Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

travelkidd

A BA flight was late leaving London due to bad weather. We were then very late leaving Tel Aviv on the return. I've read that a couple UK courts have ruled that passengers delayed due to a delayed incoming flight can claim compensation. This is outside of the EU rules so I'm wondering if anyone has tried this and if so, how did you support your claim?

JPears

Please read Vaubans guide (google if needs be), then post on BA thread.

travelkidd

I've done both. The guide doesn't address my question and the BA thread led me here.

David_e

travelkidd wrote: »

I've done both. The guide doesn't address my question and the BA thread led me here.

There are many nuances so situations may not be identical but if you read Vauban's guide to understand the key points of the law, you will have a pretty good idea whether or not you have a case. Also, if you spend some time reading the threads, it's amazing how quickly you pick up what the key issues are.

If you don't fancy that, just use a no win no fee firm who will take a fee but relieve you of any effort in researching, corresponding with the airline and making a claim to the courts.

DIYBaldyman

travelkidd wrote: »

A BA flight was late leaving London due to bad weather. We were then very late leaving Tel Aviv on the return. I've read that a couple UK courts have ruled that passengers delayed due to a delayed incoming flight can claim compensation. This is outside of the EU rules so I'm wondering if anyone has tried this and if so, how did you support your claim?

Assuming the return flight was the return leg of the delayed inbound BA flight, then this was an EU carrier (BA) flying into an EU airport (one of the London airports).

You say your flight was rescheduled due to a delay on an earlier flight, causing a final delay to your original scheduled arrival time.

Now, assuming your delay was in excess of 3 hours & also assuming you can answer 'YES' to the other questions under point 2 of Vauban's excellent guide....

If the above is all correct, then your case is definitely not outside of the EU rules;

Vauban's guide has links to several binding judgements & their specific rulings.

Lookup the link to Finnair v Lassooy judgement & read the 2nd ruling at the end. I would suggest writing a Letter Before Action to BA using the template in VB's guide, but also including the text from the above ruling;

"Articles 2(j) and 4(3) of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that the occurrence of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ resulting in an air carrier rescheduling flights after those circumstances arose cannot give grounds for denying boarding on those later flights or for exempting that carrier from its obligation, under Article 4(3) of that regulation, to compensate a passenger to whom it denies boarding on such a flight."

As I mentioned above, this was a binding judgement now accepted as law.

In layman's terms, a delay to any flight, even if it is caused by 'extraordinary circumstances', cannot be used as a reason to not pay compensation to passengers of directly affected later rescheduled / delayed flights, providing the resulting delay on the later flight falls within the guidelines (ie over 3 hours & the EU carrier / airport rules).

Hope that helps.

Caz3121

travelkidd wrote: »

I've done both. The guide doesn't address my question and the BA thread led me here.

what do the NWNF sites show when you enter the flight details?

111KAB

https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/passengers-pushing-the-boundaries-on-flight-delay-compensation-claims-4816


Passengers pushing the boundaries? Some would say the airlines appear reluctant to acknowledge legitimate claims.

David_e

111KAB wrote: »

Passengers pushing the boundaries? Some would say the airlines appear reluctant to acknowledge legitimate claims.

The clue is here: "Regulation 261/2004 came into effect in 2005". That's 11 years for them to put in place whatever they need to mitigate claims where possible and to fund claims where not.

And how much did they spend (and do they still spend) defending cases where they know they are liable?

Patsy_B

Can anyone advise me? My situation seems a bit different than usual. Who do I approach for Flight delay/cancellation compensation. This appears to be the day Olympic stopped using Strategic.


On 2nd October 2012 we were booked with Olympic Holidays to fly Manchester to Crete. However on arriving at the airport at 6.am we were advised by Strategic airline desk that our flight with Strategic Air was cancelled. The representative informed us she didn’t know what the problem was as they had a plane and crew ready for boarding but Olympic had notified them that they were not using there service anymore. We were then directed to a service air desk where a representative acting on Olympics behalf informed us that Strategic has cash flow problems. Olympic did not at this time have alternative arrangements and we were left waiting around till lunch time for information. Olympic informed us they had arranged another flight and this was with Germania Air. We eventually left Manchester that evening with a delay of more than 8 hours.


Who do I put a claim into as in effect Olympic cancelled the flight but Strategic Air are no longer in business. To top it all our flight home was brought forward by 12 hours so we lost out on a full daytime there.

Alan_Bowen

There doesn't seem to be any claim under EU261 here at all. It was the tour operator who cancelled the charter flight and even if they hadn't, the airline you were supposed to fly with isn't around any more to argue with. EU261 does not deal with claims against operators who take commercial decisions at the last moment, 8 hours would not be long enough under most insurance policies to claim as it usually needs a minimum of 12 hours and Germania appear to have been booked as a last minute option by your operator.

You might have been able to argue that the tour operator had failed in their duty of care to put proper arrangements in place before cancelling the contract with Strategic but their subsequent failure suggests that they may have been right and wanted to avoid you being stranded if the airline failed whilst you were on holiday.