Small Planet Airlines - Compensation Offered

Tyzap

worjorj wrote: »

SPA offered me 500E per flight for 2 of us and, as above, we were given the 13 weeks, then 5-7 week delay story.
Now my emails go unanswered, phone calls (now they are back on at SPA) cut off after 15 minutes on hold so sod it, Bott & Co can have a crack at them for the full amount again.

Without spending lots of time and effort on them Botts are the best option.

You should also send a letter, or email, of complaint to the CAA so they can add Small Planet to their growing list of none compliant airlines.

Good luck.

Justice13075

And precisely what have the CAA done to sanction non compliant Airlines. They are not going to bite the hand that feeds them. On the whole they are utterly useless.

debbie6899

Hi all, i thought I would add my experience to this thread. I stated a claim august 2016 for a delay from 2015. I heard something back in December 2016 saying they were investigating but then nothing. I decided to be a bit more pro-active. In July I posted on their facebook page a few times that i was awaiting their response re a claim. They didn't like this and emailed me straight away. They asked for my details and sent an offer via email. I agreed the offer and sent the form back on 1/8/17. I was then told it would be 13 weeks for the funds to be paid. I politely but (annoyingly i guess)have facebooked messaged them a few times since asking for an update and for the funds to be paid. Today rather unexpectedly the funds are in my account. I didnt have to go through a company or anything, i was just pro-active on social media. It might just be a way forward for some of you. I was always polite, and they were helpful so I think its a case of keeping your cool and appreciating their help. It has worked

Tyzap

Hi Debbie6899,

You're absolutely right, social media can be your friend in these situations.

Well done:beer:

hoovuspoovus

Having used the MSE forums extensively in my quest to secure compensation against Small Planet Airlines, I thought it only fair to share my success story on here.

Myself and family (3 people) endured an 8 hour delay when flying from Lefkas to Gatwick with SPA on 4th September 2016. I posted the compensation claim, initially via Resolver, on our return. After months of toing and froing, and escalating within Resolver, I had got precisely nowhere so tried a different tack and started again directly with SPA.

I emailed their customer services team multiple times, receiving the usual fob off "we are looking into your claim" responses.

I tried countless times to phone their UK telephone number, which was only ever answered once. I eventually spoke to someone who gave me an alternative email address to send my claim to, which I did.

After lots of chasing emails I was eventually offered 200 euros each in compensation, half what we were entitled to. I rejected this, and sent the NBA letter as advised in the excellent Vaubans guide. This was ignored by SPA. After chasing multiple times again, I eventually took them to court using the European small claims procedure via Luton County Court.

After several months, the court found in my favour as SPA did not contest the case. I sent a copy of the judgement to SPA both via email and in the post to Lithuania. Nothing happened.

I then Googled SPA to see if I could find the names of personnel that I could send an email to directly. I found the name of a legal rep; whilst I couldn't find their direct email address, I was able to put their name in the subject header and request that it be sent to them for their attention. After several more emails, I finally received payment of £1,220 directly into my bank account.

In total it took over a year, but was worth the effort in the end. I wouldn't have known what to do without reading about it on MSE, reading Vaubans guide and following the advice given. if you find yourself in a similar situation there is lots of information here to help you.

Good luck.

worjorj

Update on my 2 claims; After 18 months of promises and being ignored by SPA, I went to Bott and Co. They have now sorted it in a few months without me having to constantly check and try to get in touch with anyone. Of course Bott's took their cut, but they are a company after all. Nevertheless, I got my compensation which was a lot more than with my efforts alone. All done and dusted now.

Tyzap

Sometimes 'discretion is the better part of valour'

I think you did the right thing as this disgraceful airline just ignore the law.

Good result:beer:

JPears

This is a case in point I have raised previously where an airline has deliberately ignored a valid claim despite persistence by the claimant. They have acted unlawfully, no 2 ways about it. The airline should pay the costs incurred in concluding a perfectly valid claim.
But as usual, the CAA do nothing about airlines ignoring, lying to and acting unlawfully towards passengers.

Tyzap

I quite agree with you.

When the claimant has a valid claim which is then frustrated by the airline resulting in the claimant being forced to use a NWNF solicitor, the solicitors fees should be additional to the claim.

Perhaps that would pressurise airlines into accepting valid claims straight off.

Persuading the regulator to act would be an impossible task tho.

MightyGem

We took our granddaughter to Lapland in December 2016. There was a 12 hour delay for the return flight due to an aircraft fault.

The tour company(surprisingly) quickly paid us compensation. About 70% of what we were entitled to.

Small planet quickly agreed to pay me the rest in January 2017 and it would be paid by June.

June came and went...no money. It still hadn't been paid by January of this year.

Someone on Facebook told me to go to Aviation ADR(Alternative Dispute Resolution for Aviation) for help. Small Planet is registered with them.

They told me my complaint was valid and they would take it on. Small Planet paid up this week.

ADR's website is here:
It seems I'm too new to post links. Just google Aviation ADR(Alternative Dispute Resolution for Aviation)

You can register a complaint by clicking on New Complaint>Make Online Complaint/Download a Paper Complaint Form.

If, like me, Small Planet has already agreed to pay, but hasn't, when you get to the question: "Did They Reject Your Complaint", answer, "No" otherwise you can't proceed any further.

I think that without ADR's help, I would still be waiting.