Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

111KAB

You suffered a long delay due to what appears to be a technical issue. As you received the 'Right to care' under Reg 261/2004 you have no further claim on this issue.

Centipede100 - many thanks for your comprehensive response to my query.

I accept that the 'Right to care' aspect was, in the main, acknowledged by Monarch however, as I understand it, there were aspects which were not addressed. I understood that after 5 hours delay I was entitled to cancel the flight and find an alternative carrier. I seriously considered this however there was no one available from Monarch to pursue this aspect. I also understood there should be the facility made available to make 'phone calls ~ again no provision.
I merely ask the questions out of interest rather than wishing to pursue an unlikely to achieve anything claim against Monarch although some 2 days later I still remain annoyed regarding their lack of customer care.

pip28

Flight: ZB 5409 Rome to Birmingham 30 June 2012 2012

Scheduled departure time: 09:30 hours GMT on 30 June

Actual departure time: 15:00 hours GMT on 30 June

Total Delay: 05 hours and 30 minutes on the departure time

Scheduled arrival time: 12:15 hours GMT on 30 June

Actual arrival: 17:30 hours GMT on 30 June

Letter given to us at check in stated technical issues as the reason for the delay. We were not given any additional information regarding our rights and although the letter stated vouchers would be given for food/refreshments none were given

I have the receipt for food/refreshments of £12.80, we also incurred additional animal boarding fees

Having read through the previous posts it would appear that we should also be able to claim compensation EUR 400 per person for the delay (subject to the ruling)

Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Thank you

delvey

Centipede100 wrote: »

The passenger is entitled to cancel and make their own arrangements to fly via an alternative carrier if a delay exceeds 5 hours but in practice this can be somewhat challenging.

If there is no direct representative from the airline it can sometimes be beneficial to ask ground handling agents for other airlines if they know who handles Monarch for example and then request those agents who handle your airline that they withdraw you from the flight making it clear that you want a refund.

The 2 telephone calls/faxes/emails issue can be an issue. In theory, if you can prove via a bill or receipt for these that you made 2 calls once you were aware of the delay/cancellation, then copies of these should be submitted to the airline in the usual way as under the Right to Care and you then ought to be reimbursed by the airline.

In practice I have heard of very few passengers actually claiming for these, the exception was during the volcanic ash episode where I am aware of a number who had some fairly large mobile phone calls reimbursed once they submitted the bill.

Can also be challenging if booked via a package holiday as well

barneygaucho

Hi

I was on a flight from healthrow to boston a few weeks due to leave at 1805 on a Friday night. Here's what happened (in bullet points)

* engine failure
* sat on tarmac for 3 hours while waiting for a new plane
* were given 2 cereal bars to comfort us
* new plane arrived, had to wait in departure lounge for another 2 hours (2 vending machines only and had to fully searched to go to the toilet)
* where then informed that staff "refused to fly" due to running out of hours (this was now 11pm+)
* had to go to luggage reclaim to pick up bags
* staff disappeared and 300+ people walking round a closed airport
* finally directed to a door to pick up bags, which was locked
* member of public had to find someone to unlock the door
* waited for another 2 hours for bags / info about hotels / buses to hotels - all VERY disorganised
* arrived at hotel (5 minutes away) at 1am - no dinner organsied
* were told flight on saturday would be at 1030
* flight on saturday morning was 1100
* flight on saturday morning took off 1145
* landed in boston and walkway door jammed so we couldn't get off the plane - another 15 minute delay

Anyone any idea the level of compensation we could claim? And how long should we say they have to reply by?

Should we go for airmiles or money? (Don't really want to fly AA again).

many thanks

Louisdf

pip28 wrote: »

Flight: ZB 5409 Rome to Birmingham 30 June 2012 2012

Scheduled departure time: 09:30 hours GMT on 30 June

Actual departure time: 15:00 hours GMT on 30 June

Total Delay: 05 hours and 30 minutes on the departure time

Scheduled arrival time: 12:15 hours GMT on 30 June

Actual arrival: 17:30 hours GMT on 30 June

Letter given to us at check in stated technical issues as the reason for the delay. We were not given any additional information regarding our rights and although the letter stated vouchers would be given for food/refreshments none were given

I have the receipt for food/refreshments of £12.80, we also incurred additional animal boarding fees

Having read through the previous posts it would appear that we should also be able to claim compensation EUR 400 per person for the delay (subject to the ruling)

Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Thank you

Would you rather a broken down plane take off on time and crash? Please don't complain when air fares go up, as people like you are claiming massive sums for trivial delays. Many of the posts here seem quite reasonable (ie. people being delayed for 2 days due to a staff shortage with no accommodation provided) but it is clear that your motive is greed for a slightly annoying delay. I bet you paid less than £100 for your ticket, and now you want 4 times the cost back.:rotfl:

delvey

Louisdf wrote: »

Would you rather a broken down plane take off on time and crash? Please don't complain when air fares go up, as people like you are claiming massive sums for trivial delays. Many of the posts here seem quite reasonable (ie. people being delayed for 2 days due to a staff shortage with no accommodation provided) but it is clear that your motive is greed for a slightly annoying delay. I bet you paid less than £100 for your ticket, and now you want 4 times the cost back.:rotfl:

Because, the reason for delay was probably not a broken down air plane, and that minor faults on planes are a regular everyday occurance and most planes that fly will do with a minor fault.

Louisdf

Centipede100 wrote: »

The OP is only claiming that to which they are legally entitled, which is not unreasonable in the circumstances. Perhaps if you had been missold PPI, for example, you wouldn't be reclaiming that either as you would deem it trivial!

How do you know what the OP's motive is or what inconvenience/ additional costs due to the delay they suffered from what has been posted above?

Finally...

That's not a fair comparison, the OP got exactly what they paid for. They got from A to B, albeit delayed which is life and a price worth paying if it prevented a crash. If your car broke down on the way to work, you wouldn't sue the car company for 400 euros per person so why would you do the same with an airline? I really hope that the OP gets nothing other than a reasonable claim for food purchases (ie. water and sandwiches), as an air passenger I do not want to subsidise other people's greed. If every passenger on a short-haul £50 flight claims 400euros for a small delay then more airlines will go bust.

chickennugget

I would be very grateful for your thoughts on the following.

Brief details of flight: Flight number FR8243, 11 June 2012, Treviso to Bristol. Scheduled departure 1815 arrive 1930, delayed by 5 hours 13 mins.

I have written to Ryanair several times and its responses all say that the delay was caused by a "safety/technical problem (extraordinary circumstances)".

So I asked for proof of such extraordinary circumstances, and received a reply: "We can assure you that Ryanair took all reasonable measures to prevent this flight delay, which was caused by an unexpected aircraft safety/technical problem (extraordinary circumstances). Please note that when flights are delayed for reasons outside of the control of an airline, monetary compensation is not applicable under EU Reg. 261/2004. Furthermore, we regret the technical logs and engineering work orders are company confidential information and as such we are not in a position to forward you a copy of the same."

So I decided to take my case to the Irish Small Claims Court. I received an email today from the court, which attaches yet another standard response from Ryanair. This response still doesn't deal with my claim, it's just a repeat of a letter I received direct from Ryanair back in June, and it basically rattles off details of the measures Ryanair took to ensure that passengers were informed about Regulation 261/2004. But this isn't my problem: I knew about this Regulation, Ryanair didn't withhold this information. My problem is that I don't believe the flight was delayed owing to "extraordinary circumstances" - the problem was because of a technical fault that they should have picked up in routine maintenance, not an out-of-the-ordinary event.

The court's email says:
"I am appending a response I have received from Ryanair. As they will not agree to pay your claim do you want it to proceed to a Court hearing ? Please note the following points regarding a Court hearing ; 1. you will have to attend the hearing in person. 2. you will have to pay your own expenses associated with attending the Court hearing. 3. it is not possible to choose your own hearing date."

I have gone back to the clerk and said that I didn't think Ryanair's proforma letter offered a legitimate defence, but they came back and said that they are "satisfied that Ryanair has issued a response to my claim". So basically anything can be written as a defence - it doesn't even need to have any basis on the claim - and the claimant doesn't get the right to dispute it unless they go to a court hearing in Dublin?! I don't happen to live in Eire so it would mean more expenses to get over there to attend a court hearing.

Any ideas where to go next? European Small Claims Court? Wait for Sturgeon in autumn? and then try the ESCC?

Thanks for your help.

richardw

Louisdf wrote: »

... If every passenger on a short-haul £50 flight claims 400euros for a small delay then more airlines will go bust.

They won't, they can't, they won't.

Btw airlines know about Valujet and what happened.

EU Reg. EC 261/2004 has been with us for more than 7 years, Ryanair, Monarch, easyJet and Wizzair are all still in business and are planning schedules for next year irrespective to what happens viz Sturgeon.

Louisdf

richardw wrote: »

They won't, they can't, they won't.

Btw airlines know about Valujet and what happened.

EU Reg. EC 261/2004 has been with us for more than 7 years, Ryanair, easyJet and Wizzair are all still in business and are planning schedules for next year irrespective to what happens viz Sturgeon.

Yes but its thanks to these vultures that demand 400euros per person for a 5 hour delay (so effectively a free holiday courtesy of Easyjet/Ryanair) that prices have gone up. I don't want to subsidise other peoples greed.