Jet2 refusing compensation

Duckling12

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding compensation and flight delays with Jet2.  On 11/06/24 we were delayed 4 hours 30 mins on our return flight from Almeria to Birmingham.  

We were boarded onto the plane at the expected time, however whilst boarding the captain came off the plane and was speaking to a member of ground crew regarding some paperwork.  Approx half an hour after boarding we were told that there was an issue with missing paperwork that the flight wasn't able to depart without, we were told that the paperwork was to do with routine maintenance that had been carried out on the plane on its arrival at the airport but that that had been completed and the delay was solely due to paperwork.  

About an hour later the decision was made to take everyone back off of the plane and into the terminal as it emerged that the missing paperwork required a signature from a member of staff who wasn't at Almeria airport and they were trying to work out how they could get someone qualified to sign it off. 

We eventually reboarded three and a half hours after our original departure time and as we were sat at the front of the aircraft were speaking to the cabin crew who told us that they had eventually managed to find an engineer who could sign the paperwork but he had had to drive three hours across from Alicante airport.  We laughed with the engineer that he had driven three hours here, and would then have to drive three hours back solely to sign a piece of paper.  

We were then further delayed for an hour as the ambilift for assistance passengers was prioritised to scheduled flights.

I have applied to jet2 for compensation for the delay but they have rejected it as they say the delay was due to a bird strike and maintenance work being carried out on the plane.  They also said that the engineer was always at Almeria airport and did not come from Alicante and it took so long as they had to do extensive work to the plane, there were no issues with paperwork.  They have directed me to the Spanish ombudsman if we want to take the case further.

I'm extremely frustrated that they have outwardly lied about what happened on the day in an attempt to avoid paying out compensation for the delay.  Does anyone have any advice how to proceed as looking at the Spanish website it is obviously rather confusing to someone who doesn't speak Spanish!

Thank you!

eskbanker

It seems unlikely to me that there'd be routine maintenance carried out on Jet2 aircraft at somewhere like Almeria, so it does sound plausible that there'd be some sort of unplanned inspection needed after a bird strike, despite this not being mentioned by (or perhaps even known to) cabin crew.

If you feel that what you were told on the day is more credible than the explanation subsequently offered by Jet2, then you shouldn't need to pursue them via a Spanish ombudsman but can go via the CAA's PACT service, as they don't participate in any UK ADR provisions. 

mdann52

It's worth noting that the CAA PACT team cannot force them to pay up - so the next step may well be a letter before action then a court claim here, if PACT don't help.

Hoenir

Duckling12 said:

  We laughed with the engineer that he had driven three hours here, and would then have to drive three hours back solely to sign a piece of paper.  

The Captain isn't going to put his entire career and reputation at risk to keep the passengers from kicking up a stink.  Safety comes first. Even if that does mean a delayed arrival. 

Duckling12

Thanks for the replies.  At the end of the day safety absolutely comes first, what's really wound me up is the lies about the reason behind the delay.  If they'd have just said the basic reason was a bird strike then I'd have accepted that, but to say we were making it up about the engineer coming from another airport which we know to be untrue is just wrong.

Susiediy

we were delayed 13 hours on a jet2 flight from Palma, Majorca to Newcastle on 28th June 2024. I submitted a claim and it was refused, jet2 claimed it was due to extraordinary circumstances on a flight 2 flights before ours. I challenged them and they replied claiming that they can rely on extraordinary circumstances for bird strikes, debris on the runway and fuel on the runway - none of which affected either our flight or the two flights before ours. They admitted the crew were out of hours but are now just ignoring my emails pointing this out to them. I’ve looked at the ADR Jet2 use, AESA, which is based in Spain and their website states that due to the number of ADR cases they are experiencing delays of around 4 months. Has anyone made a claim via AESA against Jet2 and if so was it successful and did Jet2 pay out if AESA found against them? I don’t know whether to go straight to Bottonline. Thanks