Flight delay compensation, all other EU airlines

hawky1

hawky1 wrote: »

Sorry 3 hours

Haha that is some delay!!

Marcus-H_2

Hi,
Was asked to post here.

Airline Enter Air
Departure Date 5th March
From Bristol
Destination Sofia

Delay to landing was 3.5 Hours.
I have proof from the airport of our departure time
I have proof of our landing time from the destination airport.
Due to land at 18:50
but we landed at 22:13 & parked at 22:18
Distance 2160km appprox

So possible entitlement of €400

This was a large group of us.
I have already made initail claim for compensation & was asked for Power of Attorney to represent other passengers & boarding passes.

I provided the PoA, but not everyone has their boarding pass.
So I mailed them a copy of my E-Ticket.

This is the latest response :-
Dear Sirs,



in response to your e-mail, I would like to thank you for sending the claim to Enter Air. We would like to inform you that you have not provided us with the sufficient documentary evidence to establish the passengers presence on board of the aircraft.

So far you have not proven that persons you represent, took the specific flight, although you have provided us with some kind of receipt from the travel agency - it is not equal with the statement that passenger was boarded for the factual flight. In addition to this, we kindly inform that according to EU 261/2004 Regulation establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding, flight cancellations, or long delays of flights, art. 3, Paragraph 1 shall apply on the condition that passengers:

a) have a confirmed reservation on the flight concerned and, except in the case of cancellation referred to in Article 5, present themselves for check-in (...)

Please be informed that we cannot accept the claim unless you submit the necessary documentation. Thus far your claim is not being proceed for the methodological reasons.

However we would like to explain that the flight ENT630 from Sofia to Bristol on 5.03.2016 was delayed due to unexpected technical problem.

Please note that once you submit the documentation you have been asked for this file will be reopened.

At check in - this was done by Swissport.
So how do I go about proving I checked in? or as an E-Ticket was issued, the airline needs to prove I did not check in?

I have spoken to Swissport, who will release confirmation to Enter Air IF they ask for it. I was also told, that they only keep the records for 3 months.

So need a little help with the next step.... I could request a DPA to Swissport - but not sure if they would release the information to me.

David_e

Marcus-H wrote: »

I have spoken to Swissport, who will release confirmation to Enter Air IF they ask for it. I was also told, that they only keep the records for 3 months.

So need a little help with the next step.... I could request a DPA to Swissport - but not sure if they would release the information to me.

If Swissport hold information about you then, assuming they are in the UK, they should be subject to obligations under the Data Protection Act. What Enter Air do and don't want them to disclose is irrelevant.

If they do apply a 3 month retention period, I would crack on with it. And get all the passengers to do likewise.

Marcus-H_2

David_e wrote: »

If Swissport hold information about you then, assuming they are in the UK, they should be subject to obligations under the Data Protection Act. What Enter Air do and don't want them to disclose is irrelevant.

If they do apply a 3 month retention period, I would crack on with it. And get all the passengers to do likewise.

As I was the lead passenger of the booking + I have Power of Attorney confirmation from them, can I do it on behalf of everyone else?

David_e

Marcus-H wrote: »

As I was the lead passenger of the booking + I have Power of Attorney confirmation from them, can I do it on behalf of everyone else?

Don't know, to be honest. May depend on what PoA says. If you aren't up against a time limit you could try that but if they say 3 month retention that's 5 June which may come around soon if they sit on your request.

JPears

Surely Enter Air must hold a passenger manifest for those that boarded, and I would have thought for obvious security reasons these days, for some time, not just 3 months.

howticklediam

Re: Boarding passes.

I took a well known UK airline to court without boarding passes. I just had my email confirmation of the booking. They asked in their defence document for "strict proof" that we had presented for the flight in time but at the end of the day it made no difference and they settled before the hearing. So it's just a delaying tactic - if they are being sticky the only way to get their attention is to issue an NBA.

DIYBaldyman

Marcus-H wrote: »

Please be informed that we cannot accept the claim unless you submit the necessary documentation. Thus far your claim is not being proceed for the methodological reasons.

At check in - this was done by Swissport.
So how do I go about proving I checked in? or as an E-Ticket was issued, the airline needs to prove I did not check in?

I have spoken to Swissport, who will release confirmation to Enter Air IF they ask for it. I was also told, that they only keep the records for 3 months.

So need a little help with the next step.... I could request a DPA to Swissport - but not sure if they would release the information to me.

Marcus,

Lodge a DPA request with Swissport if they hold the check-in information, they're less likely to stall in turning it around.

One thing I've learned whilst researching claiming flight-delay compensation - only in very rare cases will they settle without receiving either a LBA or actual notice of court proceedings. Until they receive notice they will mess you around, send you on wild-goose chases here there & everywhere & do just about everything they can to waste time & stall the process. This gives them several advantages - (i) they keep any money due in their own funds as long as possible; (ii) some people will give up & walk away out of sheer frustration; (iii) it could push a claim over the current 6-year deadline (a passenger needs to commence court action within 6 years of the flight, otherwise the airline has no liability).

Whilst Enter Air may be telling you they won't accept your claim, they will have no choice if it goes to court.

I would still suggest issuing a Letter Before Action to Enter Air - they won't necessarily know that you may not have hard copies of all of the boarding cards, but as I mentioned on the previous posts, they will know that you were on the flight & if their only argument at this stage is that you haven't provided proof that the whole party was on the flight, they will have no defence in court as their passenger manifest will show you WERE all on the flight.

Read section 5.2 of Vauban's guide - the test applied in court is to determine "on the balance of probability" that you were on the flight, so a fully paid ticket, credit card statements / receipts for airport services on the day (parking, duty-free goods etc.), stamps in passports after departing the delayed flight - will all go towards increasing the balance of probability in the absence of boarding cards, particularly if the airline cannot produce a passenger list with your names not present.

Therefore it would be worth sending copies of any documentation you have confirming your presence at the departure airport & stating within your LBA that you are confident that you can demonstrate that you all presented for check-in & that, you are prepared to allow a court to make a ruling.

As Enter Air are based in Poland, you'll probably need to follow the details under Ryanair in Vauban's guide for taking legal action against an EU airline with no UK presence. Enter Air do have an operational base at Manchester Airport, but this probably doesn't house a legal presence.

howticklediam

Totally agree with the above post, but...

DIYBaldyman wrote: »

Therefore it would be worth sending copies of any documentation you have confirming your presence at the departure airport & stating within your LBA that you are confident that you can demonstrate that you all presented for check-in & that, you are prepared to allow a court to make a ruling.

I wouldn't even bother with that, produce your evidence if you get to the stage of preparing court papers. The evidence is for the court not the airline. The airline can decide for themselves whether you are confident enough, obviously you are, or you wouldn't be taking them to court

DIYBaldyman wrote: »

As Enter Air are based in Poland, you'll probably need to follow the details under Ryanair in Vauban's guide for taking legal action against an EU airline with no UK presence. Enter Air do have an operational base at Manchester Airport, but this probably doesn't house a legal presence.

As far as I am aware if the airline has a UK presence you can take them to court in the UK.

Marcus-H_2

Thanks for the replies.
Swissport have agreed to issue me with evidence that we checked in (there was 22 passengers in our booking). EnterAir are refusing to check theirs & I am not going to allow them to use it as a delay.

I am going to dance to EnterAir tune & give them this proof.
I know it is a delay tactic by them. If Swissport would not help, then I would have proceeded with a letter before action.

We have plenty of proof we was on the flight (geo-tagged photos being on the plane, etc.) - but want to give them the chance to payout, as well as proving beyond reasonable doubt I was on the plane by giving them all the evidence they asked for.
Ie Making it more difficult for them in the long run.

I think when I submit my evidence - I will submit it with a Letter Before Action notice.

Reading the EU website, I can take them to court in the UK.