Flight delay compensation, all other EU airlines

harry12345

Hi, new to the forum so apologies if posting this in the right place.

A number of months ago I booked a TAP Portugal flight from Budapest to Lisbon for April 9th. Yesterday (April 5th) I received an email to say that my booking had been changed to April 12th- three days later!

In the email there was no information about my options, only a phone number to ring for 'further information'. I rang and initially was offered a rerouting via Brussels, which was to depart 8 hours earlier (and arrive 2 hours earlier to Lisbon). This was not possible for me, so I decided to ask for a refund; fortunately there happened to be another direct flight with another airline available at a similar time to the TAP flight, and at a similar price.

Terminology wise, while the email did not use the word 'reschedule', it said 'changes' and the man on the phone said the flight had been 'cancelled'. Had the other airline's flight not been available I would have been in a very difficult position, had it been more expensive i would have been out of pocket, and it took a considerable amount of time to sort out the whole debacle. Does anyone know if I am entitled to any compensation for this?

Thanks

JPears

As the airline cancelled your flight with less than 2 weeks notice and the alternative was not suitable/convenient and out of certain times frames from the original, you are entitled to:
1. Compensation under regulation 261/2004 - amount depends on the length of your flight.
2. A full refund and any additional cost you incurred due to the alternative flight.
Download Vauban's most sub guide for all the imfromation and template letters for your claim.
Good luck.

TEEP

Hi all,

I booked a return flight business class to Sao Paulo (VCP) through Opodo with a transfer in Lisbon with TAP airways. On checking in at LHR I noticed the baggage tag said GRU as its destination (GRU is 3hrs drive away from VCP). The check-in desk guy told me to talk to ticketing who told be I needed to sort it out in Lisbon.

I called Opodo who said the airline had changed the booking.

On arriving in Lisbon the gate staff told me there was no record of me on the original flight and my bag was already on the new flight so I couldn't do anything about it. The new flight downgraded me to Economy as well.

So, as far as I can see I may be able to claim for being:

1. Denied boarding
2. Downgraded
3. More than 3hrs late at my original destination (the new light left 30 mins earlier but I had to drive 3hrs to get back to the original destination airport VCP)

How do I tackle this and can I claim for the lot?

Thanks

legal_magpie

This is going to be one of those cases where the facts have to be established first. 1. Have you checked your ticket and, if so, what did it say?
2. You may find that the airline told Opodo of the change but Opodo didn't tell you.
3. I assume that you didn't double check your booking a day or two beforehand

JPears

Yes, you need to be asking alot of questions of opodo. If they confirmed your original journey but never actually booked it, that's breach of contract.
Equally if TAP changed the flight, case law and regulations put the onus on the airline, even with an intermediary, to in form you.
I do wonder why people use these third-party booking agents. Very rarely is it cheaper, there is little security and most of them don't want to know if there's a problem.

TEEP

i was notified in advance by TAP via email that the flight time had changed. Given that it was TAP and not Opodo that handled this, I would assume they were supposed to be doing it on the outbound journey too.

The TAP staff at the gate also didn't have any idea what was going on anyway.

One point I am particularly interested in is the failure to get me to the booked destination - is close to the same city enough or are there further consequences? I booked to VCP airport, they delivered me to GRU and did not offer (or give when I asked) any means to get back to VCP.

Have they breached their contact of carriage?

legal_magpie

You have changed your story. You gave the impression that the first you knew about the change was when you arrived at the airport. Now you say you were told in advance but you don't say how far in advance or what action, if any, you took when you found out. If you don't give us the correct information, how can we give a sensible answer?

TEEP

Sorry, I posted whilst waiting at the airport - I had been awake for rather a long time and wasn't very clear. To clarify:

Outbound Flight - No advance notification, placed on different plane, downgraded, arrived at different airport 120km away from original destination (GRU rather than VCP), no help getting to VCP after landing.

The lack of notification is irritating, however I am more interested in claiming for the downgrade and possibly late arrival. The flight had a transfer in LIS and it was the 2nd leg from here to Sao Paulo that was the issue. I calculated it represented 80% of the distance, therefore I should get 40% back of teh total trip cost (x0.5 as it only affected outbound journey, then x0.8 for 80% of distance travelled affected by downgrade). Is this sensible?

Late arrival is more difficult because no flights were late, I just ended up a long way from my original destination, arguably more than 4 hrs once you take into account the time to get baggage, organise new transport and battle through Sao Paulo rush hour traffic.

Return Flight - Received advanced notification of change in flight time, flight 11hrs late arriving in London, went to LHR rather than LCY which was originally booked, no help getting to LCY after landing.

For this flight the late arrival is without contest, however should I pursue anything else purely for the change in destination airport?

Hope that clears things up a bit. Next time I'll wait until I have some proper sleep before positing.

JPears

As said before, I think you need to be asking alot of questions to Opodo.
As magpie siad - what does your ticket actually say int erms of each travle leg there and back?
If the booking confirmation/ticket shows the airports you thought wereear that Opodo booked you correctly but TAP made the changes. If the original booking confirmation/ ticket shows the changed airports then you potentially have no case for compensation at all. (but I suspect this is not the case from what you tell us)
Who informed you of the change to the return journey and how many dyas before the flight?
I think you need to give us more detail - dates/ timimgs/ flight numbers etc.

calmstellar

My flight from Lisbon to London City was cancelled due to fog at London City. No problem with the cancellation, and understand I'm not entitled to compensation for that.



However, TAP offered zero support, zero information, a phone number that no one answered (on hold for 45+ minutes), customer service lines in the airport that I waited in for 2+ hours before giving up, and a twitter response that simply said they couldn't guarantee they'd refund any expenses.


In the end, I flew back to London Heathrow 2 days later.


Even ignoring the lack of communication, in my view 48 hours wasn't a reasonable time to get me back to London when they could have put me on a flight with another airline, given London to Lisbon isn't exactly short on flights, and it was only London City that was disrupted?


Any advice on what I should do?


Thanks


James