Flight delay compensation successes

MSE_Laura_F

Have you managed to successfully claim compensation for a flight delay?

Please let us know how much you were compensated and how you managed it.

eskbanker

I found the process very straightforward with EasyJet a number of years ago, submitted the claim online and with no further dialogue being necessary, received a cheque for the correct amount defined in the regulations shortly afterwards.

If you read through all the other threads on this board, you'll see that this isn't a universal experience!  What's the endgame here?

MSE_Laura_F

It's of interest to all the MSE teams to hear about times money matters turned out well. The success threads on other boards are a useful well of examples, so I hope to collect some similar positive stories here.

eskbanker

MSE_Laura_F said:

It's of interest to all the MSE teams to hear about times money matters turned out well. The success threads on other boards are a useful well of examples, so I hope to collect some similar positive stories here.

Oh right, I was wondering if there was perhaps an intention to assemble some sort of airline-specific guide, in terms of percentages of successful claims and so on, but I suppose one of the key issues here is that circumstances vary so widely, i.e. situations won't be directly comparable anyway.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delays/#big_money already quotes examples of successful claims, but perhaps they're not so recent?  They often seem to promote Resolver, although to be fair the article does mention that a number of airlines won't accept claims via that route.

dander

Yes, I have - was just here looking for the original thread on which I'd asked for  help here to post an update. In June was due to travel with 80 year old parents from Luton to Inverness on a short break (with expensive trip on Jacobite train booked for the day after travel). 9am-ish flight. Arrived at airport to find flight cancelled (they'd texted my dad at 3am but he doesn't look at his phone at that time of day!). After quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing at the EasyJet desk they booked us onto an alternative flight from Gatwick to Aberdeen for later that day - was a day from hell trying to get to our accomodation (4 hour drive now from Aberdeen) - had to change car hire location, get to Gatwick by cab, only to find new flight was also delayed etc etc. 

Anyway, we claimed £220 each for the delayed flight through the EU compensation scheme. That got paid into bank accounts within 10 days of the claim going in. (slight confusion over names of travellers, but that was quickly resolved). Then claimed a total of ~£380 for cab, car hire costs, food etc through the other standard EasyJet expenses claim forms. That was also paid within 10 days of submission. Whole lot came to just over £1k, very easily returned to us. I think the flights had been about £90 each, so technically we made a profit, but my parents found the whole thing so exhausting and stressful it definitely impacted our holiday significantly and the universal feeling is it wasn't worth it, we'd have rather had the flights we booked than free flights and extra money.

I was very surprised - we still don't know what caused the cancellation in the first place (no weather or strikes) and people on the boards had warned me we may have trouble justifying taking a cab rather than public transport from Luton to Gatwick - although for 3 of us having to travel across London I suspect the cost may not have been very different. I was ready for a fight about the mobility of my parents, but no trouble at all! 

totallyaberdeen

Wizzair Success - Compensation and Welfare Claim

Hi. I think this is a worthwhile topic. I think too easy for airlines to claim 'extraordinary circumstances' and reject compensation claims.

This is my Wizzair story, flight W6 3014, Edinburgh to Bucharest 01/10/2022. Flight was delayed overnight by 16hours (or thereabouts). Reason given was technical fault with aircraft. Using guidance from Wizzair representative (I think Swissport ground staff) I booked my own hotel in the belief that Wizzair would refund. Also breakfast next morning. I used due diligence in selecting the hotel - the cheapest available at airport!! Breakfast was at Costa Coffee. Cost was £239 and £6, so £245, paid for by myself. Used Wizzair online claim forms for EU261 compensation and welfare claim for £245 expenses. Wizzair paid the compensation with no questions asked - EUR400 or £350 approx. Straightforward, although took a couple of weeks.

However in response to welfare claim they suggested they could only offer £70. I questioned this and they used this as a reason to state 'unable to offer resolution' and I should purse claim elsewhere. They then moved claim status to closed. I opened a complaint with Aviation ADR. While waiting (several months) for the ADR complaint to progress, I received an email from Wizzair, totally unexpected, stating that they had decided to reopen my welfare claim and refund my full amount of £245, which they duly did via bank transfer. It's not clear to me why they did this - it may have been communication from Aviation ADR or some other prompt (ranting email from myself - I did suggest I would speak to CAA).

The whole experience wasn't a good one and left me with a real bad feeling towards Wizzair and the airline industry in general. It seemed like the Wizzair process was deliberately designed to wear the customer down, possibly hoping that they would just give up. Every communication sent to Wizzair took a full month to receive a reply. The whole process took approximately 8months - the Aviation ADR process is a slow process (they allow 90days for adjudication after all parties have filed info). I was at the stage of investigating small court claims procedure, readying myself for the next step. So big relief when money was finally in my bank account.

So for anyone else in a similar position, I would suggest standing up for your rights and fight for what is rightly yours. Even if it seems to take forever and eat up a fair amount of your personal time.

cornilleou

Thought I'd add some encouragement given the support I've had from MSE over the years...

I won't bore you with the details but...the good news is I was eventually awarded more from easyjet than I was originally requesting in compensation!

The bad news is it took an age...approx 10 months start to finish. Every step along the path feels designed to give the benefit of the doubt to the airline and their seems little if any incentive for them to resolve an issue in a timely fashion. I'd also add it was painful using the Aviation ADR process. It is slow and painfully user unfriendly! If your details don't exactly fit the template and/or process it then makes the process glacial!?! The bizarre flip side of that is that their 'template' rigidly says you are awarded a certain sum even if it's more than you originally asked for!!!

Personally I'm not convinced anyone in easyjet actually looked into my case. They just stuck it in their complaints sausage machine, mechanically followed the steps (which includes stalling until you raise a case with Aviation ADR) and then paid me when eventually told to by Aviation ADR. It just so happened in my case the payment was more than I asked for but no-one there really reads the details!

 

I would agree with the poster above, airlines are hoping people give up. I was considering raising my own small complaint to easyjet and even raising a complaint about Aviation ADR!...but I got there in the end. I believe compensation should be increased in cases of unjustified delay as currently there is no incentive to deal with issues in a timely fashion. 

So my tip?...grit your teeth and be patient, but don't give up...