Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

smithyskier

We had a 21 hour delay out of LBA on 07/10/2008. My insurance require written report from Thomas Cook as to scheduled and actual departures and arrivals and reason for the delay, they are ignoring all my contacts (Email, phone calls and letters) Has anyone any idea how to get this information from them?

DUKE

ScottishCowboyGG wrote: »

Hi Guys
Just stumbled across this thread,
In June my wife and 2 sons flew BMI from EDI to LHR t1 (06.30-08.00) everything OK
On arrival at LHR t3 (08.35) departure board stated that United Airlines flight to Los Angeles (LAX) due to depart 10.35 "delayed" on enquiring at the desk she was told that the plane was broken, and flight may be cancelled. In the meantime UA sent a man out with a bag of spanners and a box of bits but couldn't fix it. Over an hour later a tannoy announcement confirmed the flight was cancelled. UA got her on an Air France to LAX which departed at 17.00. So as far as I can see we could claim the compensation, am I correct. I travelled out 9 days later and both BMI and UA flights went according to schedule, lucky me huh?

I had similar probs with UA when I travelled from Heathrow to SF. We were stuck on the plane for five hours whilst they tried to fix it, then they cancelled the flight. They did put us up overnight in one of their hotels & fed us, we flew the next morning - talk about groundhog day :rolleyes: UA sent us a 'good will' gesture of $100 each in travel vouchers. I've complained to anyone & everyone who'll listen but ain't got anywhere as UA put the cancellation down to 'Extraordinary Circumstances'. Eventually after estalking UA they sent us a further $200 each in travel vouchers. I wouldn't waste my time on UA & I certainly wouldn't travel with them again - unless it was free.

neilsolaris

I was also on a UA flight in September from Heathrow to Chicago which got cancelled. I was sitting on the aircraft for about 3 hours whilst they tried to repair it. We then had to go back to the baggage reclaim area to meet the UA representatives, who were completely ill-equipped to deal with members of the public, so there was complete chaos and confusion! It turned out that we had to spend the night in a nearby hotel and travel on the next day.

I subsequently contacted the airline to get my 600 euros I am entitled to, and of course they said that they weren't required to pay out in this instance because the nature of the fault with the plane was of extraordinary circumstances. But they are bound to say that, aren't they! I was advised that you need to take them to court to argue the point (the relevant clause is quite vague), but that sounds like a lot of hassle to me. What I have done instead is gone through a "no win no fee" lawyer, that specializes in these cases. If I win (which I'm sure I will), I will have to pay the lawyer about 21%, which still means I get about £360 out of it. I'll update you with the progress of that.

jenn1ewest1

hi
I am looking for some advice I recently travelled to florida with first choice we had a 24 hr delay we were given a five pounds voucher and put up overnight.when we tried to claim under the new eu rule for compenastion for the delay they wrote back to say we werent entitled to any compensation because we travelled the next day and we should have asked for a refund for the flight on the day the flight was cancelled.It really spoiled our holiday being delayed for a full twenty four hours,are they right in saying we are not entitled to anything and advise please

dzug1

There is no compensation under the EU rules for delays as such - only if the delay is due to the cancellation of a flight or overbooking.

Your travel insurance should pay something.

transparent_opacity

Hi there,

We just got in from Egypt this morning. Thomson cancelled our flight home to Manchester due to technical difficulties and put us on a (conveniently empty) plane to Stanstead that flew 30 mins or so later.

The bind was that we then had to be shipped by coach from Stanstead to Manchester, meaning that my girlfriend was unfit for work as we only got through our front door about 8.30am.

Do we qualify for something under EU Regulation 261/2004? It's 4118 km. I'm unsure, as our flight was not really delayed, but our arrival in Manchester was around 4 hours late.

Cheers,
Chris

dzug1

They will probably plead the following:

3. An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

Whether that is true or not depends on what the 'technical difficulties' (delightfully vague phrase) were. It's also possible that they will claim that the flight wasn't actually cancelled, but just delayed and diverted - in which case again no compensation.

amf

dzug1 wrote: »

They will probably plead the following:

3. An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

Whether that is true or not depends on what the 'technical difficulties' (delightfully vague phrase) were. It's also possible that they will claim that the flight wasn't actually cancelled, but just delayed and diverted - in which case again no compensation.

I've always had difficulty in accepting that technical difficulties amount to extraordinary circumstances, no matter what the technical difficulty is - I've read this so many times,sometimes even on frequent flyer boards. Fortunately I've read much good advice on flyertalk which confirms my view that this is not good advice. IME (over 1500 flights in the past 15 years), technical difficulties are everyday events, hardly extraordinary.

This view seems to have been confirmed by the courts from time to time - the most recent example was reported yesterday - http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/2008/1222/world/mhsnkfojsnoj/

If I was transparent_opacity I would be quoting Regulation (EC)261/2004 and asking for the appropriate compensation from the operating carrier.

MarkyMarkD

amf wrote: »

I've always had difficulty in accepting that technical difficulties amount to extraordinary circumstances, no matter what the technical difficulty is - I've read this so many times,sometimes even on frequent flyer boards. Fortunately I've read much good advice on flyertalk which confirms my view that this is not good advice. IME (over 1500 flights in the past 15 years), technical difficulties are everyday events, hardly extraordinary.

This view seems to have been confirmed by the courts from time to time - the most recent example was reported yesterday - http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/2008/1222/world/mhsnkfojsnoj/

If I was transparent_opacity I would be quoting Regulation (EC)261/2004 and asking for the appropriate compensation from the operating carrier.

I totally agree with you, amf. I never accepted the line that mechanical difficulties excused airlines from the requirements of the EU legislation, and the recent court case has merely confirmed what I already believed the intention of the legislation was.

It will be interesting to see if Ryanair and Easyjet (in particular) comply with this ruling now. Not least because I'm flying with Easyjet in a few days' time!

luci

bmi cancelled a flight on us not long after the EU regulation came into force. We were stuck at Gatwick for 10 hours. I tried to claim, but they said it was due to "technical problems" and therefore was "exceptional circumstances". Absolute garbage as they are a day to day occurrence.

Delighted to see that a precedence has now been set.