Flight delay compensation, all other EU airlines

Ich_2

I've stayed away from here for a lot of reasons, but be careful Switzerland is NOT a member of the EU, so EU law may not apply unless specifically enabled by the Swiss government

Vauban

Ich wrote: »

I've stayed away from here for a lot of reasons, but be careful Switzerland is NOT a member of the EU, so EU law may not apply unless specifically enabled by the Swiss government

Switzerland, as a member of the EEA, is covered by the Regulation.

Good to see you back, Ich!

QueryK

Hi - I am just wondering if I am able to claim compensation. Our Emirates flight to Dubai was delayed in Dublin by 5 hours because Aer Lingus refused (because of health and safety reasons) to load catering onto the aircraft due to high winds. They had to wait until wind was 40 knots or less. We missed a connecting flight in Dubai on to Johannesburg - got there six hours later. Thanks!:)

David_e

QueryK wrote: »

Hi - I am just wondering if I am able to claim compensation. Our Emirates flight to Dubai was delayed in Dublin by 5 hours because Aer Lingus refused (because of health and safety reasons) to load catering onto the aircraft due to high winds. They had to wait until wind was 40 knots or less. We missed a connecting flight in Dubai on to Johannesburg - got there six hours later. Thanks!:)

Think the answer's no for various reasons which you will discover by reading the FAQs.

bree53

I was under the impression that delay compensation applied if the country of departure was in EU. Thanks anyhow any help appreciated.

*j*

My personal experience with Swiss is that they needed a lot of patient persuasion to pay a little, then a bit more, then no more could be teased out of them.

However, once they had been served with papers from the court, they paid the rest of the claim in full within about a week.

I contacted them a few days after the flight, but as you seem to have waited since 2010 I suspect they will take the view that you are not serious about this claim.

EC261/2004 does cover Swiss flights arriving in and departing from Switzerland.

*j*

David_e

Haletruck wrote: »

I think it's up to the flight company's policy, you can try to call for compensation, but not sure...

If you rely on company policy - rather than the law - I imagine the answer will be no compensation, but happy to be proved wrong.

Alan_Bowen

It sounds to me that if the wind was 40knots, it would have been unwise to take off in any event, unless the wind was exactly down the runway direction. Catering equipment is heavy and can cause serious injury, I think they will certainly claim the weather was the sole cause of the delay.

davholla

lucyonline wrote: »

Hi there

I just posted these questions as a new thread but then realised that maybe I should have put it here as it relates to an EU airline. So I'll put my questions here too but apologies if it's in the wrong place!

I have been pursing Iberia for compensation since a delayed flight from Bogota to LHR in 2009 got me home over 30 hours late. Iberia have fudged and evaded and refused over and over again, even though the Spanish regulator AESA have now ruled that they DO owe me EUR600 compensation. So the time has come to take them to court. The forums seem to suggest that I can do this through MCOL in this country, but when I rang the CAA for their advice they told me I have to do it through the European Court.

So can someone advise....
1. MCOL or European Court (and if so, which one, there are so many websites!) And if MCOL do I address it to Iberia's UK office or their head office in Madrid?
2. Can I just go ahead and claim now? I already wrote to them 2 weeks ago demanding the money that AESA say they owe and threatening court action if they don't pay and they have written back to me saying they won't. But I can't reply to it because it's from a no-reply email address.
3. Can I claim interest? If so how much and how do you calculate it (compound every year or just as a percentage on top of the 600 EUR)?
4. Do I just claim 600 EUR or do I have to work out what it would have been in 2009?
5. Can I claim court fees back?
6. Does anyone have any advice about how to prepare the claim to make sure it is successful? You can't look ahead on MCOL to see what they're going to require without filling the first pages in.

Your advice would be much appreciated. I'm not a lawyer and have no experience of this, but I WON'T let those B%£$^%DS win just because I'm the little guy and they think if they stonewall me enough I'll go away...!

Did you email Iberia or write to them? What address /email address did you use?

cloudz

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the BA thread but here goes anyway.

I'm wondering if anyone has any opinion on whether this case is worth pursuing? I feel like I am entitled to some form of compensation but I can see enough evidence to tell me that it may not be covered by the EU regulations.

I flew London to Guatemala City via Madrid with Iberia (the tickets was purchased on their website) in November of last year. My flight back home (IB6342) stopped in San Salvador (which wasn't mentioned in my itinerary) and then took off again towards Madrid. After 45 minutes we were told that there was an 'engine issue' and that we'd have to turn around. After a few hours of looping around San Salvador we landed in Guatemala City after midnight and we were put up in various hotels for the night. We were told that we'd be given information on our new departure time sometime during the night.

Little to no information was given the following day and we were moved to a second hotel. There was talk of flying over an engine part from Madrid which would take at least 24 hours. All accommodation and meals were paid for.

I finally got word to go to the airport at 4.00am the following morning where a group of us flew Guatemala City -> San Jose -> Bogata -> Madrid and then I continued onto London.

Original expected date/time of arrival:
18:30h, Monday, 25th

Actual date/time of arrival
10.00h, Wednesday 27th

I have yet to request a formal explanation as to what happened to the flight.

The following 'exceptional circumstance' makes me think that pursuing this claim may be pointless.

'Unexpected flight safety shortcomings: Any technical issues which cause the pilot to carry out an aircraft turnaround or diversion.'

However, they do say that they take each claim on a case by case basis and the airline has to prove that they took reasonable measures to avoid disruption.

When I got to Madrid I also heard that the exact same thing happened to a flight from Mexico City to Madrid that same weekend as I travelled from Madrid to London with a group who had been delayed to a similar extent.

I did miss out on a days work and I do feel that the airline didn't act as well as they could to ensure that traveller disruption was minimised. On another note, I was disgusted with the lack of information provided and as a single traveller with little to no spanish I found the whole experience to be somewhat traumatic.

From trawling through posts here I see Iberia are reluctant to pay out so do people think this is worth pursuing?