Am I entitled to Compensation?

Clare2017

Hi, flew back from the US recently, the landing time was 109 minutes late, but then they didn't get the doors open due to no landing crew for another 80 / 90 minutes so it kicked into over the 180 minutes. I put in a compensation claim as colleague did and got it paid. I get back a response, you landed 109 mins late so it's declined, my colleague got compensation, but now they say that was in error. I know landing crew could be outside their control, but their computer issues made pretty much all their flights late that day so if they had turned up on time it we probably wouldn't have had to wait to get the connecting stairs onto our plane. The pilot keeps saying sorry and finally when the doors were actually opened he said I'm taking this further so should you. I know its probably a grey area but was just interested on your thoughts. Obviously all claims are by a form so impossible to talk to anyone, and get any clarity. We've had a back and forth and just keep saying it was 109mins late so rejected and ignoring anything else, to begin with they even ignored that the person next to me got compensation and still refuse to answer the question about I was delayed by 3 hrs, I was stuck on your plane..  

eskbanker

If the cause was within the airline's control then the time is measured at the point the first door is opened:

3.3.3. Measuring the delay at arrival and concept of time of arrival
The Court has concluded that the concept of ‘time of arrival’, which is used to determine the length of the delay to which passengers on a flight have been subject if arrival is delayed, corresponds to the time at which at least one of the doors of the aircraft is opened, the assumption being that, at that moment, the passengers are permitted to leave the aircraft ( 31).The Commission considers that the operating air carrier should register the time of arrival on the basis of, for instance, a signed declaration by the flight crew or handling agent. The time of arrival should be provided free of charge upon request to the national enforcement body and the passengers where the operating air carrier seeks to rely on the arrival time as evidence of compliance with the Regulation. 

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52016XC0615(01)&from=EN

The issue of whether unavailable ground crew was within the airline's control probably depends on which airline and route....

Clare2017

Chicago to terminal 5 Heathrow (BA) if that makes a difference?

eskbanker

Clare2017 said:

Chicago to terminal 5 Heathrow (BA) if that makes a difference?

I suspect it probably does but don't know for sure - I believe that BA retains responsibility for ground handling services at LHR T5, whereas in many other airports the services are provided by the airport itself, so if this is the case then BA should accept that they were responsible for over three hours of delay (assuming the rest of the delay was also their responsibility) and compensate you accordingly.

Unfortunately the fact that they reimbursed another passenger doesn't really count for anything, but if you reach deadlock with them then you can take your claim to CEDR, their ADR provider, or small claims.

Clare2017

Thanks eskbanker for all you really helpful info . I looked through the docs, and they make sense, they've referred me to cedr, as still saying it wasn't over 3hrs but have least now acknowledged the doors opened a different time to the landing time. Only issue is their doors opening time is an hour earlier than when I got off the plane. Wondered if they had it in GMT not summertime as first email had all the flight details in GMT. They wouldn't take the screenshots of my time stamped texts with my taxis from just after landing and periodically until I got off the plane as proof. But their time of doors opening is 1hr and 1 minute earlier than my text so seems plausible as sent the last text as I was walking off the plane at 14.14 which would match with their timing in GMT. Unfortunately they wouldn't reply to the confirmation of the door opening timezone and said as they had investigated and basically if you're unhappy go to cedr, we won't reply to any further questions.