Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

ian41

Pycroft

I have send you a PM

Chrishazle

As reported in a previous post, Thomson have offered us what they claim is 75% of the flight cost as compensation for downgrading us from premium economy on our return flight from Punta Cana to Gatwick 15th March. Their calculation is in my earlier post, where they say the cost of the flight (excluding upgrade cost) was £81pp.

I have just taken a few example flights from the Thomson website - 14 day return flights for 2 adults Gatwick to Punta Cana. Cheapest is departing 11th April 2012 at £718, May departure (still in school term time) is a few hundred more, and travelling at about the same time in 2013 that we went in 2012 (end Feb) the price quoted is £1438!! Allowing for APD (£75pp), fuel surcharge (£80pp) and other airport taxes (£14pp), it seems Thomson are giving the cost of our flights at £662 for 2 adults (£81x2, +£80+£75+£14, per person), cheaper even than the "last minute" price they are currently quoting. We booked our holiday in April 2011.

Are there any rules about how the flight cost must be calculated when calculating compensation for downgrading?

Just to update, I've had a written reply from Thomson about flight delay compensation etc. The letter restates what was said on the phone and reported in one of my earlier posts. I am contemplating my reply, but intend to let them know that I do not believe they can ignore an EU regulation through a clause in their standard conditions.

Caz3121

Assuming that you were booked on a package it may be simpler, given that you booked this time of year for March, to see if you can make a dummy booking for the package for next March and see the total price, then see what the accommodation is on it's own to see what the cost difference is for the flight+transfer
My folks were on a cruise in the Caribbean and they sell either will flights or cruise only and the cruise-only price is only £200 less - I would love to be able to get a flight to Barbados for £200!

haley47

I recently flew from Heathrow to Indianapolis via Chicago. My flight from Chicago to Indianapolis boarded sat on the runway for two hours and was cancelled due to bad weather. All other flights were also cancelled. All flights for next day were full, had to stay in hotel and hire car to get to Indianapolis. Tried to claim on my policy but was told that as it was not a flight from or to airport of origin I did not have a valid claim. Is this correct? Therefore is it possible to have an insurance policy that covers all flights in a journey including connecting flights?

Montrealer

I was just wondering what happens if the ECJ confirms their earlier ruling? It is unlikely that airlines will give in easily even after another "defeat". CAA is quite supportive but I don't know how much power they have.
What would have to be the next step if I would have to take legal action against BA to get my money? I could take it to court in Canada but still would have to get the money from them in England, wouldn't I?

Voyager2002

haley47 wrote: »

I recently flew from Heathrow to Indianapolis via Chicago. My flight from Chicago to Indianapolis boarded sat on the runway for two hours and was cancelled due to bad weather. All other flights were also cancelled. All flights for next day were full, had to stay in hotel and hire car to get to Indianapolis. Tried to claim on my policy but was told that as it was not a flight from or to airport of origin I did not have a valid claim. Is this correct? Therefore is it possible to have an insurance policy that covers all flights in a journey including connecting flights?

I think that your insurers have misunderstood. The key issue: did you buy one air ticket for your journey from London to Indianapolis, or separate tickets for the two sectors? If the entire journey was on one ticket, you were effectively dumped somewhere that was not your destination and should be compensated accordingly.

disney_cjd

Hi All

I wondered if anyone had had any luck with getting the 600 EURO per pax compensation of the big BA or Virgin at all?

I am not.

I had a flight cancelled by Virgin out of Orlando some time ago and even using EU Claim I am getting nothing apart from the "we are waiting to see what the EU Courts do" etc. Virgin of course deny it.

With BA, I just had a delay of 5 hours from Gatwick to Tampa. When I asked I got a snotty letter from them from their EU Regulations Dept saying they do not have to pay anything at the moment.

I know full well the legal system takes time but are either of these airlines paying at all?

With the BA Claim I might go for Capital one instead as suggested by EU Claim as I paid on my card.

Thanks
CJD

disney_cjd

Thanks Centipede

Actually the more I remember (the Virgin flight was probably three years ago.. they say it was delayed, we say cancelled. They say the delay was 23 hours! As they flew us home the next day on an additional flight. I will look up the flight details (paperwork on other laptop) and post here.

Thanks for the heads up re BA... I have tagged this thread so will keep popping back.

Cheers

MrHeart

Have seen some really great help here, particularly from ian41, and would also be grateful for some advice.
We were flying to Melbourne on Singapore Airlines flights SQ321 06 March 2012 2205 and SQ227 07 March 0815. We boarded the flight at Heathrow, pushed back a little and were brought back again. We were told that there was an engine problem and that they were trying to fix it. Time dragged on. We were told that we had special clearance to leave until 0030 and they hoped to have the engine fixed by then. The engine was not fixed in time and so we were told to leave the aircraft. All the following arrangements were shambolic but irrelevant I realise to this enquiry. We managed to rebook ourselves onto the next available Singapore Airlines flight with great difficulty, (we did not pay for this), this was at 1055 07 March (also delayed until 1214!)
Are we due some measure of compensation under EU law or is this deemed "exceptional circumstances" despite this ruling
[FONT=&quot]22/12/2008
Airlines must pay compensation to passengers whose flights are cancelled because of technical problems with the plane, European judges ruled today.The only exception, said the European Court of Justice, is if the technical problems are caused by “extraordinary” events outside the normal activities of the airline – such as terrorism or sabotage or a hidden manufacturing fault which suddenly comes to light.

Thank you in advance for any help and advice offered.[/FONT]

MrHeart

Thanks Centipede 100 for your quick response...now to hope for an equally positive and quick response from Singapore Airlines!
Will update when the cheque arrives...(that should be mid May, at the latest!!)