Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

Justice13075

Did you have return flights booked with Ryanair what happened. Did they give a reason for the cancellation?

HouseOfGrayBur

Hi, thanks for the response.

We did have return flights booked with RyanAir which to my understanding, were not cancelled. This is primarily for the outgoing flight.

RyanAir did not specifically state to myself the reason for the cancellation. They did however, post on their facebook page that flights had been cancelled due to the Air Traffic Control in France being on strike. It is my understanding that other airlines chose the option of taking an alternative route and were still able to make the journey.

Justice13075

Air Traffic control strikes are classed as extraordinary circumstances so no compensation is due. You should get your fare back though.

HouseOfGrayBur

Ahhh I see. I was reading through the previous court cases that classed technical faults etc. etc. as not being extraordinary circumstances but could not find anything relating to Air Traffic Control.

Thanks for confirming what I was myself concerned may be the case.

They have refunded the flights, within two weeks too which I can't complain about.

Justice13075

It is one of the very very few extraordinary circumstances.

111KAB

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2022493&c=setreg&region=2


http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2147_en.htm


http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/news/doc/2016-06-10-better-enforcement-pax-rights/c(2016)3502_en.pdf

Tyzap

A tightening of the EU261 regulations is good news for air consumers.

This could make life much more difficult/expensive for the likes of Ryanair who have been known to abandon all their passengers at the wrong airport. That seems to have been noted by the commission.

It also seems to confirm that missed connections/rerouting outside the EU, e.g Emirates via Dubai, are due compensation. As this has never been forthcoming without a court case, to the best of my knowledge, it's about time the NEB took some notice and forced compliance of the regulations upon the offending airlines.

This has been a 'bone of contention' for many years and needs to be cleared up, for once and for all.

It's pretty obvious that the CAA, the UK's NEB, has been allowing airlines to turn a blind eye or mis interpret some regulations to the consumers detriment. More than that, they have been failing the responsibility bestowed upon them by the EU Commission and the UK government to enforce compliance with the regulations upon the airlines.

JPears

Emirates, prepare to have your !!! handed to you on a plate....

legal_magpie

May I suggest a new "sticky" thread would be useful. Is there any definitive guidance on knock on delays?

Calculus

Hi Forum users some advice please.

On the 19th June 16 BA cancelled our flight home from Madeira to the UK. They only fly once a day on this route. They blamed this on the Unofficial French Air Traffic control strike.

Now these things happen so we contacted the BA contact centre and frankly they were useless. First response was that "Gatwick was on strike" secondly that "All of France was closed down". We pointed out that actually this couldnt be the case as the easyJet and the Monarch flight also due to leave that day actually was flying (and did) so why were BA affected? No answer was given.

We asked if we could be transferred to one of the flights that were going that day but again the answer was "no as easyJet and Monarch were not part of the one world alliance group" we had no choice but to stay another night.

We asked BA to sort out accomodation for us as our hotel was in fact full and we couldnt stay there. BA said " No basically organise it yourself, keep receipts and claim back the cost later." Naturally we asked what the allowance was for the night but they refused to tell us an amount.

We found another hotel near ours but it was more expensive. we have submitted our claim for £550 which was overnight costs plus meals plus transport and calls and now BA are saying they will not pay out because "it is more than they would normally allow"
5 times now we have argued the point with them that we did everything reasonably to keep costs down but if they refused to tell us the allowance then how can we know we had overspent!!

They have offered us half the total costs in compensation.

I am now also pursuing the EU Compensation rules with them as it was not the case there was no flying over French air space there was. BA made an operational descision to cancel their one and only flight that day and refused to offer alternatives.

My question is this.

Do you think BA is acting reasonably or am I right to keep pursuing my out of pocket expenses?

Also any thoughts on my EU compensation claim success rate?

Thanks