Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

rosie383

A further question if I may, to those who have more experience than me.

Having had a refusal from Vueling to pay compensation yet again, is it worth still persuing if they are claiming that it was air traffic control which caused the delay?
In Vauban's guide, most of the court cases seem to be dealing with technical difficulties. According to the CAA (and I now understand thst they are funded by the airlines) ATC problems would be considered extraordinary circumstances.

I have written to the airline asking for their evidence but they have just fobbed me off again.
Incidentally, I think it was caused by bad passenger management which probably caused them to miss their slot. There was a family on and off twice and various head counts by the cabin crew and it all appeared to be very disorganised.

If they did miss their ATC slot due to passenger mismanagement or whatever, would this be enough to give us a good case? Or is it best to just walk away at this stage or go to someonelike Bott? Looking on their website they charge 25% plus VAT plus £25 per person. I get that it's better to get something rather than nothing but would that means we would lose £185+ each? Or am I calculating it wrong?

Tyzap

Hi rosie383,

Your reasoning is correct so given the circumstances, I would be inclined to go with Bott& Co.

Good luck.

Pablo666

Hi Rosie,

I'm in the same situation as you, we were due to fly from Cardiff to Alicante on 4th August. Our flight was supposed to leave at 12.50pm but when we checked in, we were told there was a delay and we wouldn't be flying until 10pm. we eventually left Cardiff around 11.30pm, landing in Alicante at almost 3am. I'm in the process of trying to claim compensation from Vueling, but, surprise surprise, they have also refused to pay compensation, citing the following:

In this case, however, we regret to advise no compensation is due, because the delay of the flight was caused by the congestion of the air traffic, which caused the application of further air traffic regulations, restrictions, limitations and additional measures to ensure safety on the number of flights allowed to be operated, all of them understood to be considered as “extraordinary circumstances”, as set out in Article 5.3 of the Regulation and under the ECJ legal doctrine.

I'm thinking that this Air Traffic control reason might be a favourite of theirs as they know it is spcifically stated as an exceptional circumstance. At the time the only excuse we were given was "operation reasons" which doesn't sound at all like the cause was out of their control. Like you I am going to ask for evidence and I'm assuming i will also get fobbed off, at which point I will start legal action. I've already spoken to my insurance provider's legal advice line in the hope they take up the case. I may have to pay a £50 excess but this is a better option than losing 30% to a NWNF company, might be worth finding out if your insurer has the same additional benefit? This proved very effective when we were caught out in Portugal during the ash cloud - We battled with Monarch for a whole year until we referred it to our legal advice line, one letter sent and we got the full claim 2 days later!

rosie383

Good advice Pablo. I didn't think about using our travel insurance. I always get legal cover on house and car insurance but not sure about with travel.
We have got legal expenses cover so I will ring them tomorrow and see if they can help at all. NWNF looks like we would only get about 50% of any compensation paid.

Pablo666

Sorry I actually meant your home insurance! Most providers now have a legal advice line as part of their cover and it was this that we used to get our money from Monarch. I've already spoken to our provider and they are poised to take the case on if, as I suspect, I don't get far with Vueling.

If your provider won't take the case on, I also read on another of the forums that they might cover the fees charged by a NWNF company. I'm not sure if I can post links but if you substitute the spaces for colons, dots etc you can find the link here:

https forums moneysavingexpert com/showpost.php?p=64457359&postcount=622

Regards travel insurance, if you had any knock on costs (as we arrived at 3am our hire car company was closed and we had to hire another car from one that was open) you may be able to claim this from your travel insurer, as we are in the process of doing. Hope that helps!

ruthioo

Hi
I'm aware you can reclaim APD tax for missed flights but does anyone know how far back this applies to?
I could not fly on a booked flight in 2016. It was longhaul so would be worth reclaiming if possible. AIrline was Thomson and I did not receive an automatic refund like google searches indicate that Thomson do.

Thanks

Caz3121

ruthioo wrote: »

It was longhaul so would be worth reclaiming if possible. AIrline was Thomson and I did not receive an automatic refund like google searches indicate that Thomson do.

I am guessing the articles you came across relate to APD for children where it had been paid and then the rules changed on children paying so it was refunded
Their T&Cs state
Except as provided for in Article 10.2 below, all Tickets issued for flights operated by us are non-refundable. There are no refunds if any ticket holder misses or cancels their flight. Any governmental, per passenger taxes and charges for unused flights, which may have been collected in respect of such flight are refundable upon request (subject to a £25 administration fee per booking).

APD was £73 however I would suspect that it needed to have been dealt with sooner - although they don't mention timing, similar airlines state apply within 28 days.
If you have all your booking information then ask the airline the question

agilpin

I would very much like to thank Martin Lewis & MSE for the information on claiming compensation for flight delay (via Resolver). I followed the simple instructions, and have now received a VERY satisfactory payout. Really worth what little trouble it took.

Justice13075

The correct amount of compensation and a satisfactory amount could be two different things. Did you get the correct amount of compensation?

rosie383

I'm now at the stage where we have been repeatedly refused comp by Vueling and have had confirmation today that they have no UK address at all.

I've been looking into using the Spanish ADR but wonder if that is the best course of action. Vauban's guide 5.12 indicates that going though the CAA may not be useful so I'm wondering if it is worth trying the ADR route before we resort to a NWNF outfit.
Having read the guide I know that taking them to small claims myself is not something that I would be capable of.

I have a NBA ready to post to their Barcelona office but am unsure if I should do that first or attempt ADR.
Can anyone advise me please?

P.S. DH told me last night that on the delayed flight, the crew made a couple of announcements about waiting for passengers and that backs up my recollection of people getting on and off and headcounts etc. So for them to claim ATC reasons is a joke. They probably lost their slot and had to wait but it looks to have been poor management if anything.