Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

edtheduck_2

Just posted my Letter before Action to Thomas Cook requesting payment within 14 days or I start legal proceedings. Will keep you updated...

Montrealer

@centipede100:
How much interest could one potentially claim? What about legal expenses?
Our fight was delayed on December 30th 2009. I filed my complaint with BA shortly after. Since they did not want to pay, I also included the European Consumer Advice Center (not very helpful) and the CAA. I even paid for a bailiff to send a letter that I would sue at the small claims court if they do not comply. That was before I found out that a stay had been put on all claims.

edtheduck_2

Montrealer wrote: »

@centipede100:
How much interest could one potentially claim? What about legal expenses?
Our fight was delayed on December 30th 2009. I filed my complaint with BA shortly after. Since they did not want to pay, I also included the European Consumer Advice Center (not very helpful) and the CAA. I even paid for a bailiff to send a letter that I would sue at the small claims court if they do not comply. That was before I found out that a stay had been put on all claims.

8% interest. If you win you will get court fees/expenses but not legal AFAIK - your travel insurance or home insurance may have legal expenses cover, check there.
I am hoping I get my settlement before court but I will definitely go to court if need be, though not sure if I'd actually need a solicitor - could possibly speak/defend case myself I feel.

colsport12

I read with interest your article about compensation for flight delays. It seems to back up a previous ruling about EU regulation 261. Back in 2010, my wife and I experienced a delay of 24 hours when we were flying back with Ryanair from Krakow to Stansted, because the original aircraft developed a technical fault. Ryanair did compensate us for a night in a hotel, but when I read about EU 261, I began pursuing a claim for 250 Euros compensation each. As the flight was from Krakow, I had to take this up with the authorities in Poland. Initially, they ruled in my favour and ordered Ryanair to pay up – but Ryanair appealed citing that the technical fault amounted to “extraordinary circumstances”, and a few months ago I was told they’d won.
I still have all the correspondence relating to this. From what you know about this latest ruling, do you think I can go back and claim again, or is my case dead now?
!

Montrealer

edtheduck wrote: »

8% interest. If you win you will get court fees/expenses but not legal AFAIK - your travel insurance or home insurance may have legal expenses cover, check there.
I am hoping I get my settlement before court but I will definitely go to court if need be, though not sure if I'd actually need a solicitor - could possibly speak/defend case myself I feel.

Thanks. Already checked that but no luck.
I also hope that this can be settled outside the court after the ECJ ruling. But you never know.

CM66

Centipede100 wrote: »

Flight number would be useful before providing specific advice.

Thanks Centipede - the flight number was TCX1745. I've managed to find on flight stats.com that we were supposed to land at 11:40 but actually arrived at 03:25

any advice would be great

C

nigelpm

goodfella789 wrote: »

"From time to time, Thomas Cook Airlines will experience flight delays, the vast majority of these are usually due to the complexity of flight programmes, and various other factors affecting airports and airspace. Thomas Cook Airlines will always do its best to minimise both the numbers of flights which are delayed, and the impact that is has on our customers holiday. We also need to plan the rest of our flight programme, to best use our fleet for the benefit of all our customers.

The UK airport agencies and our overseas reps will always look after our delayed customers, and will ensure that where appropriate, they receive food and drinks relevant to the length of any delay. On the 23rd October the European Court of Justice gave judgement and has ruled that in those circumstances, compensation will not normally be payable.

In the event that a customer believes that they have a claim for a long flight delay, we will of course consider carefully whether compensation is properly payable for that claim, but customers should be aware that this will only be the case in relation to a very small number of claims".

Interesting. So they are stating that where food and drinks were provided they will not pay compensation?

Stuart_x

Centipede100 wrote: »

Stuart

Your flight was cancelled following an admittedly long delay. It cannot be said to be a delayed flight but purely a cancellation.

What did the CAA say? Although their advice is not legally binding, the airline might take this evidence to court (if you decide to proceed that far) and use it to justify their stance on the matter.

Hi Centipede100,

Thanks for your reply. The CAA were very disturbed about the way that Monarch had treated its passengers on both cancelled flights. There were also a number of disabled and elderly passengers affected by this but were all treated with the same disregard and neglect.

Monarch had failed to comply with every single requirement covered by ECJ 261/2004 both during the delay and following cancellation. This included not providing a refund within 7 days and I had to write twice to get that. The CAA corresponded with Monarch for several months but got absolutely nowhere. I think that Monarch even got their head legal honcho involved, which is where the CAA seemed to fold.

The CAA agreed that Monarch had failed to comply with the regulations but Monarch remained intransigent based on the fact that I was unprepared to take their next flight some 6 days later to the same destination. 6 days off of a 14 day vacation is substantially unacceptable. Monarch didn't actually offer me this flight as passengers had already used the web to work out when that next flight would be. Most of us weren't prepared to queue for hours to see the Monarch rep when they did eventually turn up at 04.00 the following morning just to be told what we already knew.

Overnight, and using a bit of lateral thinking, I managed to book an easyJet flight for early morning to Lanzarote - literally the very last seat to the Canaries before Christmas. I then took a Binter hopper to Tenerife North and final long taxi ride to the hotel all at my own expense. I consider most of these additional expenses to be subsequent losses due to a fundamental breach of UK contract law irrespective of EU/ECJ rulings.

It is a primary consideration that the original delay was of Monarchs' own making and not because the aircraft had any sort of fault nor was the airport closed or facing significant weather delays at the original departure time. I think that this point of law needs clarification otherwise airlines will continue to abuse their passengers when there's a good chance that they can use fog or snow as a get-out after delaying a flight for an indefinite length of time.

Why should a delay in departure be treated any different from the same length of delay prior to cancellation? If Monarch had cancelled our flight much sooner then we could have all been saved a night of hypothermia and could have probably found warmth, accommodation and alternative routes much sooner.

It is likely that this judgement will force airlines to cancel flights before compensation kicks-in rather than trying to get passengers to their destination, albeit a few hours late. Not necessarily the best outcome in my opinion. Maybe passengers should have the right to waive a claim on the undertaking that the airline can't later cancel - and, if they do, would have to pay massively increased levels of compensation.

Do you think that it's worth putting this in the hands of a claims company? I would do it myself if I had the time and aptitude.

Thanks

Stuart

veruccasalt

Sorry if I am being really useless, but how do you find arrival and departure times for a flight on flightstats.com.

I am trying to find the details for a flight from 1 June 2012.
THank you

CM66

veruccasalt wrote: »

Sorry if I am being really useless, but how do you find arrival and departure times for a flight on flightstats.com.

I am trying to find the details for a flight from 1 June 2012.
THank you

You need to sign up to check the stats on past flights, it only takes 2 mins