Etihad Airlines: Small Claims Court Legal Advice

Or

Hi,

I have an ongoing complaint with Etihad Airways and was hoping to get people's advice / opinion. I have tried to keep it as short as possible in order not to bore you with the details but it turned into quiet a long post. Sorry!

• 31/08/14 I purchased a return flight from Manchester to Brisbane via Etihad Aiways website after hearing that my mother had passed away.
• 8/9/14 I queried the baggage limits at the Manchester check-in terminal so I could plan how to transport my late mothers personal items back to the UK. I was incorrectly advised the luggage allowance by Etihad staff. - I was told I could check in as many suitcases as I like at no extra cost.
• 09/09/14 2x 20kg boxes of sentimental/family items were sent to the UK at $200 (£110) each via Australia Post.
• 10/09/14 As I was unsure of the correct luggage allowance, I called Etihad customer service & provided my reference to confirm the baggage limits as to what I could bring back. I was advised that I could take 2 suitcases, each of 30kg each. This seemed excessive so queried further: Is the total luggage allowance 60kg? which they said yes.
• 12/09/14 the remaining 2x 20kg boxes of sentimental/family items were sent to the UK at $200 (£110) each via Australia Post. The suitcases were already packed, both weighing approx 25kg (50kg total)
• 16/09/14 At Brisbane Airport when attempting to check-in Etihad apologised that the contact centre provided incorrect information.
• I paid $1339.40 (£736.67) to take the second suitcase onto flight. 6kg of clothing and packaging protecting valuable items had to be disposed of as over weight.
• Several of my mothers personal items were damaged as no longer had clothing / packaging to protect them.

If Etihad had correctly advised the luggage allowance my mothers personal items in the 2nd suitcase (25kg) would have been sent via Australia Post the day after speaking to their customer service at a cost of approx $300 (£165), the items would not be broken and I would not have had to dispose of my clothing that was over the allowance.

Due to the circumstances (planning funeral, dealing with the estate) I did not have the paperwork with the terms and conditions of the booking with me and no internet access was available to login to the online portal. I contacted their customer service team to query the conditions of contract and as a direct result of the incorrect information I have been charged.

I complained to Etihad seeking compensation for:
Excess Baggage Charge £571.67 ($1039.40 minus the $300 I would have spent anyway posting the items at 0.55 exchange rate on 12/09 when at post office)
Repair of glassware £150
Repair products (eg. tacs / glue) £15
Replacement clothing £250
Broken Picture Frame £15
Stress/Airport Embarassment/Compensation £250
Total £1251.67

The Etihad complaint dragged on for months, they required details of the call so they could listen to it. As I used a prepaid sim it took some time however received an itemised statement from the telecoms provider with the time of call, date, number and screenshot from my call history as requested. After providing all the information they advised they "cannot locate the call" despite all calls being recorded and the complaint would not progress further.

I contacted the CAA who after several months came back with:

As you are aware we have been in contact with Etihad Airways as we feel there were grounds for them to review your case. However their position remains unchanged despite our intervention.
Where we think a passenger has a genuine grievance against an airline we do our best to assist and mediate a solution. However, we do not have legal powers to impose a solution on an airline in the way that an ombudsman type scheme does.
In the circumstances, if you wish to pursue your complaint, your best option might be to consider action in a County Court under Small Claims procedures.


I decided to take this further and lodged the claim against Etihad via the Money Claim Online website.

Here's the response I got from Etihads Solicitors:
The purpose of our letter prior to the defence is to invite you to discontinue the claim in full for the reason that the claim has no prospect of succeeding at law. There is no legal basis for the subject matter of the claim which is a service issue. Our client has complied with their contractual obligation to transport 30kg of baggage allowance. As to the claims for damaged baggage and stress to the extent that they would be considered within the Montreal Convention 1999 the checked items were a 'vice' and you accept not having packaged them correctly. As to stress your contract with our client was a contract for transportation only and therefore precludes such a claim

Alternatively we are instructed to recover our clients wasted costs by you on the ground that the claim as been unreasonably brought


I understand the contract was to transport me and my luggage, however my argument is that I called their customer service to confirm the terms of the contract and I'm in this predicament as a direct result of their failure to provide the correct information. I provided my booking reference, should a record of contact not be noted on my account?

The circumstance is no different from your phone provider informing you that calls while abroad are free however when you come home you find out you have been charged.

Can any one provide further advice? I don't want to end up having to pay their solicitor costs
The CAA believes i have a genuine complaint, How would this stand up in court?
What would you do?

Thanks

bris

Unless you can prove they gave you the incorrect information you will not win. They have their clear baggage policy, you have hearsay.


Any action you take is a gamble, however in the small claims courts the legal fees are capped and they can not claim very much from you. It would probably cost them more to send a solicitor to fight the case than it would to just pay you and that is exactly what a lot of big companies do.


If they do fight it I don't fancy your chances. A lot of your claim is also fanciful, how do you expect to claim for clothing you claim to have disposed of? Or broken glass, glass on a flight in the hold, this was never going to end well, stress, that isn't even a loss and the small claims court won't entertain it.

The-Truth

unfknreal wrote: »

Stress/Airport Embarassment/Compensation £250

£250 according to whom? Having a laugh aren't you?

photome

Did you check the website for the allowance?

You may have a claim for £571, it may be the rest of the claim that got their back up so they refused

£250 for stress thats unfknreal

agrinnall

The allowances are pretty clear on their website - although they have recently changed them they provide a link to the previous allowances that would have been in force at the time your ticket was issued. I'd have to agree with them that your claim will probably fail.

http://www.etihad.com/en-us/before-you-fly/baggage-information/allowances/allowances-before-september-2015/

lucy03

photome wrote: »

Did you check the website for the allowance?

You may have a claim for £571, it may be the rest of the claim that got their back up so they refused

£250 for stress thats unfknreal

I'd agree with that. For £571 they might have just given in as a one-off gesture.

The problem with claiming for other items, particularly stress, is that there's a risk it creates a precedent for others (not a legal precedent in the small claims court but just in terms of encouraging others to do the same).

The inclusion of the £250 figure for stress might also perhaps make the judge think that the OP isn't acting reasonably which might undermine other parts of the claim as well.

There's a chance that they'll contest the claim in court even though it'll cost them more to do so than just paying it. Unless the court dictates that the case is frivolous (which is highly unlikely IMO) then there aren't any fees to pay to the airline.

photome

photome wrote: »

Did you check the website for the allowance?

You may have a claim for £571, it may be the rest of the claim that got their back up so they refused

£250 for stress thats unfknreal

EDIT
The OP changed usernames after I posted from unfknreal to Or

Or

Hi,

Just an update, i decided to take them to court and represent myself. In a way I feel that I have won. I managed to get the £571 back for excess luggage.

I think I could have claimed back some of damages however didn't have receipts for the items I purchased to repair and the damaged glass quote wasn't accepted as it was just a quote and I haven't paid for repair yet. I was nervous and looking back was not really prepared for some of the questions. Someone with legal experience may had better luck fighting for the damages.

As per £250 for Stress/Airport Embarrassment/Compensation that was thrown out pretty quickly.

Its been a long battle for 16 months, sending countless emails and preparing a lot of documents just to get my money back as was lied to by the advisor. It was a lot of time and effort, would have been nice to have one some sort of compensation for all the time I've put into fighting this when its now been proven that Etihad were at fault.

Anyway, I'm glad I took a stand against such a large corporation, and am happy to come away with a partial win. I imagine Etihad spent more than £680 in legal fees with their London based lawyers, and having to pay my hearing costs. Would have been cheaper for them just to negotiate with my initial complaint.

I'm definitely not in a rush to go through all that again, that's for sure!

Cheers

photome

I said you may have a claim for £571 when you first posted it was the rest that got their back up.

If you had submitted a claim for £571 in the first instance you may not have had to battle through the courts

The-Truth

Or wrote: »

Hi,
Anyway, I'm glad I took a stand against such a large corporation, and am happy to come away with a partial win.

That's an optimistic way of looking at it. Out out the 6 things you were claiming for you only got the money for one of them.

Or wrote: »

I imagine Etihad spent more than £680 in legal fees with their London based lawyers, and having to pay my hearing costs.

Small claims costs are very small. Most companies have their own in house arrangements for legal disputes so don't have to pay independent lawyers.

ant2020

Hi Or I'm so glad you managed to get your well deserved money back international airlines have long been looking for loopholes to get away without paying unfortunately you would have thought Etihad would have learnt there lesson by now I have had a similar issue like you and was hoping you can help me would you happen to have Etihads legal team email so i can pass to my solicitor ?