Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

delvey

missyhol wrote: »

Hi there - I currently have an issue open with First Choice Holidays. As well as experiencing a couple of niggles in the resort (which should be sorted out soon). Our plane was used as a replacement for the previous days scheduled flight as that plan had technical difficulties. We were told in the resort that we would have a 12 hour delay and instead of leaving the resort at 10am for a 4pm flight we left at 10pm for a 4am flight which wasn't too bad. However, it seems that the airport shuts down from 11pm as , nothing was open, the kids were tired so trying to pass 5hrs away in an empty closed airport was rather trying! The plane that was sent to take us back to Gatwick from Cancun arrived considerably earlier in the day, but because the flight attendants could only work a certain amount of hours, the delay was due to them needing rest and recuperation. The plane they sent as a replacement was a short haul plane so an 8 hr flight in even more cramped seats was less than satisfactory (especially when we had already paid for an upgrade - which we should be receiving a refund for). I contacted first choice at the beginning of November and saw the EU ruling so added that to my list of requests for compensation. I have just chased today and have been told that it is at least an 8 week delay and Thompson/First Choice are currently in negotiations with their legal team to understand what they may offer. I did say that it appears that the levels of compensation seem to be non negotiable as they operate in a tiered format. So I have already waited 4 weeks and have told them that I expect to be dealt with shortly regarding this. - Watch this space!

Thanks for this information
I am going to fill in the MCOL after new year. Been waiting around 6 weeks, and so another 2-3 weeks IMO is enough time to get back to me

delvey

LorraineW wrote: »

Good afternoon, I first contacted Thomsonfly 5 weeks ago re compensation. They told me I would hear something within 4 weeks. This is now going into the 5th week and I have just rng them only to be told it could take up to 6 months for legal matters. Is this correct? Is there a time limit in which they should respond by? Thanks. Lorraine.

Same boat as me
They have acknowledged they are looking at my claim, and need more time to research it. But as soon as new year and xmas is over and done with I will be going to MCOL

LBD

:j:j Thanks Mark

jenhugs

Ok so back in June 2008 my husband and I decided to take our 3 year old twins to menorca. Thinking it was a short flight. When we arrived monarch advised us that there was a delay as they did not have an aeroplane available! We had over a 3 hour delay and then we got on the smallest plane they had provided. Once in the air and around 45 mins in the oxygen masks came down and we had to return to Manchester airport. It took us nearly 12 hours to get to menorca. My problem is this I can't find the flight number anywhere. Any ideas how I can find it as the sites requested require flight numbers.

Mark2spark

jenhugs wrote: »

Ok so back in June 2008 my husband and I decided to take our 3 year old twins to menorca. Thinking it was a short flight. When we arrived monarch advised us that there was a delay as they did not have an aeroplane available! We had over a 3 hour delay and then we got on the smallest plane they had provided. Once in the air and around 45 mins in the oxygen masks came down and we had to return to Manchester airport. It took us nearly 12 hours to get to menorca. My problem is this I can't find the flight number anywhere. Any ideas how I can find it as the sites requested require flight numbers.

Have you tried logging on to 'my bookings' on the Monarch site, and seeing if the details are there? Print off a confirmation if they are

Montrealer

I got news from British Airways today. They acknowledge the recent ECJ ruling and accepted responsibility for a 4 hour late arrival of a flight from Heathrow to Montreal in 2009. They also announced that a check of 600 Euros per passenger will arrive shortly.

I'd like to thank everybody for their great advice on how to deal with this matter, especially Centipede100 and Mark2Spark for their continuous and extremely helpful input! That made it much easier. Good luck to everybody! Keep on writing those letters, it seems as if reason slowly reaches the airlines.

WelshWarhorse

Sorry if this has been covered already, but has anyone sought to add interest to their claim for compensation?

I had a flight delayed overnight by Easyjet out of Malaga to London in 2011. When my claim was rejected, I issued a claim and Easyjet relied on the ongoing ECJ case to seek to stay the proceedings. They have now accepted liability, but have sent me a release form offering only 400 euro per person, but with no interest or court fees.

I will deal with this in court, but was wondering more generally whether anyone has pressed for interest, which should run from the time of the cause of action (i.e. delay). In our case this is about 500 pounds difference, but in some of the longer running claims it will be quite a lot more.

Given that the delay in payment was due to the airlines refusing to comply while they undertook a novel (and doomed) application to the ECJ, why should they avoid what in total would be quite a considerable sum of money that they should IMHO pay to people.

thalia22

WelshWarhorse wrote: »

Sorry if this has been covered already, but has anyone sought to add interest to their claim for compensation?

I had a flight delayed overnight by Easyjet out of Malaga to London in 2011. When my claim was rejected, I issued a claim and Easyjet relied on the ongoing ECJ case to seek to stay the proceedings. They have now accepted liability, but have sent me a release form offering only 400 euro per person, but with no interest or court fees.

I will deal with this in court, but was wondering more generally whether anyone has pressed for interest, which should run from the time of the cause of action (i.e. delay). In our case this is about 500 pounds difference, but in some of the longer running claims it will be quite a lot more.

Given that the delay in payment was due to the airlines refusing to comply while they undertook a novel (and doomed) application to the ECJ, why should they avoid what in total would be quite a considerable sum of money that they should IMHO pay to people.

Hi there, If you issued a MCOL, or a County Court claim, you can claim interest from the date of the incident @ 8% P.A. up to the date of the claim, and interest at a daily rate (8% P.A.) up to the date of judgement. You can also list any expenses incurred, as a result of their failure to comply with EC261/2004.

I am not sure where you stand if you accept the 400 Euros as full and final settlement. You could write to them and ask if they would pay interest,and any out of pocket expenses, if you had not actually submitted a Court claim, it may be cheaper for them than going to Court.

You have to remember that the joined cases of [Tui,BA,easyjet, IATA, -v-CAA], was not submitted until 8/2010, and at that time the High Courts of Justice in the UK, referred it back to the ECJ for clarification. The joined cases C-629/10 & C-581/10 was upheld by the ECJ Advocate general BOT, in press release 63/12 on 15/5/2012, but had to be ratified by the Grand Chamber, which it did in the Judgement of the 23/10/2012. This meant the UK courts had blocked further cases from being submitted from 8/2010 until 10/2012 a period of circa 26 months.
In my own case re Iberia, my claim is from 13/12/2010 until date of submission being 8/11/2012 with full interest being charged @ 8% P.A, and daily interest @ 8% P.A) from 8/11/2012 up to the date of judgement. My current position is, today final day for the defence submission, and whatever that defence is, I will challenge and pay the Court ,Hearing fee and await the County Court to set a hearing date. Iberia are to defend my claim.

I hope this helps, but you do not state if you actually have issued via the Courts a claim or not.

thalia22

Centipede100 wrote: »

The list you are referring to has no more evidential value as any testimony you can give IMO.

No airline has yet been fined under applicable UK law for breaches of 261/2004. The CAA apply a soft touch policy iin regards to this and will likely continue with this approach.

Thank you Centipeded, I concur with you the list by Monach is a joke, however the CAA list is only the 6 items listed, but in any case the onus lies on the Carrier to prove beyond doubt, that any claim for extraordinary circumstances was outside the control of that carrier, thereby in most cases the carriers excuses could be refuted in Court. Of course there are items beyond the air carriers control, like snow & Ice, Volcanoe ash clouds, Air traffic strikes or incidents, Civil commotion or disturbances, etc, to name just a few. But as witnessed on the website, a vast majority of the excuses listed by carriers are really not applicable based on the case law as per ECJ, just an attempt to fob one off.

Mark2spark

Centipede100 wrote: »

You have clearly incurred court fees in issuing your claim and you indicate that you also asked for interest to be added to your claim. If the airline has now only offered to settle for the amount originally due to the delay whilst ignoring the costs and interest aspect then I would write back to the airline thanking them for their offer but under the circumstances you are unable to accept as it falls well short of what is due.

Unless they make an offer to include the court fees incurred and at least some of the interest incurred on the debt (50% possibly) then you will see this through to a hearing by which time the debt will have increased as well as the court costs.

You could use terminology like "As a gesture of goodwill" you are prepared to accept a reduced claim on interest at - say - 4%, to bring a speedy end to the matter.

Otherwise you risk going to court, where the outcome is as yet untested.