Air Delays - New EU REGS

jd79

We recently experienced a five hour delay at Coventry Airport whilst waiting to travel with Thomsonfly to Venice. At no time during this delay were we offered any refeshments, in fact the whole thing was an absolute nightmare. I have read Martins very informative article on the Regs however has anyone had any personal dealings. Apparently this hold up was due to an aircraft being involved in a ground collision with a tug some two days earlier and we had to suffer the knock on affect. This we were told by the Captain about four hours after we should have taken off. The lack of info. from ground staff was quite appalling.

JD

WiseInvestor_2

Your first port of call should be the airline, preferably by letter, stating your dis-pleasure with the service they provided. In order to qualify for compensation under the new regulations, the delay must have been due to factors within the airline's control. Without more detail about what happened and when, it's impossible to advise whether you may have a case.

It's worth considering that not all aircraft defects must be resolved immediately as some repairs can legally (and safely) be delayed for a CAA-defined length of time/number of days/number of landings etc. If, for example, the tug damaged a landing light, the aircraft may still be legal to fly during daylight but may have to be repaired to operate at night. It's then debateable whether your delay was accountable to the airline or to legal restrictions, despite your flight being some time after the incident.

jd79

Hi WI

Many thanks for your reply.

From our info we believe that the tug accident had left an aircraft u/s therefore the fleet was running one light and the airline could not keep up with the demand of their ongoing flight schedules.

JD