Valid Claim If Later Connecting Flight Wasn't Taken?

jsmith2014

Hi All,

I was hoping to get some advice on my claim, given I can't find this particular scenario in any articles.


Last August my partner and I had tickets to fly from London Heathrow to Granada via Madrid - Heathrow to Madrid with BA, Madrid to Granada with Iberia (one booking).


The flight from Heathrow was delayed by 100 minutes, causing us to miss our connecting flight to Granada. Iberia then informed us the next flight to Granada would be some eight hours later, so rather than wait we asked not to be booked onto that flight and instead managed to get to Granada ourselves by train (we ended up getting to Granada about the same time as we would have on the later flight anyway).


I logged a compensation claim with BA, and after receiving no response I called customer services. I was told that because I didn't actually take the later connecting flight I am not entitled to make a claim under EU regulations, even though that flight would've delivered us to our final destination a lot more than three hours behind schedule.


Does anyone know if I still have grounds to claim given we didn't take the later connecting flight? Also, is there anything in the regulations related to this type of situation?


Any guidance is much appreciated.


Thanks,
Jason

Mark2spark

No claim for you Jason, sorry to say.
You didn't take the flight through your own choice.
Anyone with half a brain knows why, given the circumstances of delay, but that isn't how the regulation works.

Vauban

jsmith2014 wrote: »

Hi All,

I was hoping to get some advice on my claim, given I can't find this particular scenario in any articles.


Last August my partner and I had tickets to fly from London Heathrow to Granada via Madrid - Heathrow to Madrid with BA, Madrid to Granada with Iberia (one booking).


The flight from Heathrow was delayed by 100 minutes, causing us to miss our connecting flight to Granada. Iberia then informed us the next flight to Granada would be some eight hours later, so rather than wait we asked not to be booked onto that flight and instead managed to get to Granada ourselves by train (we ended up getting to Granada about the same time as we would have on the later flight anyway).


I logged a compensation claim with BA, and after receiving no response I called customer services. I was told that because I didn't actually take the later connecting flight I am not entitled to make a claim under EU regulations, even though that flight would've delivered us to our final destination a lot more than three hours behind schedule.


Does anyone know if I still have grounds to claim given we didn't take the later connecting flight? Also, is there anything in the regulations related to this type of situation?


Any guidance is much appreciated.


Thanks,
Jason

It's a good question. I don't know for certain. On the one hand, I think no. Compensation is due to passengers who travel on the flight and are correspondingly delayed. If you "no show", then you are no longer on the flight. On the other hand, passengers who are delayed for more than 5 hours are entitled to a refund if they choose not to take the flight, in addition to the statutory compensation. This would imply that taking the flight is not necessarily a prerequisite to entitlement to compensation - merely being booked to travel is sufficient.

But I honestly don't know - perhaps one of the smart legal folk has a less rubbish answer for you! Sorry!

richardw

Article 7 of http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

says

"Article 7
Right to compensation
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall receive compensation.."

The key word is passengers

"They weren't passengers on the delayed flight LHR-MAD-GRX because they weren't on the passenger list for the MAD-GRX sector because they voluntarily removed themselves from this sector, so therefore no compensation is due." This is how the airlines may argue this.

See post no 18 below swell.

Mark2spark

There wasn't a 5 hour delay before alternative means of transportation was taken up, - I assume?
But you'd have a good shout at a refund for the unused leg IMO.

jsmith2014

Ok thanks all for the advice.

Mark2spark wrote: »

There wasn't a 5 hour delay before alternative means of transportation was taken up, - I assume?
But you'd have a good shout at a refund for the unused leg IMO.

No the initial delay was 100 minutes, once we got to Madrid and were told the next flight to Granada was eight hours away we immediately began making our own arrangements.

Vauban

jsmith2014 wrote: »

Ok thanks all for the advice.




No the initial delay was 100 minutes, once we got to Madrid and were told the next flight to Granada was eight hours away we immediately began making our own arrangements.

But that means than on arrival in Madrid you were informed that the flight would be at least 8 hours late, right? So in these circumstances, doesn't article 8 of the Regulation come into play - which offers you a full refund of the unused portions or a rerouting at their expense?

If so (and I think this is right), is compensation not payable in addition to a refund, if the passenger chooses not to travel? I didn't think it was an either/or in those circumstances.

Mark2spark

The flight wasn't going to be late - they'd missed the connection. So they chose to make their own way there (quite understandably IMO).
So, *knowing* that you're going to be late/delayed, and going off on your own accord, as opposed to sitting and waiting for the later flight, is a different thing. The second scenario being eligible for compensation.

Vauban

Mark2spark wrote: »

The flight wasn't going to be late - they'd missed the connection. So they chose to make their own way there (quite understandably IMO).
So, *knowing* that you're going to be late/delayed, and going off on your own accord, as opposed to sitting and waiting for the later flight, is a different thing. The second scenario being eligible for compensation.

But if it is one booking through BA then the Folkers principle kicks in does it not? So it counts as a delay, through a missed connection on one booking. Doesn't it?

richardw

Do you think it would've been a reasonable measure to re-route you on their LCY-GRX direct non stop service, or wasn't the LHR delay known early enough for a re-routing from LCY?

jsmith2014

richardw wrote: »

Do you think it would've been a reasonable measure to re-route you on their LCY-GRX direct non stop service, or wasn't the LHR delay known early enough for a re-routing from LCY?

I don't think the delay was known early enough. Everyone boarded as normal, it was only once we were on the plane that we were told there was going to be a delay to our departure.