Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

eskbanker

RKClarke said:

eskbanker said:

RKClarke said:

Small claims? I'm not sure if Qatar Airways can be sued under UK law. 

Your first port of call needs to be ascertaining if they've actually broken any law or regulation, or breached the terms of your contract, i.e. what was the legal basis of your claim?

Alternatively, do you have any travel insurance that might cover some or all of your incremental costs?

Yep, first thing I outlined to them, if you pay for something offered by an organisation, they fail to deliver, in this case, upgraded seating, then they should refund that money. Plus, whilst they stated to me the aircraft delay was outside their control is, as I pointed out to them, their plane, it was broke, they couldn't fix it, their fault. I, and my wife had insurance but the costs I'm claiming would be significantly eaten up by excess. 

I think you've missed the point I was making - you can lump all sorts of consequential or indirect costs into a complaint against an organisation, but if you want to proceed to legal action then you have to be very specific about exactly which (if any) laws or regulations you're alleging them to be breaking, in order to support a claim.

So, for example, if your flight had been within the remit of the relatively generous UK/EU regulations (which it wasn't) then you'd have been able to claim compensation, but even under those regulations there's no liability for the airline to reimburse additional parking costs.  However, if you want to take Qatar Airways to court then you'd need to ascertain specifically which laws or regulations (or even just contractual Ts & Cs) you're asserting them to have breached.

It would seem reasonable to expect a refund of costs paid for upgraded seating if that demonstrably wasn't delivered, but your starting point needs to be establishing under what jurisdiction your contract falls, prior to assessing the protection afforded by its consumer and/or aviation legislation....

xssc32x

Hi looking for advice regarding a recent missed connection. We were due to fly from Hamburg to Birmingham on Monday 30th May, with a connection in Zurich. The flight from Hamburg was late by about 1.5 hrs and meant we just missed the Zurich to Birmingham flight. We were automatically put on an alternative flight (received email) which flew from Zurich to Paris then a 1hour connection for a flight to Birmingham. Making our way through Zurich we saw that the flight from Zurich to Paris was delayed shortening our connection time. We went direct to the airline transfer desk and after some ‘negotiation’ explaining that less than 40 mins for a connection was pretty tight in Paris was able to get booked on the next day flight from Zurich to Birmingham. The airline booked and paid for Hotel overnight and also provided meal voucher and breakfast at hotel. My question is would we still be eligible for any compensation for this from the airline under EU regulation 261/2004?

Thanks 
Si

Caz3121

xssc32x said:

The flight from Hamburg was late by about 1.5 hrs and meant we just missed the Zurich to Birmingham flight.
...

My question is would we still be eligible for any compensation for this from the airline under EU regulation 261/2004?

what reason was given for the delay from Hamburg to Zurich?

xssc32x

Caz3121 said:

xssc32x said:

The flight from Hamburg was late by about 1.5 hrs and meant we just missed the Zurich to Birmingham flight.
...

My question is would we still be eligible for any compensation for this from the airline under EU regulation 261/2004?

what reason was given for the delay from Hamburg to Zurich?

Possibly high winds, as a lot of flights were delayed on the Monday. However I am sure I overheard a medical issue on the flight coming into Hamburg? What reasons could be given to not pay any compensation? And is there any way to find out the reason other than go to airline direct? 

Caz3121

xssc32x said:

Possibly high winds, as a lot of flights were delayed on the Monday. However I am sure I overheard a medical issue on the flight coming into Hamburg? What reasons could be given to not pay any compensation? And is there any way to find out the reason other than go to airline direct? 

the reason for the delay needs to be within the airline's control for compensation to apply so if it was ATC or weather related it would not be payable however duty of care; hotel, meals etc during delay applies whatever the reason.

xssc32x

Caz3121 said:

xssc32x said:

Possibly high winds, as a lot of flights were delayed on the Monday. However I am sure I overheard a medical issue on the flight coming into Hamburg? What reasons could be given to not pay any compensation? And is there any way to find out the reason other than go to airline direct? 

the reason for the delay needs to be within the airline's control for compensation to apply so if it was ATC or weather related it would not be payable however duty of care; hotel, meals etc during delay applies whatever the reason.

Hi, I have just received a response on my claim direct from Swiss air as below. 

They only referenced the delay to the first flight (Hamburg to Zurich) and this delay meant we missed the flight back from Zurich to Birmingham, we were subsequently placed on a flight 24hrs later. Is this this worth following up regarding a possible compensation claim?

You have completed a form on swiss.com to check your eligibility for compensation in case of flight cancellation or long delays in application of Regulation EC261/2004.

Your flight  LX1057  unfortunately had to be delayed due to the  late arrival of the incoming flight as a result of airport restrictions. On behalf of SWISS and its cooperation partners, I apologize for the inconvenience you had as a result.

Official instruction must be followed by airlines, which cannot influence them. We consider the described flight delay as necessary and this irregularity to be an extraordinary circumstance since as an airline, we do not have any influence with groundoperations of the airport. This could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Therefore, I must deny your claim for compensation in application of regulation EC261/2004.

eskbanker

xssc32x said:
Your flight  LX1057  unfortunately had to be delayed due to the  late arrival of the incoming flight as a result of airport restrictions. On behalf of SWISS and its cooperation partners, I apologize for the inconvenience you had as a result.

Official instruction must be followed by airlines, which cannot influence them. We consider the described flight delay as necessary and this irregularity to be an extraordinary circumstance since as an airline, we do not have any influence with groundoperations of the airport. This could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Therefore, I must deny your claim for compensation in application of regulation EC261/2004.

If the airline is asserting that the arrival into Zurich was delayed because of airport restrictions, which probably echoes your earlier comment about "Possibly high winds, as a lot of flights were delayed", then you'll find it difficult to challenge their interpretation that this qualifies as extraordinary circumstances outside the airline's control, thereby denying liability for compensation.  There isn't any public domain data regarding definitive reasons for delays, so the airlines tend to hold the cards and you'd need to have something reasonably compelling in order to dispute their version of events....

xssc32x

Thanks for your input on this most appreciated. Do you think a 3rd party company could have better chance of maybe disputing? 

eskbanker

xssc32x said:

Thanks for your input on this most appreciated. Do you think a 3rd party company could have better chance of maybe disputing? 

It's possible that some of the firms chasing compensation may have access to information that isn't generally available, so that might be an avenue worth pursuing.

dander

Hi all, hoping someone could clarify for me what I am entitled to claim from easyJet... Was supposed to be on 9.40 flight luton-inverness on Friday. On arrival at airport discovered it had been cancelled at 3.30am, so approx 6 hours before departure. We had accomodation, hire car and expensive trip booked for following day. Were supposed to be checked in by 8.30. easyJet couldn't offer us any other Inverness flight, had to go to Gatwick (£190 taxi) fly to Aberdeen on 13.30 flight which was delayed itself by over an hour. Rearranged hire car so could pick up at Aberdeen (short notice change fee, additional fee for pick up and drop off at different locations, extra petrol because driving from Aberdeen is additional 100 miles and over 3 hours drive). Finally made it to destination over 10 hours late with considerable inconvenience and extra costs - plus very tough on my elderly parents. 

So as I understand we are due EU compensation of approx £220 each for late cancellation. Is that supposed to cover all the additional costs or are they something we claim back from easyJet additionally and separately?

Appreciate any advice - lost a big chunk of a short break and my parents were very exhausted by it which impacted our big expensive trip on the day after we flew, so I want to get everything I can put of easyJet to cheer us all up!