One claim, Three or even six?

slaveofconvention

Just about to start on the process to make a claim for compensation for a nightmare journey which really took the shine off of a recent trip to the USA. I've done a lot of readiing and had the majority of my questions answered but there was one last thing (well two parts) I was hoping to get some input on.

Along with my wife and infant son, I recently had to deal with a substantial delay with about 10 hours notice on an Aer Lingus flight from Newark to Dublin, which then resulted in an overnight stay in Dublin before a second flight from Dublin to Newcastle.

Should I be putting a single claim in for the three of us for the entire journey, or do I need to submit 3 separate clams, one for each of us, and secondly, is this considered a single trip as it was all one ticket, or should we be looking at separate clams for the Newark-Dublin (overall delay around 12 hours) and Dublin-Newcastle (overall delay 24 hours).

So 1 claim, 3, or 6?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

PS Not looking for sympathy here but please don't jump on me as being greedy about this - 6 months ago I had to stop working because of Multiple Sclerosis and this was supposed to be a final big holiday before we can't afford it any more so we're now in a situation where every penny counts....

111KAB

You have one delay claim (delay in reaching your final destination) which should cover the 3 of you. Single claim - read Vauban's Guide. You don't mention the reason for delay but if the fault of the airline (ie technical) and not say weather related (outside control of the airline) you should receive €600 x 3.

Vauban

Obviously depends on the reason for your delay - and also to note the airline may resist paying out on the infant (but if you've paid for a ticket - not necessarily a seat for him/her) you should be covered.

slaveofconvention

Ok thanks guys
We were never given an actual reason formally by the airline but a (pretty grumpy) member of staff who was obviously sick of being abused by every customer that morning grumbling about the delay as good as told us there were only 70 people on the flight so the airline caused the delay to send out a cheaper smaller plane from the UK (and it was, very basic smaller plane, no in-flight entertainment systems etc, provided by Titan - those crew weren't too happy with the gumbles either as there were at least two tannoy announcements basically saying "It isn't our fault, wait till you land and go shout at Aer Lingus"
Obviously not something which would stand up in court but pretty sure IF there was a reason which WAS legitimately not Air Lingus fault they'd have grabbed the opportunity to pass the blame on....

Tyzap

slaveofconvention wrote: »

Ok thanks guys
We were never given an actual reason formally by the airline but a (pretty grumpy) member of staff who was obviously sick of being abused by every customer that morning grumbling about the delay as good as told us there were only 70 people on the flight so the airline caused the delay to send out a cheaper smaller plane from the UK (and it was, very basic smaller plane, no in-flight entertainment systems etc, provided by Titan - those crew weren't too happy with the gumbles either as there were at least two tannoy announcements basically saying "It isn't our fault, wait till you land and go shout at Aer Lingus"
Obviously not something which would stand up in court but pretty sure IF there was a reason which WAS legitimately not Air Lingus fault they'd have grabbed the opportunity to pass the blame on....

If Air Lingus chartered an aircraft from Titan it suggests that it was done to replace a broken aircraft of their own. It would not have been a cheap option.

Alan_Bowen

I assume you were due to travel on May 22nd from Newark? If that is correct the aircraft that should have operated your flight appears to have 'gone tech' two days earlier at JFK. Titan operated the flight on a Boeing 757 from Dublin on time but of course they had no crew for the return flight, so they had to allow the crew to remain overnight resulting in your daytime flight on the 23rd. You appear to be fully entitled to 600 Euros each

Tyzap

If Alan is correct, which I believe he is, the outbound flight would have operated as normal, all be it by Titan. You were then sacrificed because a return crew were not also flown out, resulting in your delay.

Titan normally only operate short haul charters, so this flight would have stretched them some what. However, a relief crew would have alleviated the problem. To not supply one seems to have been an operational decision.

They do not have a valid reason to withhold compensation.

slaveofconvention

That's amazing news - we were given no reason whatsoever and frankly it caused huge problems, not the least of which was 2 days in a row with only 3 hours sleep, an additional days care hire in the USA, an additional days Long stay parking here in the UK (which fortunately was free as the airport didn't charge as it was flight delayed), and to top it off, they also managed to lose our sons £150 recaro car seat on the way out - fortunately we had access to sufficient funds to replace the seat when we landed here but I can't imagine what we'd have done if we'd come back with less in our pockets - just lucky we decided to close my wife's US bank account while we were there (was about $1200 in it)

Thank you everyone for your help and information. Going to put in the claim for the car seat first as that's actually an out of pocket expense and already approved by the airline (they lost it on the way TO the USA so was weeks ago) then we'll start putting together the compensation and expenses side of things.

111KAB

I suggest you keep your delay claim separate from any expenses claim as often airlines have different divisions dealing. Do not give them an excuse to delay either claim by playing one against the other.