Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

KS55Y

We were delayed over 7 hours when flying Balkan Airlines back from Bulgaria to Glasgow. They would not accept a claim through Resolver so I wrote directly to the airline. They acknowledged my email within 7 days and advised that I would hear back within 14 days. That would be 17th August 2016. I heard on 20th October 2016 that they were rejecting my claim using a standard letter with bits copied and pasted - essentially they were subcontracted so they have no liability. I'm not happy about this and want to escalate this. It looks as though I need to go to the CAA as they do not subscribe to any mediation. Has anyone else had a claim for a delay with Balkan Airlines accepted or do they just reject all claims as a matter of principle?


All advice gratefully received!

legal_magpie

Don't bother with the CAA. They aren't an Ombudsman and have no powers in this area. Read Vauban's excellent guide. Do a Google search for it

Tyzap

KS55Y,

Legal Magpie is quite right, the CAA have no powers to help you and you don't want to deal with the Bulgarian regulator, well not unless you are Bulgarian.

I believe the operating carrier was possibly BH Air and you may have booked through Balkan Holidays Ltd who are a British tour operator. BH operate charter flight on behalf of BH Air.

They will make the process as difficult as they can in an effort to put you off.

You may have to either DIY or use a NWNF solicitor to handle your claim at a cost.

You have 5 years to start legal action in Scotland.

Good luck.

Scruffywuffy

nimetcalfe wrote: »

Hi,


does anyone have any update on the EU birdstrike ruling?
I have recently returned from Mallorca and was delayed by over 12 hours, bird strike was the reason given for the delay, even though some ground staff referenced "technical issues" and not a bird strike. no record of a birdstrike on any of the aviation reporting websites either (I accept that those are not fully accurate).
the airline in question was Condor (booked via Thomas cook) on the 6th October.
I have noted that TC have paid out claims in the past over birdstikes in small claims courts and I have noted the EU Advocate ruling from July - is there anything official?


many thanks

I claimed against Thomson for a delay last year. We were actually delayed for 3 separate reasons (3 different planes!) but the first delay was due to birdstrike - Thomsons tried to fob me off with the birdstrike being an extraordinary circumstance, but paid out once I'd issued a Claim. I also contacted the CAA with a FOIA request and from their reply could work out that my flight was initially delayed because of birdstrike - have you tried contacting the CAA?

paulmarch99

Quick overview:

Easyjet
7am flight from Edinburgh to Bristol
Due to fog circled Bristol then diverted to Manchester.
Arrived at Manchester 9.15am. Kept on plane for an hour and a half.
Got a replacement coach at 12pm for the 3 and 1/2 hour journey back to Bristol. Arrival 3.30pm.

Wasn't offered any food or drink. Then got ushered onto coach without the opportunity to get any.

Is there anything I can do??

Thanks for any help.

Caz3121

paulmarch99 wrote: »

Wasn't offered any food or drink. Then got ushered onto coach without the opportunity to get any.

Is there anything I can do??

not really - had you purchased refreshments then you could have sent receipts in for reimbursement. I expect the airline view is that they were not expecting the flight in so were unprepared and organising refreshments/vouchers would have delayed you further
If the coach has a stop...grab a sarnie and keep the receipt

paulmarch99

Thanks for replying.

Is there any case for compensation? Ryanair flights landed so does this negate using weather as an 'exceptional circumstance'?

JPears

Probably not.
Flight landing in fog depends on a number of things - aircraft instrumentation capabilities, and ATC controls are but a few. ATC may limit number of aircraft activities as each aircraft has to be given a bigger window in which to operate safely.

thriftertraveller

Hi All, just looking for a bit of advice on claiming. We travelled recently with Virgin Atlantic as part of a Virgin Holidays package. Our flight back was delayed and landed over 3 hours late, however by then we had missed our connection to get home. the Package was from USA to home via a London stop off so was all booked together and we ended up being just over 24 hours late home. I contacted Virgin Holidays went we got back and they finally got back to me, forwarding an email from Virgin Atlantic to say we could claim for EU comp via their form - but my question is should Virgin Holidays not be looking after our claim and as the Virgin flight was 3-4 hours late would they not pay out less, or will they take into consideration the fact that we didn't make it to our final destination within the 4 hours? Anyone any experience with this?

Tyzap

thriftertraveller wrote: »

Hi All, just looking for a bit of advice on claiming. We travelled recently with Virgin Atlantic as part of a Virgin Holidays package. Our flight back was delayed and landed over 3 hours late, however by then we had missed our connection to get home. the Package was from USA to home via a London stop off so was all booked together and we ended up being just over 24 hours late home. I contacted Virgin Holidays went we got back and they finally got back to me, forwarding an email from Virgin Atlantic to say we could claim for EU comp via their form - but my question is should Virgin Holidays not be looking after our claim and as the Virgin flight was 3-4 hours late would they not pay out less, or will they take into consideration the fact that we didn't make it to our final destination within the 4 hours? Anyone any experience with this?

Hi,

Your claim is against the operating airline not the travel agent.

The delay time is your arrival at your final destination so it sounds like a pretty straightforward claim depending on the reason for original delay. If they try to class it as an 'Extraordinary Circumstance' they must supply FULL details as to why they believe it falls under this category.

Read Vaubans guide, Google it and download, then put your flight details into a couple of on line flight delay calculators such as at Bott on line. That will confirm if you have a valid claim.

Good luck.