Flight delay compensation, all other EU airlines

jpsartre

If the cancellations/delays were due to poor weather (the response from Norwegian doesn't clarify unless you left something out?) you may as well forget it as you're not entitled to EU compensation. Was the flight from Manchester also delayed because of weather? Airlines aren't responsible for consequential losses. It sucks but these kinds of things happen when flying during wintertime. Your travel insurance may cover some of the lost costs.

Caz3121

calangley wrote: »

I have since contacted myflightdelayed.com but they have asked for a copy of our passport, which makes me nervous, can anyone help please ?

have they taken the flight details and confirmed you have a valid claim? putting your flight details through EUClaim appears to agree with the airline that this was weather related so no compensation due.
Whilst bad weather and snow may not be unusual for Norway, the test for compensation is whether the reason for the delay/cancellation is within the control of the airline...could the airline ignore a snowbound runway or ATC not giving approval to depart...no, so they cannot be made to pay compensation for these items so your travel insurance is where you should be looking at for help

Grw232

Hi everyone,

I know that technically this isn't a post about a flight delay, but I haven't come across anyone with a similar problem to this and wasn't sure where else to post.

I'm getting desperate and hope anyone can offer advice about my situation

We booked a flight from Gatwick to Singapore a few months back with Norwegian for the 15th March with a return flight from Singapore to Gatwick on the 3rd April. We paid roughly about £300/£350 for each flight. In between our flights home, we booked to spend time in Thailand, so subsequently had other flights into Thailand and back to Singapore again (to catch our flight home) with other airlines.

The issue arose when a few weeks ago, Norwegian informed us of a schedule change of 13 hours forward to our return flight home from Singapore. This flight was originally at 11pm at night, and our flight from Thailand back into Singapore would not arrive until 2pm that day. As the flight back to the UK had now been moved to 9am, we were physically unable to get our flight home. We explained this to Norwegian, who stated their policy was to either give us a full refund or transfer us to another available flight. We opted for the transfer (as we still had to get home!). We were told over the phone that day that the only other flight they had that we could transfer to was 7 days later on the 10th April. They stated they only flew out of Singapore once a week. For us, it was not possible that we could transfer to this flight as it would mean another 7 days in a hotel in Singapore which we simply couldn't afford, not to mention not having the time available to take off work. We had no choice but to get a refund then, and despair at the £700+ difference in cost for a flight home that day with another airline.

However. I rang Norwegian back the following day (after requesting the refund) to complain. It was then that I was informed that they did in fact have a flight from Singapore to Gatwick leaving on the 5th April and we could have been transferred to that, as there were lots of seats left. I was devastated.
I tried and tried to get the refund cancelled and be transferred instead but they refused and said this wasn't possible. I tried to get them to explain why on earth we hadn't been told about this alternative flight initially, to which they didn't answer. I couldn't believe that I was now looking at paying over £700 for a new flight home, when I could have flown home 2 days later with them free of charge (bar the cost of 2 extra nights in a hotel).

I am now mid-dispute with them through their "claims" department. I have lost count of the amount of phone calls and emails I have made, but seem to be getting nowhere. In the end, my partner and I have had no choice to book the new Norwegian flight home on the 5th (which we should have been offered to transfer to free of charge) at a cost of £639. (This was still cheaper than flying home the same day with an alternative airline and also still cheaper than moving our hotel booking/flight from Thailand to buy the 3rd April flight home).

I have made a claim to Norwegian that they compensate us the difference between our original flight with them (£315) compared to the £639 we have now had to pay. This is a difference of £314.

In my opinion, this is an error made by their staff by not informing us of the option to transferring to an available flight, and completely misinforming us that they only flew out of Singapore once a week. I have explained to them that by not offering us this transfer it is surely breaching their policy. I can't believe a member of staff with the wrong information has caused us so much grief. It seems so unfair. I have requested the help of the CAA but seeing as Norwegian is part of an ADR it seems I have to go through that to continue my claim.

I feel exhausted from it all but determined to get the money back. We are working so hard to pay off the holiday and to have an extra £300 odd added on (not to mention the cost of 2 extra nights in Singapore to get the new flight) just feels devastating.

Does anyone know of anything extra I should do or ways of making them pay up? Or even anyone that has had a similar experience with an airline giving the wrong information? I have requested that I have the recording of my phone call with them. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

JPears

MAking them pay up?
Either go through an ADR as you have stated or sue through Small claims court.
You are in the right on this one. What Norwegian also didn't offer but should have is re-routing through a different airline at their expense as the original choice of 7 days later is unacceptable.
I do wonder why you didn't do a flight search yourslef for alternative flights around the same date, give or take a few days?

Grw232

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I'm going down the ADR route but do feel a bit wary about small claims as it means parting with more money I might not get back! I didn't realise that about them re-routing through a different airline, will look more into that to get some more ammo!
I get what you're saying about the searching for flights, in hindsight we should have double-checked Norwegian ourselves and immediately searched what other flights they had to offer, but naively we just took their word for it over the phone and very much regret that now! Although you would have thought they themselves would know about all of their available flights. We searched for alternative flights but at the time were so focused on getting one that same day, of which only Quantas were flying and they were crazy expensive. Norwegian were still the cheapest airline to fly with around the date of the 3rd...and part of me also thought I'd be more likely to get compensation from them if I booked the new flight with them!

Thanks for the support...I really hope we can get the money back!

JPears

You will quickly learn on here, not to trust much any airline says.

Fieldy618

Hi,

I was hoping some knowledgeable members would be able to help me out with a flight cancellation that we have been hit with today by Norwegian Airlines.

We were due to fly to New York at 5pm, however due to weather events Norwegian has cancelled the flight. We have been booked on to the next flight which is at 6am tomorrow morning. On the phone we questioned whether we would be able to claim back overnight hotel stay costs to which they informed us that we would have to go through their claims process on the website. We would also be able to claim back for food expenses due to the delay being 13 hours too right?

My main question is around losing out on our New York overnight stay. Our travel insurance says they don't cover this on the policy we have but would it be reasonable to assume that Norwegian should cover this due to them cancelling our flight less than 24hrs before we were due to fly?

Many thanks,
Benjamin

jpsartre

Fieldy618 wrote: »

My main question is around losing out on our New York overnight stay. Our travel insurance says they don't cover this on the policy we have but would it be reasonable to assume that Norwegian should cover this due to them cancelling our flight less than 24hrs before we were due to fly?

No, they're not responsible for consequential losses.

Alan_Bowen

1700 flights have been cancelled today and tomorrow around New York and Boston. You may be lucky to fly tomorrow, the wind and snow are serious. In all the circumstances, any losses in New York are down to you or your insurance policy, not the airline

JPears

Once again, people need to check
1. what is actually covered on the travel insurance they buy.
2. Whether they have a valid claim. Check all the small print/contract carefully. Travel insurance, like airlines are not above misinforming their clients.