Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

Bobisle

kempez wrote: »

Hi everybody,

I recently flew from East Midlands to Corfu with Viking. A substantial number of Viking customers were booked through the tour operator Kiss which recently went bust, and consequently Viking decided to merge some of its return flights from Corfu to the UK. This meant that my flight left twelve hours later than planned and was followed by a three hour bus ride from Gatwick to East Midlands, at considerable inconvenience to myself.

Unless these are counted as 'extraordinary circumstances', I am entitled to compensation. My position is that, while perhaps canceling the flights makes commercial and environmental sense for the company, and while I sympathise with them, the decision to cancel the flight was ultimately a commercial one on their part (presumably some payment has been received from Kiss for the seats anyway). They had planes and pilots available to fly me home, but took the business decision not to do so. Surely their obligation to compensate me for such a delay should be factored in to such a business decision?

Does anybody have experience of similar circumstances and whether they've had any joy pursuing compensation?

Thanks

The decision of the Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court on 10 August 2010 in the joined cases of TUI TRAVEL and Others v The Civil Aviation Authority (Case No. CO/6569/2010 has referred the issue of EC Regulation 261/2004 back to the European Court of Justice for their further ruling. It may take a further 2 years before the issue is resolved.
There is a Limitation Period of 6 years for bringing claims in Contract; if your claim is getting close to the 6 year limit, it may be worth filing a Small Claims Court claim now BUT be aware that the action will be stayed pending the ECJ Decision above.
However, I have just won a claim for Euros 400 against Jet2 for Denied Boarding; they did not even ask a question: they paid me in full.
If anyone needs any help with theoir claim, contact me !
Regards,
Bob Isle.

kempez

Thanks for the help guys, I'm now attempting to pursue the matter with the airline, not easy as they don't have an email address for customer services but I'll do my best.

nickbhoy172

Hi everyone, im trying to pursue a claim regarding a delayed flight but i'm not really sure how to go about it and if i have a viable claim to start with. I noticed you all have lots of experience in these matters so id be really grateful if anyone could shed any light on my claim.

My flight home from Ibiza was scheduled to leave at 1650 GMT 14th August. After an 'unforeseen operationally significant defect' with my plane, and several hours waiting, we were told we would not fly untill 0530 GMT 15th August. During this wait of 12 hours plus we were given a bottle of water and a sandwich and transferred to a hotel at around 2am, then picked up at 5am for our transfer, not really much point of that at all.

I have two questions hopefully you guys can help me with. Firstly am i eligible to make a claim? And secondly, if so, how do i go about it? And also how does this ongoing legal case affect my claim and others? Sorry i am ignorant of the facts of the case and have never done anything like this before.

Any help would be much appreciated.

blackeberg

Hi

I'm hoping that someone can just clarify what the position is on my claim before I contact the airline. I was due to fly on a scheduled SAS service at 1905 from London to Stockholm on Friday just gone. I was notified of the cancellation by text with about 7 hours notice (crew related but they couldn't be more specific). I was automatically rebooked on to the 2105 which arrived slightly later than scheduled so the total delay was just over two hours.

The main difficulty that arose from this was the very late arrival time (0035) as I had to get a £45 taxi instead of the regular £10 bus which stops its regular service at midnight. Should I claim under the official EU regulations or are they likely to be happy to consider the additional travel expenses that I incurred without me having to quote legislation at them?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

taperjeangirl3

Hi all, im looking for some advice on what to put in my second letter to the airline. I sent the first one asking for compensation to which they replied saying they would respond within 4 weeks. It has now been 6 weeks and I havent heard a thing. I just need advise on what to put in the letter telling them that I will be proceeding with court action if I do not recieve a response,
Thanks for your help
Lindsey

taperjeangirl3

Cityboy wrote: »

If your claim is for a delay as opposed to cancellation see my answer to brentos in post #683 above as the same applies to you.

thanks for the reply cityboy! yes this is for a 4 hour delay, I am going to proceed to court but do you have any template letter for the second letter to the airline? or should I not bother with a second letter and issue straight to court?
thanks
Lindsey

blackeberg

Cityboy wrote: »

Your position is that you have a legitimate claim for cancellation compensation of 250 euros per passenger under Arts 5 and 7 of EC 261/2004 as the re-route did not get you to your final destination less than 2 hours after your scheduled arrival time (it was 2 hrs 8 mins). Full Reg here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

You will need to write to the airline to start the compensation process but they will almost certainly claim the 'extraordinary circumstances' defence found in Art 5.3 which cannot apply if this was down to crew problems. Nevertheless you may have to take the airline to small claims court to get this proven. You should also complain to the AUC (www.auc.org.uk) as even if they cannot enforce any decision they will get an explanation from the airline and forward that to you with their recommendation and this may be useful to you in any court action.

It would be worth while finding out whether you have access to legal expenses cover under your household contents insurance policy which would give you both legal advice and possibly a solicitor who would conduct your case on your behalf since most of these types of claim end up in a small claims court if the claimant wishes to progress it.

The airline will not be responsible for your onward travel arrangements following your arrival in Stockholm.

Thanks for the link and information. I had been wondering whether the 250 euros applied in this case. I'll see how they respond to the initial enquiry I've sent via their official claims page. The info on crew problems actually came in a response to a post that I put up on their Facebook site so they were quite open about the 'reason' at the time. The cynic in me says that it was down to low ticket sales as the later flight was barely half full. The only other time I had a similar cancellation was when Ryanair mysteriously disappeared a London - Dublin flight with no notice and no explanation (back in the mid-90s).

ztania97

Cityboy wrote: »

If your claim is for a delay as opposed to cancellation see my answer to brentos in post #683 above as the same applies to you.

Thanks Citiboy.
You seem to be very knowledgeable person with re to flights delay compensation.
If i understood correctly, there have been some recent changes (claims on hold) not in favour of customers.
What a pity!

I flew with Wizzair in the beginning of August and flight was delayed for more than 4hours (myself and 2 kids). Sent a letter of complaint to Wizzair, they said that it was an unexpected digital engine fault, so refused compensation.
Funny enough, my husband flew with Wizzair today, the same flight number, the same length of delay.
I feel like they have a schedule problem or something.
Very frustrating.
I think i'll keep on fighting, as that type of service is just unacceptable.

Would you advise to add my husband's complaint to mine with the kids?
Shall i file it to Civil Aviation Authority?
Will appreciate any reply.
Sorry for the long message.
Thank you.

Voyager2002

blackeberg wrote: »

Hi

I'm hoping that someone can just clarify what the position is on my claim before I contact the airline. I was due to fly on a scheduled SAS service at 1905 from London to Stockholm on Friday just gone. I was notified of the cancellation by text with about 7 hours notice (crew related but they couldn't be more specific). I was automatically rebooked on to the 2105 which arrived slightly later than scheduled so the total delay was just over two hours.

The main difficulty that arose from this was the very late arrival time (0035) as I had to get a £45 taxi instead of the regular £10 bus which stops its regular service at midnight. Should I claim under the official EU regulations or are they likely to be happy to consider the additional travel expenses that I incurred without me having to quote legislation at them?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

While you are almost certainly legally entitled to the cancellation compensation (I think around 250 Euro) I am sure that the airline will make you fight to get it. If your main concern is the cost of the taxi, you might like to send the airline a polite letter inviting them to pay for it, and perhaps throwing in a few FF miles as well. They are likely to prefer to pay a relatively low price to avoid hassle and keep a customer happy, rather than face litigation.

sjoe

Travelled with Easy from LGW to BUD. Signs of trouble with the plane as we backed away from the stand. Eventually move us to a remote stand and call a technician. Several attempts to start the engines they announce its a fuel leak. Wait to find out if they have a spare plane to take us. See the 'technician' come up the steps - this was the same guy who had been escorted through the departure lounge whilst we were witing to load! Eventually taken back to holidng departure gate whilst they clear the plane and prepare the new one. Finally get on the new one to be told earliest slot we can get is at least one hour 15 minutes away! Lady asks for drinks, eventually they do a round of small cups of water. When we finally take off they announce one free drink - sadly we were 20 minutes from landing before they reached us. No information about our rights. Landed in BUD over 3 hours late. Email received from easy today apologising saying it was a technical issue. Lucky we had got a sandwich and water before we boarded!

Is it worth making a claim? What is the situation on being told your rights?