Claim against United Airlines

gallaghb

Thought I would share progress of my claim with United.

Claim letter sent 13th February.
Rejection response received 6th March.
Referred to CAA 23rd March.
Notice before action sent 23rd March.

The flight from Heathrow was cancelled 2 hours after the original departure time, they attempted to fix the aircraft initially, but could not. We were offered a flight to Chicago and then a connection to our original destination of Los Angeles. We eventually arrived in Los Angeles about 12 hours after the expected arrival time. 2 passengers, I'm therefore claiming €1200.

United rejected the claim based on 'unexpected safety shortcomings' which as I understand it is deemed as an extraordinary circumstance. However I believe the issue was a technical fault with the aircraft as we were told this at the airport and could see engineers attempting to fix the aircraft.

I can't seem to find a definition of a 'safety shortcoming'. Is there one?

I will update as and when any responses received from United or CAA.