Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

Vauban

tulip12 wrote: »

Hi
I am sorry if this is posted in the wrong area as not sure where to post,
We were delayed on a flight with Air Malta 14th July 2008 so only have a two months before the dead line runs out.
We contacted today a no win no fee firm (Bott) who responded to us saying time is too short now and they would not be able to do anything for us. Does any one know of any other no win no fee lawyers who may help.
Thank you for your assistance with this.

I suspect that you are too late to engage any of the reputable NWNF companies. So you are left with the option of letting it drop or taking it on yourself.

If your delay was caused by a technical problem then you might start a legal action in the hope that the Huzar case settles the issue before you need to do the serious leg work. Personally though I wouldn't start something I didn't think I could finish..

Lots of help on this forum for a DIY - but a lot of hard work needed too. So your call ...

Stevie_Bhoy

David_e wrote: »

1. How long did you give them when you threatened legal action?
2. Without legal action, not great.
3. Sadly "CAA approved" doesn't help much; it carries very little weight in law.

Use the wealth of information in the FAQs and you'll see what your chances of a successful outcome are.

Thanks David.
1. I didn't give them a particular timeframe, but I'll give them a few weeks to chew it over while I investigate the small claims option and then presumably I'll need to formally let them know that I intend to take them to court.
2. I was hoping that you wouldn't say that!
3. So it would appear! I can only hope that the CAA siding with me will stand me in good stead in court!

Thanks again!

Vauban

Stevie_Bhoy wrote: »

I can only hope that the CAA siding with me will stand me in good stead in court!

Did you hear the chap from the CAA on the radio yesterday to say that they supported passengers in "30%" of cases. So you have a 70% chance of a statement that will damage rather than help your case in court. Why would anyone think engaging the CAA a good idea?!

111KAB

Vauban wrote: »

Did you hear the chap from the CAA on the radio yesterday to say that they supported passengers in "30%" of cases. So you have a 70% chance of a statement that will damage rather than help your case in court.

Here is the link for the radio programme Vauban refers to

https://www.facebook.com/MonarchComplaints/posts/277313792430011

Whilst still of the opinion the CAA are a waste of time/space/air (with regard to delays) here are the direct links (copy and paste) which may save you some time if you still think they are going to help.....

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/5/RPG Group Functional Chart - Feb 2013.pdf

tulip12

Vauban wrote: »

I suspect that you are too late to engage any of the reputable NWNF companies. So you are left with the option of letting it drop or taking it on yourself.

If your delay was caused by a technical problem then you might start a legal action in the hope that the Huzar case settles the issue before you need to do the serious leg work. Personally though I wouldn't start something I didn't think I could finish..

Lots of help on this forum for a DIY - but a lot of hard work needed too. So your call ...

Thank you Vauban for you advise. It was a technical problem with the plane at the time.
It is something we do not have the time to do ourselves so we will probably have to let this one go unfortunately as you have pointed out to us the leg work involved. Thanks again

len49

Hi Steviebhoy

Been offline for a few days so just read your posts.

I've been chasing Thomas Cook about a delay since October 2010. Had a Preliminary Sheriff Court Hearing last June then a Proof Hearing last September when we ran out of time to complete on the day.

Reconvened in December when TC's lawyer applied for and was granted a sist (stay) pending the outcome of Huzar v Jet2 appeal, although I pointed out to the Sheriff my case is not reliant on Huzar. You're case will have the added fudge of the Dawson v Thomson appeal to contend with.

I've posted a few times on the TC thread if you want to search the forum thread and read my tale of woe. The Airlines all play the game the same way so for TC just think Thomson's and vice versa.

Alternatively, let me know if you want any more info and I'll PM you with my e-mail address. I'm sure you need something to get your teeth into in the close season and, then, hopefully,another celebration at the end of this saga.

Cheers

len49

Stevie_Bhoy wrote: »

Thanks David.
1. I didn't give them a particular timeframe, but I'll give them a few weeks to chew it over while I investigate the small claims option and then presumably I'll need to formally let them know that I intend to take them to court.
2. I was hoping that you wouldn't say that!
3. So it would appear! I can only hope that the CAA siding with me will stand me in good stead in court!

Thanks again!

gmar96

Hi to all here,

Firstly I’d like to apologise for the lateness of my post. This claim was decided and paid out back in April. One week before we were due in court.

I have decided to write this post to implore those who have been delayed and feel they have a claim, to please read the good advice on this forum.

There are good people here, who have no other interest than to see that passengers do not waste too much time and effort on this process.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of not heeding some good advice to get my claim into the courts.

As far back as 2010 I wrote to Qatar airlines twice in the months after delay and then the AUC, now the CAA and waited for the CAA's response, which is by the way ridiculously slow.

I wrote to CAA early 2011, they advised me about 8 weeks later that there is a stay (Sturgeon Judgement decided Oct 2012), and I simply waited for that to come around. Big mistake I should have filed my claim against the airline, advice here on forum was to do that sooner rather than later.

However I did not listen to the forum and continued to await that judgement. When the judgement came in October 2012, a full 18 months later, I renewed my claim with Qatar. They again cited extraordinary circumstances and I again trusted the CAA. I wrote to them, they got back almost 8 weeks later (pattern emerging???).

The CAA told me they were writing to Qatar (Jan 2013) and that they would 'take a view' as to whether there were any Extraordinary C's. They neither took a view nor did they help me in any tangible way. To boot they took a full 11 months (Dec 5 2013) to provide me with an email explaining that they could help no more and no further correspondence would be entered into. Qatar airways should perhaps take some of the blame on the delay in replying.

My take on the CAA (for what it’s worth)

The CAA should not be charged with representing passenger's rights, in my view there is a clear conflict of interest. How can a body consisting of airlines, representing airlines also have passenger's best interests at heart? Of course it should be noted that I had a bad experience with them as they caused much of my time to be wasted. Others may have a different take.

However I digress and would suggest writing to the CAA if only to show the courts that all measures were taken before action... but if they take more than a couple of weeks to reply do not wait for the answer... get your answers here and believe me the advice here is better.
If you have a claim they will tell you here, if it is relatively straightforward and you feel confident enough then by all means do it yourself. But not without the advice from fellow forumites.

If you don’t feel confident or you simply do not have the time, inclination or both then do not be put off, use the NWNF lawyers.

Moral of my story is...Here on the forum they told me to take it to court a full 18 months earlier. I was basically trying to do this alone (I thought with the CAA, turns out I was alone) without utilising the factual accounts on this forum. It was a monumental waste of my time and so it has proven.
5 months ago I took this to the small claims track by myself... also not something I would undertake lightly and I might add without the help of a great servant of this forum I would have really struggled.
However I got my claim started, Qatar disputed, then it went to the courts and I got a comprehensive claim pack together, standing on the shoulders of giants of course. Vauban :beer:

I was expecting to be in court by April 3rd but 1 week before I got a letter from their solicitor to discuss a way to avoid court. Bad offer Number 1 £600 + court fees...1 day later Bad offer number 2 £900 + not sure because I dismissed before we got to that …

Final offer today £1200 give or take including court fees and 1/3 interest. Accepted... I think it is a victory.

Now this could be less than I'd have got going to court but it could have been more. I envisaged £1400+ including interest and was theoretically entitled to that. In court I could have included, but not been guaranteed to receive, my transport costs and printer ink/ paper adding another possible £100. However the prospect of court and the fact that my wife is expecting our second child means for me as a layperson it is difficult to justify, the outcome is uncertain and I do not feel strongly enough to put my wife through the court process. (She, along with our son were delayed)

One thing I am certain of is that there are people on here who know exactly what they are talking about. Look for those that answer frequently and do not dip in and out like I did, engage and you will get the help you need.
Thanks to them I did not have to bow down to the airlines. Nobody should have to do that, I imagine there may have been many on my wife’s flight who would have been deterred at the first or second refusal. I am testament to the fact that that would be a mistake because surely most on that flight must have been entitled?

We are very grateful to all those that encouraged us on this journey.

G and MA

Vauban

I stumbled across this useful data the other day, quantifying the number and types of complaint made to the CAA about different airlines. It only goes up to the third quarter of 2013 at the moment - I wonder what more recent stats look like?

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=80&pagetype=88&sglid=27&fld=2013

I think the "complaints per million passenger" is a useful and interesting stat. For the most recent period, for example, British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet all get about 40 formal complaints to the CAA per million passengers carried. Flybe is about 50% higher, with 60 complaints per million.

You can see the how the others stack up, but of the main UK airlines the worst three are Thomson with 340 c.p.m., Monarch with 400, and Thomas Cook with an astonishing 780 c.p.m - almost twenty times as many as BA, Ryanair and easyJet!

legal_magpie

Perhaps they aren't quite so surprising when you look at the reason for the complaint. Taking the third quarter of 2013 as an example, 74% of the complaints were about delay. Those figures will undoubtedly have been influenced by the massive publicity given to delay claims through the press and websites such as this one.
Whatever one might say about Ryanair, they do pride themselves on their punctuality so are less likely to have complaints based on delay.

DelayedFlier

Can anyone help? I'm on the cusp of taking Thomas Cook airlines to the small claims court and want to know if there's any other way I can force them to pay up. Here's the back story:

My wife and I were delayed on our flight to Greece last year. The delay was over nine hours to according to EU Regulation and UK case law we are entitled to €400 per person. The airline claims that the delay was 'exceptional' and have provided a one line explanation of the cause. I didn't accept their claim that it was exceptional and took it to the CAA. After some time (the CAA are very busy) the CAA came back to me to say that they agree the airline hadn't provided sufficient evidence to support their claim but the CAA have no legal powers to enforce. They suggested taking it to court and warned about potential court costs.

So I've got the CAA's endorsement of my view that I'm entitled to compensation but actually making the airline pay is proving difficult since they are sticking to their 'exceptional' claim despite having seen the email from the CAA. I'd really rather not take it to court because of the potential cost, complication and uncertainty over the outcome.

Does anyone have a suggestion for any other way to resolve this?

Also, any suggestions on how we can get the system fixed? There really should be an ombudsman for this sort of thing but apparently there isn't and the CAA lack the powers to enforce.