Delayed Flight Alicante to B'ham - What can we do?

Kring36

Hello all,

Hope someone can offer some advice please.

My partner and I were flying back home to the UK (Birmingham) from Alicante on Saturday afternoon (15th Sept '07) with Monarch airlines.

The flight was due to leave at 13.20 but eventually left at 19.15, nearly 6 hours late.

The real issue is that we were initially told it was going out at 15.45, and then the board updated every hour or until it finally updated to 18.45, even though we eventually left at 19.15!

We were told nothing at the airport from Monarch or the ground staff.
Also we were given 2 measly snacks from the cafe (a cheese sandwich and a chocolate bar) whilst some Danish passengers who were delayed for only a couple of hours were served a hot meal! We all felt like second class citizens!

When we boarded the plane the captain could not believe that we were given such poor information about the delay and was very apologetic, even though he had been assured by Monarch that we had all been informed correctly.

What I'd like to know is if we have a justified claim for a refund and if so how should we proceed. I do not trust a standard letter of the facts to customer services. (is there a precedent for such events?)

I did ring Monarch and they did not say what would happen, but just to write in to customer services.

(btw the delay was due to a technical fault where a part had to be sent from France to Bham, then the plane could fly to Alicante)

Thanks for any help.

Kring

dmg24

What I'd like to know is if we have a justified claim for a refund

No, you don't.

Under the EU Regs, you were entitled to:

Meals and refreshments in relation to waiting time
Two free telephone calls, emails, telexes or faxes
Reimbursement of ticket if you decide not to travel

If you were not given the opportunity to make a phonecall, then you may have a valid claim for the cost of two phone calls, but you have no further claim.

dzug

Kring36 wrote: »

Hello all,


The real issue is that we were initially told it was going out at 15.45, and then the board updated every hour or until it finally updated to 18.45, even though we eventually left at 19.15!

We were told nothing at the airport from Monarch or the ground staff.
Kring

To be honest when there are delays of this sort no-one really knows how long they are going to be - that's why they rarely give out 'reliable' information. Anything they say is an estimate, and is revised from time to time. The staff at the airport are (well almost) as much in the dark as you are.

deva

exactly - they can only guess when the flight will arrive based on the information of when it has left the previous destination- even then they have to wait 40mins to check that everything is ok. they possibly didnt have any further info

re: sandwiches vs meals this is largely due to practicalities of dealing with large amounts of people but also the fact that british people are notoriously very wary of what they are eating so sandwiches have been declared the 'safest' option for the majority

Kring36

Thanks for the helpful replies, all points seem pretty valid now that the initial tiredness and irritability has gone.

I'll send in a letter and see how they respond. I'll let you know.

Thanks,

Kring