrow to Beijing (stopover flight) to Bangkok (return)

Thai Airlines (booked seperatly)
Bangkok to Phuket. (return)


In my situation my London to Beijing first leg flight was delayed by 1hr 30 mins due to technical issues with the plane. We was on the plane but it did not fly until the issue was resolved.

This caused me to miss my connecting flight as the stopover time was 1hr 45 mins in Beijing and by the time I got into the airport the flight had already taken off.

The offered flight was an 11hr wait to get me into Bangkok which would have resulted in missing the Bangkok to Phuket flight so this was not an option.
So Air China booked me to fly straight to Phuket bypassing the other flight I had already booked myself.

This resulted In my waiting around 9hrs in Beijing and I arrived into Phuket around 4hr 30mins later than I had planned. Resulted in missing booked transportation etc

Since I had not boarded the Bangkok to Phuket flight with Thai Airline I had to pay for the return flight again on my return leg to get me back to Bangkok to get back onto the Air China flight.

Hope this makes sense and I hope someone can help. I am unsure if there is a case for this and if I can do anything about this?

Thanks

I'm afraid I'm not going to have much in the way of positive advice for you. I think your best (and possibly your only) option is to talk to you travel insurance company and hope they will help.

However, in my experience, most travel insurance specifically excludes cover travel disruption caused by a missed connection (especially when the connecting flights were with booked on separate tickets). The argument of the insurance company is that you should not be taking the risk of booking connections on separate tickets, and if they were booked on the same ticket it's the responsibility of the airline to compensate for the disruption. I have some of the most comprehensive travel insurance I could possibly find, and even then, they specifically exclude cover for flight connections on separate tickets, unless the connection time is more than 24 hours.

Now, had you continued to Bangkok with the 11-hour delay in Beijing, Air China would absolutely have been liable for the standard EU directed compensation. But because they went out of their way to help you get to Phuket instead of Bangkok, I would imagine they will argue they've already done more than enough to compensate you. Personally, I would still try for compensation for the original delay, but my experience with Air China regarding compensation (albeit for lost luggage) has not been good.

As for needing to rebook the Phuket to Bangkok flight, unfortunately unless your insurance company is really friendly, I think you're out of luck.

Aj07

Thank you both for your great replies..

I did try with my travel insurance but as you already mentioned they will not compensate

I will attempt to try with Air China to see what they can do. In your options where should I begin with Air China? Call complaints? Or should there be a 'special' number for this type of stuff?
I did see the compensation free letter on this website so I could send this to them via email? I do see a complaints email.

Thanks again