Widerøe & SAS fiasco - who do we claim from?

kaggi

We were booked onto a flight from Aberdeen to Stavanger last week that was due to arrive in Stavanger around 6.30pm.  They cancelled our flight a few hours before departure but booked us onto a flight an hour an a bit late with SAS.  But that flight was then delayed due to a technical issue and we had to wait until 10.45 for the plane to depart, meaning we were 6 or 7 hours late arriving.  Widerøe have said that as The delay/cancellation was caused by an extraordinary reason due to a situation outside Widerøes control and they booked us onto the first available flight they don’t have any obligation to offer any compensation as per EU261 regulations the flight was cancelled and they booked us onto a flight due to land just 1.5 hours later.  So, who do we claim from as it doesn’t appear to have been any extraordinary circumstances?  I feel like they’re being deliberately obtuse as they should know the later flight was severely delayed.

eskbanker

Even if there weren't extraordinary circumstances, Widerøe are correct in saying that they're not obliged to pay you compensation if they rebooked you onto a flight due to arrive within two hours of the original one, under 5.1.c.iii of the regulations:

In case of cancellation of a flight, the passengers concerned shall: [...]

(c) have the right to compensation by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 7, unless: [...]

(iii) they are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/5

However, if the SAS flight was delayed by at least three hours due to a technical fault, then SAS, as the operating air carrier, are obliged to pay compensation, so claim for the delay from them under article 6.3:

In case of a delay of three hours or more in reaching the final destination, the passengers concerned have the right to compensation laid down in Article 7.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/6

jimi_man

A lot depends on what you actually claimed for. If you claimed for cancellation on the original flight then they have rightly refused it. But if you claimed for delay on the re routed flight (it sounds like you didn't) then they are in play as it's over three hours. Unfortunately airlines will play it by the letter of the law and deal with exactly what is in front of them. The person dealing with the claim will often just look at that flight and not try and second guess what other flight you were positioned onto and whether that was delayed etc.

Assuming you didn't claim for the late arrival of the second, then do so. Give them time to respond and then take it further if necessary.

kaggi

Thanks,  I  claimed for our late arrival but they says as they rebooked us onto a different flight that should’ve landed less than 2 hours after the original one they’d done what they needed to do.  I’ve now submitted a claim via SAS for their delay which was over 4 hours.  Does feel like they’re hoping I’ll go away (which I won’t).