Urgent Advice for a tricky holiday compensation

Dandelion70

I am after some advice please

Returned from a lovely holiday in Sorrento, the actual departure from Naples airport was disastrous to say the least, basically we were flying back to Manchester, with Jet2, 
There was a bit of a delay at the departure gates due to fly back at 12.15, it was 13.30 when we were advised that due to a flight attendant phoning in sick and no contingency plans, the flight for health and safety reasons could not fly 174 passengers back, only 150, we were in the group of 24 that could not board, this was advised from ground staff not jet2. We were just left stranded, no help no information for 2 hours. Ground staff came and gave us forms for compensation and vouchers for a meal and told us 24 we could fly home to UK on Leeds Bradford flight at 8.00 pm. We had all been in airport since 9.30 that morning. The vouchers we were given only covered a sandwich and drink not a meal and were only accepted in one cafe. We had to go through security again and had to get new boarding passes. No help from jet 2 who were conspicuous in their absence. We boarded the flight at 19.40, due to depart at 20.20, more delay, message from captain, due to extra 24 passengers who volunteered to fly to Leeds (blatant lie), the plane had to be balanced. ,finally took off 1 hour late. Arrived in Leeds ,coach waiting but still no jet 2 staff, arrived in Manchester 2 hours later, where finally we retrieved our luggage and complained about the lack of care and treatment we had received, all of us were fuming mad. As it was now 3.30 in the morning of the next day my partner and I along with another couple got a hotel for the night as we had a long drive back to Our home city of Newcastle upon Tyne, we could not possibly have driven home due to stress and tiredness, definitely a health and safety issue we could have caused injury to ourselves and others. Jet 2 paid for our taxi to the hotel. but apparently their duty of care did not expand any further. Care? What care? The hotel cost 45.00 and a taxi back to the airport to pick up our car was 20. I completed the compensation form and did receive a quick response. We were give compensation for the flight, 350 each and because we had booked our seats also received 25, jet 2 advised we were not entitled to the hotel or taxi fare as it was not their responsibility. We are saying it is, we could not have driven back, too dangerous and why should we be out of pocket for something that was not our fault. It’s now the principle, we didn’t cause any of this to happen. I have emailed twice now and received the same response . We were advised to contact our insurance, we did and they advised it’s up to the airline, travel agent repeated it was jet 2’s responsibility. Any advice as to where we go from here would be greatly appreciated.

la531983

Pay for the hotel out of the 700 euros you got, you are still over 600 euros up. 
They are technically correct, they got you to your destination and have paid your compo (in a timely fashion, seemingly) , the decision to book a hotel was yours alone. 

Dandelion70

la531983 said:

Pay for the hotel out of the 700 euros you got, you are still over 600 euros up. 
They are technically correct, they got you to your destination and have paid your compo (in a timely fashion, seemingly) , the decision to book a hotel was yours alone. 

If we had travelled home via car that night there could have been serious ramifications as we are both senior citizens (70 and 74). After speaking to Hays travel they advised that Jet2 were responsible and should have paid for the hotel. I don’t know about you but if I was on the roads Manchester to Newcastle and someone else was driving without any sleep I would not feel safe.

la531983

Dandelion70 said:

la531983 said:

Pay for the hotel out of the 700 euros you got, you are still over 600 euros up. 
They are technically correct, they got you to your destination and have paid your compo (in a timely fashion, seemingly) , the decision to book a hotel was yours alone. 

If we had travelled home via car that night there could have been serious ramifications as we are both senior citizens (70 and 74). After speaking to Hays travel they advised that Jet2 were responsible and should have paid for the hotel. I don’t know about you but if I was on the roads Manchester to Newcastle and someone else was driving without any sleep I would not feel safe.

I regularly drive 90 minutes after Transatlantic red eye flights, where I don't get a single second of sleep on the plane as I find it impossible. 

The airline fulfilled it's duty of care from getting you from Point A to Point B and have refunded your seat booking and paid your compo, as far as they are concerned their statutory duty is over and you are relying on goodwill at this point. 
Take the hotel money out of the compo and enjoy spending the 625 or so Euros left over.
For the sake of 65 quid it's not worth a travel insurance claim due to the likely excess involved. To be fair I am not even sure most policies would pay out anyway.
Nor is it worth any personal stress when you have  the Sterling equivilant of 700 euros burning a hole in your pocket.

Your age is irrevelant, sorry if you don't want to hear this but it is. 

NoodleDoodleMan

Not a satisfactory ending to a holiday - but the decent amount of compensation is redress.

saajan_12

The point here is what the airline is responsible for following a delay they caused. They are responsible for 2 things:
a) refund OR rerouting and any accommodations until they get you to your destination at the earliest opportunity. 
-> so you may have been able to demand an earlier alternative flight even if with another airline if that existed. They were also responsible for reasonable food and rest area provision depending on how long the wait was. If they didn't provide enough and you have receipts for what you spent over their vouchers, then you may be able to get those reimbursed, upto the limit. These reimbursements end at the point you land at the destination airport. 

b) compensation based on the delay and flight length. 
-> this is a fixed amount to cover both the inconvenience and your resultant damages (eg hotel, taxi etc). Here you have a £600 surplus to cover the inconvenience after your out of pocket costs. Sometimes you will win, sometimes you will lose out but rightly or wrongly, the legislation is that this is a fixed cost. 

So its not about who decided on the hotel stay - if you didn't feel safe to drive, that was the right decision. However you are indeed covered for this within the compensation, and there's nothing extra due specifically for costs after reaching the destination. 

sheramber

Dandelion70 said:

la531983 said:

Pay for the hotel out of the 700 euros you got, you are still over 600 euros up. 
They are technically correct, they got you to your destination and have paid your compo (in a timely fashion, seemingly) , the decision to book a hotel was yours alone. 

If we had travelled home via car that night there could have been serious ramifications as we are both senior citizens (70 and 74). After speaking to Hays travel they advised that Jet2 were responsible and should have paid for the hotel. I don’t know about you but if I was on the roads Manchester to Newcastle and someone else was driving without any sleep I would not feel safe.

That is what your compensation for., any inconvenience or extra expense incurred.

jimi_man

Nothing else to add to the above. The decision to stay was your choice and it’s unfair to expect Jet2 to pay for that. It was always going to be a long drive irrespective of when you did it. 

And as stated above you’ve received (a goodly amount of) compensation to make up for that. Personally expecting another £65 is a little bit petty especially when they appeared to have settled up very quickly. 

eskbanker

Dandelion70 said:

travel agent repeated it was jet 2’s responsibility

Dandelion70 said:
After speaking to Hays travel they advised that Jet2 were responsible and should have paid for the hotel.

As above, there's clearly no airline liability for the costs of an extra night's UK accommodation under the UK261 flight delay/compensation regulations, but if your travel agent believes there's something else that would hold Jet2 liable then get them to clarify specifically what they're thinking of....

Westin

Another adding to the views above and that Jet2 are not liable for paying out any more towards your post-holiday UK airport stay.

I suspect your travel agent was just telling you what you wanted to hear, possibly after you spent 20-30 minutes unloading on them about the flight delay.

eskbanker

Dandelion70 said:

Urgent Advice for a tricky holiday compensation

Someone travelling tomorrow, or maybe with an issue while away, might be justified in describing their problem as 'urgent', but what's the big rush with sorting out some minor admin post-return?