Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

JimTracy

Hi guys,

Can anyone help me with a current claim against an airline ?
Short story is, I had a flight booked from London to New York which was delayed due to a technical issue and I was moved to another flight, ending up with an arrival to New York over 6 hours after my scheduled time, meaning I couldnt make my connecting flight to my final destination (same airline) til the next day.
According to EU regulation 261/2004 for a flight arriving more than 4 hours later than scheduled and of over 1500km then I should recieve 600 euros.

I emailed the airline and after weeks of no response I was finally offered $150 in travel vouchers, I replied saying I will not accept this amount when Im entitled to 600 euros. Again, weeks passed and now I have been offered $225.
Does anyone have experience of making this claim ? Is it time to make a more formal email demanding my compensation or is it such a minefield that I may as well take the $225?
thanks for any help !

dzug1

There is a complication in that this is presumably a US airline (since you talk about $$) and that US airlines tend to regard themselves as not subject to EU regulation - but they are. You do have to fight harder though.

There's also the complication (which I freely admit is speculation and may be a total red herring) that the EU regulation is couched in terms of arrival at final destination. The US domestic flight that took you to that final destination is not subject to EU regs. Probably a spurious argument but I wouldn't put it past the airline to try it on.

If you browse through this thread you'll find lost of detail about the current state of UK law on this subject

Caz3121

and to add to that there is still no final say on 'delays'....have a look for 'Sturgeon' ruling....expected in the autumn some time...if rule in favour of the passenger then you will have a stronger case for the compensation however you can expect them to try to claim 'extraordinary circumstances' for the delay but I believe it has been confirmed that they cannot do that.
Did they give you overnight accommodation etc in New York?

wes2201

Hi. I'm a first-timer at the MSE forums as I guess I've been fortunate enough not to need to visit before. I've been reading around on here and a few forums but can't seem to get a definite answer or understanding of where to go next. I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice to kick start me.

Myself and my girlfriend have just returned from a week in Kos where we suffered almost an 18 hour delay for the return flight. To be fair to the tour operator Olympic, they reacted reasonably quickly and got us all to hotels and fed and watered us, however, in total we ended up sat in Kos airport or on bus transfers for around 11 hours, around 3/4 hours of this with nowhere to sit. To make it worse our departure time was delayed 2/3 times throughout the 18 hours, us getting our hopes up to then have them squashed again. Plus, I'm convinced that they knew from the start that we wouldn't be flying until 7pm the following night, but simply strung us along all day.

The delay was due to fog, believe it or not in Greece, but did in fact effect all the flights inbound and outbound that morning. Our airline was Small Planet and seemed to feel a free bottle of water, muffin and very short apology was enough to sweeten us.

I guess my main questions are the following:

1. Have I got a case for a claim, or will it be dismissed as Act of God due to fog?
2. If I have, who do I contact? Olympic (Tour Operator) or Small Planet (Airline)
3. How should I go about contacting the relevant person(s) regarding compensation?
4. Would my travel insurers be liable for any compensation if the operator/airline aren't?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer any advice at all. As I say, it's not something I've had to look into before and really have no idea where to start.

James

Caz3121

Due to the fact that the delay was caused by the fog and other airlines were affected too I think the airline can validly claim exceptional circumstances ruling out the delay compensation from 261/2004

The airline had a requirement of duty of care during the delay, this included accommodation (if applicable) food and telephone calls. If you did not receive any of these then you can claim your expenses back from the airline

Your travel insurance may give you something but you would need to check your policy - some are as low as £20 for each 12 hour delay

JimTracy

Caz3121 wrote: »

and to add to that there is still no final say on 'delays'....have a look for 'Sturgeon' ruling....expected in the autumn some time...if rule in favour of the passenger then you will have a stronger case for the compensation however you can expect them to try to claim 'extraordinary circumstances' for the delay but I believe it has been confirmed that they cannot do that.
Did they give you overnight accommodation etc in New York?

thanks for the info, the airline was the same company as the connecting flight, booked on one ticket to a final destination, which I arrived about 14 hours late to.
The airline did provide accommodation in New York.

Voyager2002

JimTracy wrote: »

Hi guys,

Can anyone help me with a current claim against an airline ?
Short story is, I had a flight booked from London to New York which was delayed due to a technical issue and I was moved to another flight, ending up with an arrival to New York over 6 hours after my scheduled time, meaning I couldnt make my connecting flight to my final destination (same airline) til the next day.
According to EU regulation 261/2004 for a flight arriving more than 4 hours later than scheduled and of over 1500km then I should recieve 600 euros.


I emailed the airline and after weeks of no response I was finally offered $150 in travel vouchers, I replied saying I will not accept this amount when Im entitled to 600 euros. Again, weeks passed and now I have been offered $225.
Does anyone have experience of making this claim ? Is it time to make a more formal email demanding my compensation or is it such a minefield that I may as well take the $225?
thanks for any help !

The fact that you were moved to another flight suggests that your original flight was cancelled rather than delayed: if so your claim becomes stronger. (You might also check whether the fact that you were moved to another flight means that your original flight is regarded as cancelled: I don't know but other posters on this board will.)

JimTracy

Voyager2002 wrote: »

The fact that you were moved to another flight suggests that your original flight was cancelled rather than delayed: if so your claim becomes stronger. (You might also check whether the fact that you were moved to another flight means that your original flight is regarded as cancelled: I don't know but other posters on this board will.)

The technical difficulties was with one of the fuel pumps so the plane have to run on less fuel, so the airline asked people to move flights to reduce load. This announcement was made after about 4 hours of already being delayed, saying that the original plane wont be ready for at least another 2-3 hours. I assume this flight eventually left, but theres no way it would have arrived within 4 hours of scheduled time.
So, I decided to volunteer (as I already wouldnt make any connecting flight to my final destination until the next day) and moved to the alternate flight provided in London (original flight was scheduled from Birmingham) they transported a bunch of us over there and also gave us compensation claim forms (which I have a copy of, it pretty much states EU law about compensation). The flight from London left at 6pm.

steveo1967

Hi,

My family and I were recently delayed for 20 hours on a return flight from Menorca because of technical reasons.

I wrote a letter to Thomson to claim under EU 261/2004, asking them to respond withing 21 days or risk legal proceedings but its now over a month and I have heard nothing at all back from them.

What should I do now ?

a). Write to them again? ... if so any advice in what I should be saying ?

b). Start making a claim in the small claims court ? ... if so any advice on were to get started and how to do this ?


Thanks for your advice/comments in advance

JimTracy

"Going to court
If you still get unsatisfactory results, you can consider taking action against the airline through the small claims court. If you paid on a credit card, you can join the card company as a second defendant to the claim.

Before starting court action you must have made every attempt to resolve the dispute without the need for court intervention. This is now a requirement of the Civil Procedure Pre-Action Protocol. If you are unable to reach a settlement with the airline, you should send a 'letter before action' to the airline's registered office address, including the following information:

Restate your claim and make the point that they have failed to pay the compensation you are entitled to
Warn them that they have 14 days to settle or court action will follow
Make a duplicate copy for your records, and use recorded delivery to send the letter to the airline.

What to put in your claim
Outline the legal basis for your claim. You might say, for example, that the airline was in breach of the Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 by failing to provide the assistance/compensation due.

Detail the amount of your claim, explaining how you reached the figure. You can also claim interest at the rate of 8%."

from which website