Maleth Aero flight delays (MLT1972 LGW- Barbados 6th January & others) delayed FROM a UK airport

Alan_Bowen

P & O are not liable to pay compensation as set out under 261, that is true but I think it may be possible to argue there was a deficiency in the service provided by their supplier Maleth. In other words, a failure to provide what was promised, it may not be £520 each but I don't see any other option in this case. The only other alternative might be to contact the Maltese equivalent of the CAA who licence them to fly and argue their failure to deal with a single complaint means they may be unfit to fly. Malta is very keen to get more airlines on their register, they have already got Ryanair, Wizzair and Hi Fly which is a decent Portuguese charter operator so may want to be seen to be doing something. This is their contact:

Malta Transport Centre
Triq Pantar,
Ħal Lija LJA 2021
Malta
Tel: +356 21222203
Fax:
Email: info.tm@transport.gov.mt

mdann52

Alan_Bowen said:

I think it may be possible to argue there was a deficiency in the service provided by their supplier Maleth. In other words, a failure to provide what was promised, it may not be £520 each but I don't see any other option in this case. 

For any additional expenses incurred in sorting out the flights (such as accommodation, transport etc), I agree. I don't think there's any chance of compensation though unfortunately.

I'm not sure what powers the Maltese Transport Centre have, but it might be worth complaining, bearing in mind they have no direct juristiction under the applicable legislation (as it's the UK legislation, not the EU one)

Alan_Bowen

The Maltese may well feel they have to ensure their registered airlines are complying with laws that apply where they fly, of course, they cannot enforce UK261 but they may feel an obligation to ensure that any airline which uses its registration system is fit and proper to use it. The fact that a number of other EU-based airlines have registered there suggests they may have incentives to do so, and it must be profitable for the government to encourage more to do so. It cannot do any harm at least as it is clear the airline is not intending to do anything at all.

As regards the use of the PTRs against the operator of the package holiday, I can say I have seen others attempt it and if faced with a large number of complaints they may offer something for people to go away, after all the airline is not going to open its purse

bagand96

Alan_Bowen said:

The Maltese may well feel they have to ensure their registered airlines are complying with laws that apply where they fly, of course, they cannot enforce UK261 but they may feel an obligation to ensure that any airline which uses its registration system is fit and proper to use it. The fact that a number of other EU-based airlines have registered there suggests they may have incentives to do so, and it must be profitable for the government to encourage more to do so. It cannot do any harm at least as it is clear the airline is not intending to do anything at all.

Or conversely, it is possible that the airlines that have chosen to register there do so because it's an easy and cheap jurisdiction to do so. If the Maltese get too heavy handed with airlines "based" there they may find they all up sticks and leave for the next easy flag of convenience.

The UK CAA have traditionally been fairly light touch when it comes to passenger rights enforcement, although they've been a bit more vocal in recent years.

Not saying it's not worth at least getting in touch with the Maltese authorities, be interesting to see their response, if any. 

Alan_Bowen

bagand96, you may well be right but the passengers are running out of ideas and Maleth is clearly not going to pay out voluntarily and I suspect they simply had no idea what they were letting themselves in for when they signed the contract. I suspect Hajj passengers never make such claims and the potential value of these claims could be close to the contractual payment they received for the flights in the first place. I wonder if there had only been one delayed flight whether they might have behaved differently but it seems the whole operation was something of a disaster from start to finish. 

Suzycoll

Alan_Bowen said:

P & O are not liable to pay compensation as set out under 261, that is true but I think it may be possible to argue there was a deficiency in the service provided by their supplier Maleth. In other words, a failure to provide what was promised, it may not be £520 each but I don't see any other option in this case. The only other alternative might be to contact the Maltese equivalent of the CAA who licence them to fly and argue their failure to deal with a single complaint means they may be unfit to fly. Malta is very keen to get more airlines on their register, they have already got Ryanair, Wizzair and Hi Fly which is a decent Portuguese charter operator so may want to be seen to be doing something. This is their contact:

Malta Transport Centre
Triq Pantar,
Ħal Lija LJA 2021
Malta
Tel: +356 21222203
Fax:
Email: info.tm@transport.gov.mt

helpful post Alan thanks 

Suzycoll

Suzycoll said:

Hi All

I am opening  this thread for passengers on any Maleth Aero flight that has had delays 4 hours +. (the flight I was on was MLT1972 on 6th Jan 2024 LGW - Barbados)

The intention is not to go into the details of the flight/s delays or to criticise Maleth Aero/P & O. Just to keep track/discuss everyone's compensation claims. Please don't clog the thread up with incidental comments.

I have today submitted my claim to Maleth Aero (via the claim form given on the letter that was delivered to my cabin). I have not had any acknowledgement e mail by return. I have diarised 4 weeks from today to chase 

Would be interested to see how everyone else will/has got on with the claim?

Thanks 

hey all ****update 8th May 2024****
With regards to my original post re Maleth Aero. Thanks for all your input.

I have sent two e mail reminders since my original post . I have recently received a further reply dated 8th May with  as follows

## Thank you for your recent request for an update regarding your claim for compensation. We appreciate your patience while we investigate the events that impacted your flight and work through the backlog of claims. As you may be aware, there are numerous factors that impact the performance and operation of a commercial flight that must be investigated. As such, we cannot respond as quickly as we would like to your claim. We have not forgotten your claim, and we ask for your continued patience until our review process is cleared. We will be in contact with you regarding your claim once the internal review process is complete. In an effort to avoid further delaying the response to your claim, we kindly request that you do not respond to this email   ##

Anyone else had the same please ?

Alan_Bowen

Just more stalling, they know exactly the reason for every delay, they only had two flights a week to operate for P & O. It is clearly an attempt to stop everyone continuing to hassle them in the hope that everyone goes away. 

bagand96

Alan_Bowen said:

Just more stalling, they know exactly the reason for every delay, they only had two flights a week to operate for P & O. It is clearly an attempt to stop everyone continuing to hassle them in the hope that everyone goes away. 

No different from most other airlines then.

HarveyLab2011

Our Maleth -Aero flight from Manchester to Antigua on December 30th 2023 was delayed 5.25 hours. I filled in the claim form which was received by Maleth and acknowledged with the assurance they would respond as soon as possible. A month later I sent a reminder but have had no further response from them. Just don't know what else to do. Any suggestions?