Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

themilkman23

Cityboy wrote: »

Under Article 9 of EC 261/2004 you are entitled to the following:

Article 9
Right to care
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge:
(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;
(b) hotel accommodation in cases
- where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or
- where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary;
(c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).
2. In addition, passengers shall be offered free of charge two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails.

You need to send copies of your receipts to the address on the BA website for EU compensation claims in Sudbury Suffolk alomg with brief details of your claim including flight number, booking ref no and passenger names.

Thanks Cityboy. So am I thinking that the best course of action would be a brief letter to get the hotel fees and food refunded and then because I've got legal cover on my home insurance try and claim compensation under 261/2004 and the Sturgeon judgement?

themilkman23

Cityboy wrote: »

IMO, you have little chance of succeeding with the cancellation compensation due to the fact that BA was operating few if any aircraft to/from LHR on the 19th due to the severe weather conditions but ask your legal advisor for more specific advice on that aspect. Sturgeon doesn't come into play in your case as your flight was cancelled not delayed.

Many thanks for your help Cityboy - much appreciated.

ColinAvison

Cityboy wrote: »

Under 261/2004 and the Sturgeon judgement you have a claim on the airline for compensation. However UK court cases involving claims for delay are currently stayed until the challenge to the judgement has been heard which could be 18 months-2 years away.
Claims can be brought in the small claims court for up to 6 years so you have plenty of time.

If you or your companions want an easy life then do nothing.

I was also on this flight and my insurance does not cover me for the loss of holiday time or hotel stay at the resort etc. . If we just wait for the judgement, are we likely to automatically receive compensation in due course or will we need to keep chasing this up?

strawberryberry

ColinAvison Hope you enjoyed yuor stay onece you got there, I rang up Thomas Cook this morning and was advised that they did not pay any money for delays as they are accidental and not done on purpose.
I was also advised that they do not have to provide welfare drinks, food or accomodation this is at the airlines discretion and comes down to the duty manager what she wants to give out. I can see Yvonne the duty manager now sitting there telling us there was no accomodationavailable in the whole of manchester and trying to get people to take £15 to cover welfare from 16.00 to the next morning .
I am going to use the letter as written out by cityboy post number 567.
If you want to pm me we can ensure that we use the same information as some is a blur now and we would not want conflicting evidence, but want to claim for the same thing.:beer:

DJFearRoss

on the 23rd December 2010 we got a Ryanair flight from Valencia Spain to London Stansted.

The filght was first delayed by 3 hours*, it stated so on the board but no staff were available to provide info, as you say they must legally do. My wife had to go back 'out of security' and ask at the Ryanair desk, who simply told her to come back after the 2 hour period. Unfortunately, we have a kid and she is pregnant, so passing through security as many of you parents know can be a nightmare so we didn't do it again.

After 3 hours, it said another hour delay, then after boarding they made us sit of the plane for just under an hour (just under the 5 hour mark in total!)

I complained to the stewardess and pointed out to him the EU legislation, he said I should just write to Ryaniar Head Office with my complaint. Other people were complaining as well and eventually he annouced that they would give people upto £5.00 worth of food, but they would have to pay for it and then FAX their receipt to Ryanair for a refund. I refused out of principle, but now I think I should have just stuffed myself there and at the airport to have something to claim back.

Is it still worth making a complaint, what would happen now? I mean, surely Ryaniar broke the law regardless of whether they apologise or not and action should be taken against them?

*reason for delay was that they took our plane to take other passengers from Valencia to Madrid instead and then the plane broke down.

Voyager2002

ColinAvison wrote: »

I was also on this flight and my insurance does not cover me for the loss of holiday time or hotel stay at the resort etc. . If we just wait for the judgement, are we likely to automatically receive compensation in due course or will we need to keep chasing this up?

No, you will not receive anything automatically. Once the judgement has been handed down, it will be possible for you to begin legal action against the airline. In the meantime, you can send them written notice that you intend to do so, and of course check whether you have legal expenses insurance.

Kira000

themilkman23 wrote: »

Evening all.

We flew from Heathrow on 15th December to Las Vegas with BA.


So am just wondering what exactly we are entitled to. When I questioned the operator what we could claim for she wasn't exact and just told us to keep hold of our receipts. So am guessing the minimum we can claim back is the hotel fees for the extra nights and also what we spent on food for those days.

Having read some of the posts after this, PLEASE can i urge you to be careful what language you use when contacting airlines regarding snow claims. Because it is events beyond control of the airline you are NOT entitled to COMPENSATION, and if you ask for Compensation in your letter even if by mistake, your letters may be sent to the wrong pile in the first sift and take longer to get rerouted back to the right team. What you are actually asking for is EXPENSES.
In the case of BA claims, to get your claims sorted as quickly as possible, and avoid follow ups asking for info (which are very frustrating!), i've included a quick guide based on my experiences of how to get claims through quickly and without arguements!!

• Include your booking reference,
• the flight number and date of the cancelled flight,
• the date and flight that you eventually took (if any)
• the names of all passengers you are claiming for. If you dont all have the same name, (ie a family) make sure everyone signs the letter to give permission for BA to deal with you.
• Include your sortcode, account number, bank name and branch name so they can do a bank transfer with your payment. they can do a cheque, but the queue for this to happen usually seems to be AGES!

Then for expenses,

• The regulations state they must ONLY pay for Hotel expenses, Food and drink (Not alcohol) and 2 phone calls.
• Number your receipts and include a breakdown with your letter of what each receipt is for, the date, the amount on the receipt that you are claiming. This means excluding any booze, and tips/gratuities from meals.
• Make sure you send actual receipts not credit card slips/statements or headline invoices without details. If you claim phone call costs, they will have an allowance, rather than 2 calls. You'll need an itemised bill to claim. I think they will will cover internet charges instead of phone calls, up to the same allowance, but needs to be shown on a bill/receipt.
• I would photocopy the whole thing, including receipts just in case any of it gets lost and you are asked to reprovide. You may also need to have copies to send to your insurers for anything the airline wont cover.
• If you were sent back from the airport and had to come back, then you should be able to claim some expenses for the additional journeys. I think its usually a contribution of upto £50 per trip to/from airport. You must include any receipts though.

Alternative travel vs refunds.

• If you made your own way home, you can claim for alternative travel expenses incurred OR you can claim for a ticket refund of the unused journey. You cant have both, so make sure you do your calculations to see which would get you more money back! There is usually some cap on the amount claimable, so expect a contribution not the full amount. Shorthaul/Doms usually it would be the alternative travel as the better option, Longhaul is often the ticket price. If in doubt, DONT ring and ask for a refund, instead, send the letter, and ask BA to do which ever option offers more money back.. once you've requested the refund, you are stuck!

Anyway.. hope this might help someone. Just trying to prevent getting stuck in the claims nightmare as i have been in the past!

K x

pacha75

Cityboy wrote: »

You would need to issue proceedings in the French equivalent of small claims court (Tribunal d'instance I believe) to currently claim compensation as all UK cases have been stayed due to the challenge launched in August 2010 against the Sturgeon ruling. Otherwise you could wait until the legal challenge has been ruled on in about 18 months time before launching your claim in Eng/Wales.

AF is incorrect when they state that as it was delayed for "technical reasons" it does not need to pay compensation since it was "technical reasons" that Sturgeon claimed led to his delay which was ruled upon by the ECJ in his favour.

What is the use then of going through the AUC of another EU nation to claim compensation for delays? Do they not represent your claim?

In the link europa dot eu website (transportation/air) it
states "The EU rules oblige Member States to nominate or create “national enforcement bodies”, whose role is to verify that transport operators are treating all passengers in accordance with their rights. Passengers who believe they have not been treated correctly should contact the body in the country where the incident took place."

How can they help if we are the ones supposed to go to court?

richardw

Cityboy wrote: »

The AUC's opinion.......... will be seen to be persuasive..

Is there a public record of judgements in cases for all to see the AUC's teeth in action?

richardw

Perhaps it would be easier for passengers if the enforcement bodies had more enforcing powers so that the airlines had more respect for this regulation EC261/2004.