Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

Tyzap

Vauban wrote: »

I was living in Washington DC and had the mother-in-law staying. She stayed an extra week before Virgin flew her home. There's no compensation for that ...

And more to the point, no amount of compensation could compensate for that!

Audreymaca

Hi
I'm hoping someone here can advise me! We had our flights from Dublin to France cancelled at the end of June this year by Ryan Air. We were meant to fly into Carcassonne but would have had to wait a week before they could give us flights there so we ended up choosing to fly into Barcelona [nearest to holiday destination after discussing with Ryan Air staff] 2 days later arriving in Barcelona at midnight, then having to wait till morning for train to Perpignan. This ended up costing us quite a lot [6 traveling] as well as losing out on 3 nights prepaid accommodation, deposit on car hire and a whole lot of stress!! Would we be entitled to compensation from Ryan Air, even though they provided us with flights?
Thank you, Audrey

Caz3121

Read Vauban's guide (bottom link of the Sticky) it will cover everything you need to know...and more
The first question will be, what was the reason for the delay to see if you qualify for any compensation?
I assume your travel insurance compensated for your losses

natsplatnat

natsplatnat wrote: »

After losing the will last year, I have recently been back in contact with Olympic holidays regarding my claim. I emailed them asking 'who was providing the flight and why it was delayed'.

They responded very quickly to tell me that we were due to fly with GreenJet and that this airline has now ceased operating so I cannot claim (fair enough!).

But........ why did our check-in desk sign and all paperwork state Small Planet? And also, following a scour online, I can't see that GreenJet ever flew any planes!

If there are any plane / airline fanatics reading, I would be most grateful for any information you can share regarding GreenJet Airlines.

I am going back to Olympic to find our why the flight was delayed anyway....1) I am nosy. 2) I am not convinced they are telling me the truth about the airline! (I am hugely cynical!)

Many thanks,

Nats x

Having done some digging online *thanks to those who assisted* I contacted Olympic this week and pointed out that GreenJet had never flown commercially and that it was a bit convenient that they apparently ceased trading on the day we were due to fly. I gave them a last chance to provide me with accurate info regarding my flight provider. They responded with the details that it should have been Small Planet and not GreenJet.

I will now persue Small Planet, but I wanted to write this post in-case anyone else reading had also been fobbed-off by Olympic using GreenJet and them folding to deter people from claiming from the correct airline.

I know that after the Aviation Broker Meridien closed (and they supplied a lot of Small Planet flights to tour operators) the main tour operators carried on dealing direct with Small Planet - I do wonder if Olympic are trying to shield them in some way by providing false information?

saayinla

Does anyone think I have a valid claim if I take this further to Small claims court because Airline has fobbed me off about 3 times now and CAA are no help either?

Wonder if anyone can help me regarding a 12 hours delay by the airline.

In July Last year, I flew lufthansa to Lagos in Nigeria, my flight was meant to depart LHR as detailed below to arrive Lagos Same Day at 17:25pm however I did not arrive Lagos until 05:25am the next day with a 12 Hours Delay!


So basically there was a Delay at Heathrow hence the Flight arrived 39 minutes Late, basically preventing me from taking the onward flight also operated by lufthansa to Lagos. After complaining etc, myself and other passenger were made to wait at the airport until around 6pm and we put back on a flight to London from where we were rebooked on another Virgin Atlantic flight to Lagos which Arrived the Next morning 05:25am. I got a stamped proof form the lufthansa customer service desk at frankfurt saying they caused the delay preventing myself and other passengers to miss our flight.

I contacted Lufthansa to complain and below is the response I got back which I have not pursued any further, Can someone please advice me on what to do next.

Thanks in advance.

Dear XXXX,

We deeply regret that your flights LH925 from London to Frankfurt on 6 July 2012 did not take place as scheduled.

We are very sorry that your feeder flight LH925 was affected by a delay in departure as the result airport congestion and you were unable to catch your onward flight LH594 in Frankfurt. We very much regret the delay this caused and offer you our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.

Of course, we do everything we can in order to transport you to your destination punctually and reliably. However, the delay of flight this flight on was caused by unusual circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all possible measures had been taken.

As is usual in air traffic, aircraft are used according to a fixed rotation plan. Unfortunately aircraft can be delayed for many different external reasons, such as, for example, airspace congestion or bottlenecks caused by official requirements. Regrettably, this was the case with your flight LH925.
This is how the aircraft used for your flight and arriving from Frankfurt landed behind schedule. As a result it was impossible for your flight to depart punctually.

As Lufthansa is not responsible for the reasons behind the delay in departure, in accordance with EU regulation 261/2004 we are not obliged to pay compensation.

In view of your experiences, we are taking the liberty of crediting 3000 award miles to your Miles & More account, which we hope you will accept as a token of our apologies and as a motive to restore your faith with Lufthansa.

While we are unable to comply with your request for compensation entirely, we would be pleased if you continued to trust Lufthansa. Rest assured that we will do our utmost to ensure your future flights with us proceed smoothly.

Yours sincerely,

Paolo Elmo

Lufthansa German Airlines

Going by the above, I complained to the CAA last year and they contacted Lufthansa who came back yet again that the delay was unforseen and there was nothing they could have done to prevent it even though I highligthed the fact that the time between flights was just an hour and also showed statistics from the last 30 flights before mine showing that 16 out of 30 Flights were delayed, which basically means over 50% of flights were delayed and could have resulted to a missed flight but yet the continued to take the chances and yet fob me off when missed flight occur. See their response below, I intend to take them to small claims court now, any advise will be appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

NoviceAngel

Hi saayinla,

First of all you need to post in the correct thread, each airline has it's own dedicated thread.

From what I understand it sounds like you booked separate bookings ? -

IE London to Frankfurt

Frankfurt to Lagos ?

If they were separate booking you would not be covered by EC261/2004 . However, if you booked on the same booking London to Lagos via Frankfurt you SHOULD be covered.

That's my understanding anyway!

Cheers

NoviceAngel

Vauban

Saayinla. Assuming this is a through booking with Lufthansa, why was your flight from London delayed? That will determine whether you have a claim or not.

saayinla

NoviceAngel wrote: »

Hi saayinla,

First of all you need to post in the correct thread, each airline has it's own dedicated thread.

From what I understand it sounds like you booked separate bookings ? -

IE London to Frankfurt

Frankfurt to Lagos ?

If they were separate booking you would not be covered by EC261/2004 . However, if you booked on the same booking London to Lagos via Frankfurt you SHOULD be covered.

That's my understanding anyway!

Cheers

NoviceAngel

The flight was booked directly with Lufthansa and it was routed through frankfurt all by lufthansa, I only wanted to travel London to Lgos return irrespective of route.

Vauban wrote: »

Saayinla. Assuming this is a through booking with Lufthansa, why was your flight from London delayed? That will determine whether you have a claim or not.

This is the resaon they gave me

"As is usual in air traffic, aircraft are used according to a fixed rotation plan. Unfortunately aircraft can be delayed for many different external reasons, such as, for example, airspace congestion or bottlenecks caused by official requirements. Regrettably, this was the case with your flight LH925.
This is how the aircraft used for your flight and arriving from Frankfurt landed behind schedule. As a result it was impossible for your flight to depart punctually."

But my arguement is that with the slightest delay to first flight will make it impossible to take the second flight to Lagos and also statistics from airline shows 16 out of the last 30 flights for the same routes were delayed.

NoviceAngel

saayinla wrote: »

The flight was booked directly with Lufthansa and it was routed through frankfurt all by lufthansa, I only wanted to travel London to Lgos return irrespective of route.

Then you should be covered by EC261/2004, it's the delay at your final destination that counts, the reasons they give are not very convincing - although the original delay to your first leg was less than an hour - they are responsible for your delay to your final destination Lagos.

Vauban

saayinla wrote: »

The flight was booked directly with Lufthansa and it was routed through frankfurt all by lufthansa, I only wanted to travel London to Lgos return irrespective of route.




This is the resaon they gave me

"As is usual in air traffic, aircraft are used according to a fixed rotation plan. Unfortunately aircraft can be delayed for many different external reasons, such as, for example, airspace congestion or bottlenecks caused by official requirements. Regrettably, this was the case with your flight LH925.
This is how the aircraft used for your flight and arriving from Frankfurt landed behind schedule. As a result it was impossible for your flight to depart punctually."

But my arguement is that with the slightest delay to first flight will make it impossible to take the second flight to Lagos and also statistics from airline shows 16 out of the last 30 flights for the same routes were delayed.

Your argument about the unreasonableness of the connecting time might get some traction, but it's not the legal test that the courts use to determine whether compensation is due. That will depend on a) the reason for the delay and b) what efforts the airline took to mitigate it.

The communication from the airline avoids giving you this information, which in and of itself is telling. If the flight was delayed due to air traffic control issues, for example, affecting your flight, this would definitely be extraordinary - irrespective of the tight connection times, or the track record of punctuality for that route. But reading the letter carefully, that's not what they're saying.

So this leaves you with a choice - either take it to court (my guide explains how), hand it over to a NWNF lawyer (for 30% of the compensation) or let it lie.