Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

Vauban

rilo wrote: »

Ah, pity. Thank you for clearing that up Vauban. Perhaps United will make some sort of gesture anyway.

Yes - it's worth a polite email to customer services, stressing your disappointment as a loyal customer, etc, etc. Might get some airmiles or something.

devlido

There are a few things you need to consider here.
1. was it an airline that is based in the EU? Non EU airlines are not subject to this ruling/law.
2. Your flight will have had to originate or complete in an EU country. Connecting through an EU country would not apply if you leave or arrive in a non EU country
3. The length of delay would suggest you would get compensation as it is down to the arrival time at your destination however, it would also depend on the length of your entire journey too.

you can check what you are entitled to here (sorry, I can't post links as I am a new user). Go to:
moneysavingexpert dot com website
travel
flight-delays

you can see the length of your journey here
webflyer dot com website
travel
mileage_calculator

I hope this helps.

111KAB

It was getting better but appears not to be the case recently although I have severe doubts on anything Iain Osborne says .... http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2014988&c=setreg&region=2

gooseauvin

I wanted to let this forum know about my success in finally getting compensation paid on a delayed flight claim I've been pursuing with Thomson Airways since Sept 2010. This is partly in thanks to MSE and its forum members for highlighting how it can be done - especially using some of the excellent letter templates provided.

We went on an all-inclusive family holiday to Lanzarote in Aug 2010 with First Choice holidays - part of TUI that also owns Thomson. A great 2 week break was only marred by the delay of our return flight from Arrecife to Newcastle by >17 hours. Yes, they put us up overnight but the place was a cockroach-infested slum with no A/C - they took us here after they sneakily loaded us all onto the coach departing from our lovely resort before telling us the good news.

Anyway, after complaining to Thomson in Sept 2010 they rejected my compensation claim, saying that the delay had been due to a matter that fell within the 'extraordinary circumstances' category so did not count. This was rubbish as the aircraft we were due to fly on was grounded because of a technical fault that had arisen on its previous flight rotation.

After a few more letters but no joy I left the matter open with no further correspondence until 2013, when the court ruled in favour of the complainant in the Sturgeon case. More letters followed (always send 'Signed For'!) but Thomson continued to rebuff the claim.

When the Supreme Court blocked Thomson Airways’ and Jet 2's attempts to overturn the court’s previous rulings on passenger compensation in Oct 2014, I wrote to Thomson again in Nov. This finally had the desired effect of eliciting a positive outcome. Yesterday I received an apology letter acknowledging the problem and enclosing full compensation to the GB£ value of €2,000 (we are a family of 5 so claiming for €400 each).:j

I hope this result gives everyone some extra incentive and belief that they can win their respective cases - persistence pays!

Good luck.

gooseauvin

trevmass wrote: »

I had a letter back from thomson airlines refusing compensation,would just like to
show you part of it,hope someone can make sense of it
were hear goes..
As with any part in a complex machine,aircraft parts have a certain life expectancy,
and during this life expectancy,the part is most likely to experience problems when it is first installed and when it is nearing the end of its life,unfortunatly in this case a part which was not expected to fail was found to have failed during a routine maintenance.
as a result,repairs had to be made resulting in delay to your flight.
It also says that repairs were needed BEFORE the aircraft could leave the hanger.
Well that bit is wrong,passengers watched them climbing all over one of the engines,with 4 or 5 fire engines in attendence.
when the engine was started up,there was one of a hell bang and smoke coming from it.
in the end we had to wait for a different plane
just to let you know the pilot of the new plane told us all.
not to worry any more,as the new plane was new and not old like the old one

Hi, I've just posted news of my successful claim with Thomson on the end of this thread. If you want to know more details then please feel free to IM me.

richardw

devlido wrote: »

.....1. was it an airline that is based in the EU? Non EU airlines are not subject to this ruling/law...

Are you sure about this?

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

I'm wondering if you all can help.

We recently went on honeymoon to South Africa in August 2014, flying from Edinburgh to Port Elizabeth with 2 stop overs. Our flight plan was as follows:

Edinburgh - Charles de Gaulle Paris (Air France)
Charles de Gaulle Paris - Johannesburg (Air France)
Johannesburg - Port Elizabeth (South African Airways)

Our middle flight form Charles de Gaulle Paris to Johannesburg was delayed due to a technical fault, we were scheduled for a 11.30pm take off but didn't take off until 12.49am. As a result we missed our connecting flight at Johannesburg onto Port Elizabeth.

The airport managed to get us changed onto a British Airways flight and we eventually got into Port Elizabeth at 17:28 instead of our previous arrival time of 14:05.

We were due to be picked up by our airport transfer to take us on the first part of our honeymoon, which was a safari and as a result we missed the first evening and game drive of our stay there, so it would be great if we'd be able to claim something for missing out on this.

The whole holiday was booked by Barrhead Travel but I'm not sure if we're entitled to compensation as we missed a connecting flight on a different airline?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Upwind

Not too confident of any compensation with my/our recent travel mayhem as the airline isn’t based in the EU (Emirates) - but there may be other things we can claim for or other lines we can follow. Be grateful if someone (with greater knowledge than me) would glance over the issues in our particular case below and throw some light into the dark orifice that is the airline compensation system…….thank you

Our story is as follows….

We flew back from Australia last weekend - flying with Emirates from Sydney to Manchester via Dubai. Our flight out of Sydney (EK415 to Dubai scheduled for 6.00am) was delayed, initially for an hour and 45 mins and then 3 hours 45 mins. We contacted Emirates twice from our airport hotel and confirmed these timings and were told not to worry as onward flights would be sorted accordingly. Not frequent travellers to Australia we accepted this and duly reported to check in at Sydney at around 7am for the 9.45am departure. At the point of check-in and with our 'big' bags already on the carousel the Emirates lady decided to inform us that we would be further delayed in Dubai and that our onward flight (for which we originally had a hour and a half stopover - departing Dubai at around 3pm) was now scheduled for 3am and that we would be checked into a hotel on arrival (around 5.30pm local in Dubai) and shuttled by bus to a hotel. We would then be awoken at midnight to return to the airport for the 3am departure of our onward flight to Manchester. We were somewhat gobsmacked at this and questioned why we weren't informed (when we called earlier) that there would be a delay (involving an 'overnight' stay) in Dubai. The Emirates lady, although polite, had no response other than to apologise.

We accepted our fate and proceeded to make the necessary phone calls and communications to the folks back home to inform them and change the collecting taxi etc.

On arrival at Dubai we were offloaded and joined the majority of others who were similarly affected. We joined one of several queues and tried to ascertain what we had to do. It transpired that we had to queue up to obtain boarding cards for onward flight and then also 'book' a hotel room for our 'overnight' stay. there was little direction or assistance provided and we took to getting advice from the one or two 'frequent flyers' who were present. After queuing for our boarding cards, we were then told to go through customs and find Gate 1 where we would be allocated a hotel room and shuttled out . Gate 1 was eventually found and we again queued up to be allocated hotel rooms. After a further 30 mins we were given hotel allocation and we were farmed out to buses for transportation to our hotel. We eventually arrived at the hotel about 8pm (approx) and joined yet another queue to be register at the hotel and get access to our rooms. Once allocated we were invited to take up the 'free' food in the hotel (which was OK - if you liked spicy food) and then had time for a shower and 2 hours sleep before we were awoken at midnight to be taken back to the airport for our onward flight.

More mayhem ensued as we fought to get onto the shuttle buses to the airport, but eventually we arrived at our gate for departure for the flight to Manchester - absolutely shattered. The flight home was quiet, although we still managed to leave later than the 3am scheduled time and eventually landed an hour and 40 minutes late due to some bad weather en route.

Anyway, I was hoping that some of the more seasoned and knowledgeable forum members from the MSE Community may be able to inform me where we would stand with regard to any compensation and what would be the correct path to take to chase this.
I (we) would be enormously grateful for any assistance or guidance. Appreciate any help that can be given... thanks

Caz3121

non-EU carrier delayed departing from non-EU airport - speak to your travel insurance to see what they pay out for delays

Tyzap

Upwind,

Also send a letter of complaint to Emirates if you want some air miles for next trip. They are usually quite obliging.

At least they met their duty of care, even if it still meant lots of queuing, that just comes with the territory I'm afraid.

Had your delay been with Jet2 you would have been lucky to get a slice of bread and a cup of water, we got even less than that!