Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

dzug1

Voyager2002 wrote: »

. Additionally, you have a right to compensation for not receiving the premium service for which you paid.

Which is 75% of the total fare I believe

SteveC2007

Could someone please give me a brief answer as to whether I have a claim for any compensation or maybe even a refund on the following set of circumstances? I have spent most of this morning browsing this and one or two other forums trying to look for a definitive anwser to my query without having to post on this forum but I keep reading conflicting info, so here goes....

On 6th Decemeber 2010, I was due to fly on a 5pm flight from Amsterdam to Manchester on Easyjet. In a nutshell after being delayed for 50 minutes the flight was eventually cancelled althogether as the plane was stuck in Belfast airport which was closed due to snow.

We were put up in an hotel with an evening meal for the night by easyjet and flew home at 5pm the next day.

My question is. Does bad weather conditions at Belfast airport constitute as 'execeptional cirumstances' when I was flying from Amsterdam to Manchester?

Thanks

SteveC2007

Cityboy wrote: »

No not usually, Regulation EC 261/2004 Recital 14 refers to it as follows:

(14) As under the Montreal Convention, obligations on operating air carriers should be limited or excluded in cases where an event has been caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Such circumstances may, in particular, occur in cases of political instability, meteorological conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes that affect the operation of an operating air carrier.

The 'flight concerned' is the one you were due to take not a preceding flight or flights and note that the Regulation makes no reference in this instance to 'individual aircraft' but to 'flight'.

The airline must prove that the cancellation was not only due to 'extraordinary circunmstances' but that the cancellation could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Both aspects of this defence have to be satisfied for the defence to be proven.

Thats what I thought. Looks like I could have a claim then, thanks for your help.

tox

What about those poor folks stuck for nine hours on runway on that Islamabad flight? Surely after, at most, five hours they were entitled to a refund and compensation? How do you managethat when you're stuck on the plane?

Looks to me like the airline held them hostage to prevent them claiming....

Discuss...

dzug1

Well there is:

Extraordinary circumstances should be deemed to exist
where the impact of an air traffic management decision
in relation to a particular aircraft on a particular day
gives rise to a long delay, an overnight delay, or the
cancellation of one or more flights by that aircraft, even
though all reasonable measures had been taken by the

air carrier concerned to avoid the delays or cancellations.

Presumably it was an air traffic control decision not to let the plane take off from Belfast - so it boils down to what 'all reasonable measures' means in this case.

tox

In sure the decision not to fly was reasonable.

My point is that legally these people would have a right to cancel their flight as it hasn't taken off especially once it is over five hours late. BUT they were prevented from doing so and from leaving the aircraft.

What concerns me is that if this is allowed, then airlines will have found a way to kettle the passengers and save tens of thousands of pounds in cancellations...

richardw

dzug1 wrote: »

Well there is:

Extraordinary circumstances should be deemed to exist
where the impact of an air traffic management decision
in relation to a particular aircraft on a particular day
gives rise to a long delay, an overnight delay, or the
cancellation of one or more flights by that aircraft, even
though all reasonable measures had been taken by the

air carrier concerned to avoid the delays or cancellations.

looks like recital 15 of http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

dcraggs

Well - an interesting trip to East Midlands. We were scheduled to be taking off on a East Midlands to Chambery flight at 3:30 today. I checked East Midlands website at 12:00 and it clearly stated that there were no delays. Having parked the park in long stay and also travelled to the terminal it was clear to my wife that there were "issues" with our flight.

At around half twelve we joined the queue for Thomson to be told that the flight had been cancelled and that it would leave East Midlands at 6:00am tomorrow morning (yeah right!). I checked the other flights at East Midlands.. a few delays.. I checked the situation at Chambery - no issues. We later found out that the reason for the delay was not the weather conditions at our departure or arrival airports or the plane (which was at East Midlands)...the issue was that they could not staff the plane!

Where do we stand? We paid using Credit Card... I personally do not view this as a weather issue, as it is clear that the airline (Thomson) could have taken steps to get us a crew.. given that they have other flights cancelled!! We have paid for tonight's accommodation in Tignes and Ski passes/Hire from tomorrow morning, which we will not be able to use.:mad:

Knowing Tui - after the hassles they gave us on our honeymoon if we leave this to complaints after the holiday we'll just get a "sorry we messed you around give us a 2nd chance letter".

Thanks for any advice.

richardw

dcraggs wrote: »

the reason for the delay was not the weather conditions at our departure or arrival airports or the plane (which was at East Midlands)...the issue was that they could not staff the plane!

How did they give you this, verbal or in writing?

dcraggs

richardw wrote: »

How did they give you this, verbal or in writing?

Confirmed twice - once in person with the Rep that arrived late at the airport and also over the phone when I was trying to get answers.