Jet2 refusing flight delay compensation June 2024

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

JPears

Extra-ordinary circumstances generally only apply "to the flight concerned". Certainly not 2 flights/legs previously (if indeed there was an EC)

Jet2 still have a big chip on their shoulder over the Huzar case which they lost (and I'm sure the other airines haven't forgiven them).

Guess why Jet2 use AESA? Because of the delay so people give up?

Just go directly to small claims instead.

mdann52

It's worth mentioning - bypassing ADR can be looked on negatively by a court on deciding matters of costs.

So while it may save time, it can make you appear "unreasonable" in the eyes of the court, and it can make it harder to reclaim your costs and expenses from the other side, while opening you up to more (limited) costs. 

Of course, if the case gets appealed to a higher court, or taken off the small claims track, that's more of a concern!

eskbanker

JPears said:

Extra-ordinary circumstances generally only apply "to the flight concerned". Certainly not 2 flights/legs previously (if indeed there was an EC)

There's obviously been plenty of discussion and legal action regarding knock-on delays/cancellations, and I don't believe it's accurate to summarise that as ECs generally only applying "to the flight concerned" - the acid test tends to be the extent to which the airline took all reasonable measures mitigating the ECs thereafter, bringing into play all the factors around sparing and resourcing and so on, which will typically be case-specific rather than determined from generalisations.

IMHO OP needs to get to the salient facts about exactly which ECs occurred and whether or not the airline's response to those was reasonable, rather than simply seeking to rely on ECs being earlier in the day - it does sound like Jet2 are no longer being cooperative though, so an independent process such as AESA or ultimately court will need to tease those out.

Susiediy

Thanks everyone.  Bottonline and Euclaim both think I have a case so I’ll submit my claim to AESA and if that doesn’t get Jet2 to pay out I’ll decide whether to go to either the small claims court or Bottonline. I used to think highly of Jet2 but not so much now.

JPears

If you're not in any hurry, then go via AESA first. It can be a useful learning experience, should you then need to take a legal route.

As an aside, if re-routing expenses were being claimed, which can be considerable, I would have no hesitation going to small claims, given the intransigence of Jet2 and delays expected at AESA.

Keep us updated.

Susiediy

Thanks. We weren’t re-routed, we were dumped in a wholly inappropriate and awful hotel for the day with no changing or showering facilities, disgusting food and it was dirty. It was so bad many of us asked to be taken back to the airport for the day! Needless to say Jet2 refused that request too. I’ll keep you updated.

Susiediy

just an update. I found claiming via AESA a nightmare. The forms keep reverting to Spanish and I had to keep using google translate. Registering for the electronic signature was the most difficult part as sometimes even the translation didn’t make sense. Anyway eventually I completed it at the end of October and I’m now waiting for it to be dealt with. There is a 4 month backlog. There is no doubt that jet2 use AESA so that most people just give up on their claims.  I’ll let you know when I get a reply from AESA

eskbanker

Susiediy said:

There is no doubt that jet2 use AESA so that most people just give up on their claims.

There is doubt about that - it's their nominated point of escalation specifically for flights departing from Spain (it's the Spanish aviation regulator) but they don't use such services elsewhere in their network, although highlight that you can go to CAA PACT (which doesn't offer enforceable binding decisions):

If you’re not happy with the outcome of your claim

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your claim, you can appeal to the Civil Aviation Authority’s Passenger Advice and Complaints Team (PACT) at: https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers/resolving-travel-problems/how-the-caa-can-help/how-the-caa-can-help/

They will review your case and if we need to look at it again, they will contact us directly.

For flights departing Spain, the State Aviation Safety Agency of Spain (AESA) has been recognised as an Alternative Dispute Resolution organisation, providing air passengers with an alternative option to resolve their disputes relating to EC Regulation 261/2004 (“EU261”) [...]

https://www.jet2.com/en/Delays-and-cancellations

As above though, if you're confident about your chances in court, you can always go straight there.

Fig12

Hi hope you don't mind me jumping on your post, but I am trying to log an Alternative dispute Resolution with AESA , as advised by Jet2 after they rejected my claim for compensation for a cancelled flight Alicante to Newcastle 5.1.25. The AESA site isn't easy to understand or navigate. But I think I have understood you have to register for E identification as a foreigner. How did you do that please I am in the application and UK isn't even listed as a country when it asks for passport issuer ? Am I in the correct place ? Please see screen shot. Any assistance welcome . Flight was cancelled they claim due to extrordinary circumstances , weather in the UK ( snow & ice) stopped the plane coming to pick us up. Despite other airlines flights being able to . UK crew were out of hours. This was the snow & ice forecast all the week before!

Susiediy

Hi Fig12 I eventually worked out that it’s easier to apply using a laptop rather than a tablet or phone. On the laptop the UK does appear on the list of issuer country. Using the iPad the list didn’t fully appear. I would say the whole AESA website is a nightmare to navigate and keeps reverting to Spanish. I submitted my claim in October 2024 after weeks of trying to fathom out what to do, and I still haven’t heard back from AESA. I’ve tried contacting them to find out progress but there is nowhere to email them. I’m going to give them until the end of this month, May 2025, and then I’m going to contact Bottonline to get them to claim on my behalf. After all 50% of my claim is better than nothing. I’m also intending to contact the CAA. I used to have a high opinion of Jet2 but not anymore. Good luck if you decide to continue