Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

ailuro2

Can anyone point us in the right direction?

We were delayed before Christmas on leaving Edinburgh to fly to Orlando via Newark, a delay of 7 hours into Newark, we were given a refreshments voucher for £5 each and told not to worry about being put on standby in Newark, a representative of the flight provider would meet us in Newark. As we were boarded, the airport staff came on board and announced there was no accommodation available within a 50 mile radius of New York for that night. Not very reassuring!
When we arrived at Newark we stood in line for hours only to be told to return at 4a.m. to be put on standby and that no hotel would be offered by airline (said the airline would go bust if they did this!) Booked in to hotel and returned next day. By sheer luck we managed to get seats on an extra flight the next day - this wasn't announced. We made it to Orlando about 27 hours later than originally planned. At no time were there any representatives waiting to help us, or even holding up a sign telling us which desk to go to for help!

On our return journey the flight from Orlando was delayed by 1hr 50 mins and they did not give a reason for this, They did not book us on to the next leg of the flight, turns out there is only one flight a day to EDI from Newark. Landed just as the security issue was in full swing on 3rd Jan. Queued all night to be rebooked to be put on standby (woman on desk accused me of recently joining line which didn't go down well after being there for nearly 6 hours:eek:)
spent another day trying to leave Newark, were given tickets that weren't real tickets, were told we were front of queue for standby only to be told there was a different queue in front of us! After breaking down in tears at the boarding gate someone took pity and rerouted us via Frankfurt and London to Edinburgh. It should be mentioned we offered to fly anywhere at anytime to get us home. We even offered to pay for the flights out of our own pocket (this is when we were given tickets for another company which turned out to be bogus!)


Thanks if you've read this far...:D

Can someone give us their opinion on where to start on the compensation trail. Given that we had an 11 yr old with us and that I was having nosebleeds which I put down to exhaustion/stress I feel we deserve some sort of compensation - no one at any time bothered with even a simple apology for the atrocious way we were treated.

Anyone?

I can provide additional info but don't think it wise to give the name of the airline on a public forum in case it does end up going legal.

Many Thanks.:beer:

dzug1

Unfortunately compensation is nothing to do with what you think you 'deserve' - it's bound up in regulations and depends on the reason for the delay, how long it was, and who the airline was, not on 'the way you were treated'

Outward, you may be entitled to a payment under the EU regulations of €600 a head. However this depends on the reason for the delay - if it was directly the weather then you don't get the payment. Arguably you were entitled to a hotel on arrival - but if there weren't any available, it's hard to insist on your entitlement.

Coming back the EU regs don't apply - I'm assuming it was a US airline. In any case the security situation would be outside the airline's control and hence an extraordinary circumstance. I'm assuming it was the major cause of the problems

Doesn't look very promising does it?

Your insurance will pay something though - a set sum per so many hours.

ailuro2

There were plenty of hotels available, we got into the nearest hotel no problem. I don't know why the staff decided to throw that little hand grenade in before we left for Newark. :eek:

On the return journey if we hadn't been delayed we'd not have been caught up in the security issue, we'd have been on our plane and on our way home. So it was the inital delay that caused us to be trapped there.

hugoxyz

Hello, here is a summary of what happened to me:
1. Booked an EasyJet flight from Gatwick London to Lisbon, Portugal
for 21 DEC 2009 for 500 GBP (2 people return).
2. Flight was cancelled on the 21st while we were at the airport.
3. Easyjet did not have any rerouting available before Christmas.
Customer services said at the airport that no rerouting was available
before Christmas so we "had to find another way to our destination".
4. At the airport, I called TAP Portugal and bought two return
tickets by TAP Portugal for 1000 pounds for the 24th of December (I
had to go home for Christmas!).
4. I went back to my home (in London) by cab and paid 85 pounds for the cab.
What exactly can I claim a refund for?
a) Only the EasyJet cancelled flight of 500 pounds + 85 pounds of cab
OR
b) The 1000 pounds of TAP Portugal + 85 pounds of cab?
Thanks for your help, Hugo.

dzug1

Easyjet fare - yes. In theory you should have received this within 7 days
Cab fare - dubious. Why a cab and not the quicker/cheaper train?
TAP - no
EU compensation - unless the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances. 250 or 400 € a head depending on the length of flight

dzug1

ailuro2 wrote: »

There were plenty of hotels available, we got into the nearest hotel no problem. I don't know why the staff decided to throw that little hand grenade in before we left for Newark. :eek:

On the return journey if we hadn't been delayed we'd not have been caught up in the security issue, we'd have been on our plane and on our way home. So it was the inital delay that caused us to be trapped there.

Possibly shorthand for 'the hotels with whom we have a contract are all full'. To damp down your expectations maybe. They may well try to argue that EU regs do not apply to an internal US flight, which, taken on its own, is true, but presumably you had through tickets?

Coming home the EU regs are irrelevant - they do not apply to flights departing from a US airport operated by a non-EU airline.

hugoxyz

dzug1 wrote: »

Easyjet fare - yes. In theory you should have received this within 7 days
Cab fare - dubious. Why a cab and not the quicker/cheaper train?
TAP - no
EU compensation - unless the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances. 250 or 400 € a head depending on the length of flight

Thanks for you reply.
1. Cab - I was simply to exhausted to take a train and it was already late. Also, by the time I arrived in London it would be to late to catch the underground. I will still try to claim this. What is my position on this? You think it is worth the effort to try to claim the cab?
2. Total refund I can claim: So besides the refund I also have a right of 400 euros per head on top of the 500 pound cancelled ticket?! EU rules say: "Any flight within the EC over 1,500km or any other flight between 1,500km to 3,500km with delay More than 3 hours" gives a regund of €400 per head. So I can claim 500 pounds + (400 x 2 euros) = 1300 pounds (assume 1 GBP = 1 EUR )?!
3. I calculated the distance Gatwick-Lisbon using webflyer.com giving me a distance of 1540 km which is more that 1500 Is there an "official way" of calculating these distances?

Cheers

Cheers.

ailuro2

Yes, we had bought through tickets, we only had one original flight number from Edinburgh all the way to Orlando.

I doubt the airline will admit to the true reason for the delay - if the weather was the problem how did we ever manage to arrive at Newark, and why were other aircraft taking off regularly?

The airline we used oversells 10% of it's seats on all planes year round because federal law allows it to in line with the no-show rate of 10%. Come the holiday season the numbers of no shows drops and they are oversold and overbooked on every flight. A member of staff told us that, it was one of the few things they told us that we found believable. (There'll be someone there to help you wore quite thin after it fell through so many times)

Does anyone know if there are any dedicated online forums to get in touch with fellow passengers from the same stranded flight, to pool information as it were?

Thanks dzug1 and cityboy for your help. It's not looking good for us so far, the airline can't even supply us with an address to send in our complaint to.:rolleyes: They are receiving a high volume of e-mail traffic and will get back in touch when they can....yeah right!!

bluebaron

UPDATE:

Well done BA for their swift reply to my complaint....however...reply in two parts:

1/
I am sorry your flight from London Heathrow was disrupted by the adverse weather conditions on 06 January 2010. I realise how much of an inconvenience this must have been for you, especially as you had to make your own travel and hotel arrangements and was out of pocket as a result. Thank you for your email.

The heavy snowfall and low visibility meant that the amount of flights being allowed to take off and land at Heathrow was significantly reduced. As a result many of our flights that day were subject to a delay and some were diverted or cancelled. Please be assured throughout this situation, our main concern was for our customers and the effect that it was having on their travel plans. We did everything we could to protect as many of our flights as possible. I am sorry your flight was one of those affected by the disruption.

It was difficult keeping customers up to date on a changing situation, especially as the cause of the problem was out of our hands. I appreciate however that your own journey was made difficult and I am sorry.

I am sorry I cannot refund the cost of your accommodation and telephone charges. Please contact your travel insurance company to see whether you would be covered by any policy you may have with them.



I understand you had to make an alternative travel arrangement. So that we can consider your claim, I would be grateful if you would send me your receipts along with your pay and claim voucher provided at the airport. Please send them to the following address:

British Airways
Customer Relations
PO Box 5619
Sudbury
Suffolk
CO10 2PG
In your email you also requested compensation under EU Legislation. This will be dealt with separately and you will hear from us soon.
Thank you again for your email. I do hope that you will choose to travel with us again in the near future.






So looks like I may get my claim for speedlink LHR-LGW-LHR ticket.

Part 2/
#
Thank you for contacting us about your claim for compensation.

Your claim for compensation has been refused because BA0794 on 06 January 2010 was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions which prevented the aircraft operating as scheduled. Under EU legislation, British Airways is not liable for a compensation payment in this situation.

Unfortunately airline operations are subject to circumstances outside the airline's control. British Airways takes all reasonable measures to avoid cancelling a flight in such circumstances. Consideration is given to whether there are any operational options available before a decision to cancel is made. We are sorry that cancellation was necessary in this case.

Thank you for following this up with us and I hope you will fly with us again soon.

So no money there. They did fail to mention my return flight on the 8th when LHR was back to a normal opertional situation so wait and hear on that. disapointed about food vouchers/telephone calls/accom given the lenth of my delay.

Here is my reply:

Thank-you for your swift reply to my query.

I did not receive any 'pay and claim voucher' from your airport representatives.

The main basis of my claim is that British Airways failed in their 'duty of care' required under article EC 261/2004 Article 9. I was offered no phone calls, meals, refreshments, or accommodation .

You make mention that you are unwilling to refund my telephone charges as required by EU legislation. You have also failed to mention the disruption to my return service, specifically that LHR had returned to a normal operational capacity you still cancelled my flight.

As stated before "The regulation is quite specific":

Article 5
Cancellation
1. In case of cancellation of a flight, the passengers concerned shall:
(a) be offered assistance by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 8; and
(b) be offered assistance by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 9(1)(a) and 9(2), as well as, in event of re-routing when the reasonably expected time of departure of the new flight is at least the day after the departure as it was planned for the cancelled flight, the assistance specified in Article 9(1)(b) and 9(1)(c);

I was offered no assistance on either of my flights and therefore you have failed in your duty to upheld the legislation.

I appreciate your comments on these issues.

Yours Sincerely,

xxxx


Any comments?

kilkenny75

I have recently had a flight cancelled by Easyjet which left us stuck at a European airport for nearly 24 hours. This was due to company error rather than weather conditions. The company left us at the airport in the early hours of the morning with no accomodation, they said they had a limited supply which ran out and they had no further places. They also put sleeping bags and blankets in the airport which ran out. We had to sleep in the airport on a baggage carousel as a result. As this breaches Regulation (EC) 261/2004), by not providing assistance at the airport does this mean we are entitled to more than the standard 250 euros? The rescheduled flight finally got us back just within 24 hours but we had a 4 hour delay on board within which Easyjet made us pay for refreshments. Surely that isn't right?