Aviation ADR ruled in my favour but payment yet to be made

chssvl

Back in June I submitted a claim for delay compensation from easyjet as they left us stranded in Berlin during the whole Jubilee bank holiday mayhem. They initially refused but then I filed a claim through Aviation ADR, which ruled in my favour back in early November.

I was asked to provide my bank details so that they would help with the payment, which I provided immediately, but two months later I have yet to receive anything. I have tried to contact Aviation ADR twice through the internal system but have not received any response. What else should I do? Should I contact easyjet directly or is there any alternative way to contact Aviation ADR? Thanks.

JPears

I would send a copy of the ADR ruling to easyjet directly, giving them 14 days to pay up.

easyjet are bound by the ADR decision.

Mark your commmunication to easyjet as a Letter Before Action. This will allow you to start small claims action without further notice to easyjet.

chssvl

Thanks!

So I guess this would imply just filling out the contact form on https://www.easyjet.com/en/help/contact, subject as "EC261 complaint", putting in the body of the form something along the lines of:

"Letter before action

In (date X), aviation ADR ruled in my favour with regards to compensation clam XXX, entitling me to a compenstation payment of £440. To this date easyjet has not made such payment and I therefore request that it be made within the next 14 days, compliant with the binding ruling issued by Aviation ADR, as attached"

Ann then just attach the ruling?

JPears

Possibly the best route, unless you have an useable email previously from easyjet with their initial refusal?

chssvl

It's from a donotreply@easyjet.com address, so that's not an option. I'll give it a try and see how it goes. I was under the impression that Aviation ADR would take it from there but it seems they don't.

Also, would a small claims court likely rule that I would also be entitled to a refund of teh court's expenses?

Thanks again

W1zz

Here's a few EasyJet email addresses I had responses from when chasing up may £1K+ expense claims for a cancelled flight, leaving my family stranded in Prague for 4 days and having to find our own way home. They eventually paid up some 3 months later after my almost weekly phone calls.

customer.support@easyjet.com
Resolution.support.m@easyjet.com

I've still to go back at them for the cancelled flight cancellation. They initially refused my claim with the explanation 'air traffic control restrictions were in place across Amsterdam'

Which was BS, as the industrial action at the time was in Amsterdam where there was a baggage handlers strike. This only affected flights arriving or departing Amsterdam and other EasyJet flight from Manchester that departed around the same time flew without issue to Berlin and Hamburg.

I know for a fact that the flight that was due to pick us up never last Manchester as I've been in communication with someone who was sat on that plane. They were delayed 2 hours boarding as they were couldn't get a limited mobility vehicle to remove someone from the earlier flight.

When they finally boarded, there was an incident / damage to one of the engines. The passengers were held on the plane for a further hour whilst surrounded by fire trucks. The captain relayed all this information at the time. Before they were eventually told to disembark and the flight cancelled.

It's at that point we all got at text from EasyJet telling us our flight from Prague to Manchester had been cancelled.

EasyJet did mention in one of the expenses claims that the flight was cancelled due to engine damage, yet my EC261 Claim was rejected due to 'Industrial Action'

W1zz

Well, I resubmitted the claim for the cancelled flight just to see what eventual reason was. Surprisingly I got a response within the hour. It’s still rejected stating the reason:

” To further explain what happened on the day; A foreign object on the runway in Manchester caused a defect on the aircraft scheduled to operate your flight and consequently the aircraft was unable to fly to Prague therefore we had no option but to cancel your flight. We do take reasonable measures to avoid delays and cancellations to our flights by having replacement crews and spare aircraft available in our network. In the circumstances, these options were not possible as all our standby resources had been used.”

Guess that’s that claim out the window then.

CKhalvashi

W1zz said:

Well, I resubmitted the claim for the cancelled flight just to see what eventual reason was. Surprisingly I got a response within the hour. It’s still rejected stating the reason:

” To further explain what happened on the day; A foreign object on the runway in Manchester caused a defect on the aircraft scheduled to operate your flight and consequently the aircraft was unable to fly to Prague therefore we had no option but to cancel your flight. We do take reasonable measures to avoid delays and cancellations to our flights by having replacement crews and spare aircraft available in our network. In the circumstances, these options were not possible as all our standby resources had been used.”

Guess that’s that claim out the window then.

No, Easyjet are still bound by the ADR decision as is any airline. This is a scheme like the FOS, which has received a lot more public attention.

If the ADR has ruled in your favour then you need to ensure they are aware of this and continue with the claim through the normal Easyjet channels. It may need to be done in writing, however ensure you enclose a copy of this decision with a covering letter including your bank details (account number, sorting code and payee name) if necessary in a written LBA.

chssvl

Thanks a lot for the replies.

In case it's of use @W1zz, it is still worth going through the ADR process.

In my case, I had been tracking the actual plane during the day, seeing it rack up delays as the day progressed. In turn, the easyjet app showed that our flight was delayed but that we should still show up at the airport as if it wasn't, which we (stupidly) did. Then, while we were settling for a late evening in Berlin airport we got a message from easyjet saying that the flight was cancelled and, by then, everyone from easyjet at Berlin airport had left and we were left to sort out hotels and flights (two days later) on our own.

In any case, I submitted my compensation claim, with easyjet coming back almost immediately saying that the claim was rejected because the delay was due to air traffic control causing delays for the airplane, which in turn led the plane to miss the curfew at Berlin airport.

I went straight to ADR and submitted additional evidence including my tracking of the increased delays of the flight, the fact that (according to flight tracker data), easyjet had been operating that flight unreliably for weeks, with delays of at least one hour being common, and arguing that if easyjet made us go to the airport despite the plane having accumulated more that 2.5 hours of delays by mid-afternoon, it could only have meant that they expected the flight to operate.

In easyjet's response (a letter seemingly drafter by a trainee lawyer), they (unsurprisingly) claimed that it was all due to air traffic control and that they could not have operated that flight that day. However, they did provide details of what cause the delays for that specific plane to accumulate for that day, with the two first delays being due to a delay with the cabin crew and then a delay with a wheelchair to disembark a disabled passenger - bingo!

In my final reply to that letter I argued that those two delays were clearly because of issues that were under the control of easyjet and that, while I did not have the data to prove it, one could argue that subsequent delays were caused because of missed takeoff and landing slots that had come about from those original delays. I also argued that, as was widely available in the press during that time, easyjet had been singled out as being utterly unreliable, with many flights having to be cancelled. I finally argued that the issue was not that easyjet had to be forced to operate any flight under any circumstances but rather that if they couldn't operate the flight reliably, they shouldn't have sold tickets for it in the first place.

ADR sided with my view and the rest is history (pending payment, of course). I will get in touch with them directly both through the forms and the e-mails provided

chssvl

Well, easyjet replied quickly (from the customer service e-mail). They said that they had reviewed the decision again and concluded that I was not entitled to compensation but that if I was unhappy with the decision I could submit a claim with Aviation ADR...my reply was "read the *#*&%$ e-mail!!!"

It is quite extraordinary what an absolute car crash easyjet has become...and to think that I used to actively choose them instead of Ryanair or BA...

chssvl

Thought I'd post the outcome for future reference.

I decided to go on the CDRL website (I think aviation ADR is now being rolled into a more general services CDRL) and and look for a contact e-mail, rather than just sticking to the ADR internal messaging system. Within a couple of days I finally got an e-mail and a message through the system saying that they were chasing easyjet for proof of payment.

Then, about two weeks later, I got a message through the internal system saying that the payment had been sent and that I should wait up to 14 working days for it to be effective. Finally, today I checked my bank account and the payment has been made!

So, it all took quite a long time (almost 8 months since the flight) and some chasing but I did manage to get my compensation and easyjet didn't get away with it!