Loss of enjoyment after airline delays

spaceaarvark

Flying from UK to Seychelles via Dubai our first flight was delayed so we missed our connection.
The first 2 days of our 7 day holiday were washed out; the first day as a direct result of the delay (unavoidable) and the second due to being denied boarding to the - airline arranged - replacement flight (unbelievable).

I have already posted here regarding airline compensation for the delay/denied boarding and am pretty happy that I know where we stand with that, but now I am wondering whether I have a claim for Loss of Enjoyment regarding the 2 days lost holiday.

I suspect I know the answer: it seems to fall down a responsibility gap where the tour operator cannot be responsible for the flight delays and the airline has no interest in our holiday.

However, just in case there is some regulation that I am unaware of, I would welcome any pointers.

spaceaarvark

Not sure if we are eligible for compensation or not, due to a mix of factors. Any advice welcomed!

We had flights to Seychelles via Dubai with Emirates.

Oct 1. Boarded at LGW for late night flight to Dubai. Flight was late taking off and then I believe slightly re-routed due to flare up in Middle East.
Oct 2. Arrived at Dubai too late to make our 08:55 connection to Seychelles.
We went to the Connections desk - this was a bad night for Emirates, there were hundreds of people missing their connection.
While waiting in the queue we got an email from Emirates "We had to rebook you onto other flights". Our new flight details were for the same flight 24 hours later.
When we got to the desk we were told the same thing, given hotel vouchers and boarding passes for the next day's flight (including seat numbers, as you would expect).
So far so good(ish). We had accommodation and meals and I'm pretty sure the airline can claim "extraordinary circumstances" to avoid compensation so far.
But then it gets complicated.
Oct 3. No transfer arranged from hotel to airport so we took a taxi and then went to the Emirates desk to get a refund. The agent needed our boarding passes to issue the refund; he tapped at his computer and told us our bookings had been cancelled. 
After speaking to a supervisor we were told that actually it was the flight that had been cancelled (this was incorrect; we could see the flight boarding on the departure board).
We were now booked onto a flight the NEXT day; this one ot 02:15 instead of 08:55.
So another hotel voucher + meals.
Oct 4. Finally managed to get to Seychelles 41 hours and 45 minutes later than scheduled.
At least our room was immediately available!

I know airlines can claim "extraordinary circumstances" (although I am not sure whether any airspace was actually closed or whether extraordinary circumstances extends to the airline taking what it considers to be necessary precautions), and I know that the airline can include knock-on delays with the extraordinary circumstances - but I believe these are capped at 24 hours.
However I am totally ignorant of the compensation rules when we are talking about a second leg, which necessarily means that the 'delay' is to a flight which neither started nor ended in the UK.

Of course, what I would really like is to get Emirates to cough up for messing us about with rebookings which were subsequently cancelled and for claiming that the rebooked flight itself had been cancelled and for depriving us of 2 days of our holiday, but I'm not sure there is any consumer protection for that! 

eskbanker

spaceaarvark said:

I am totally ignorant of the compensation rules when we are talking about a second leg, which necessarily means that the 'delay' is to a flight which neither started nor ended in the UK.

When you have a single ticket reference for a booking using multiple connecting flights, it's treated as a single journey for assessing compensation eligibility and value, so in this case it is regarded as a LGW to Seychelles journey and it's your arrival time at your final destination that counts.

As you say, extraordinary circumstances negate compensation liability, so if the original 24 hour delay was caused by these, then no compensation is due - have they indicated any root cause to you?

However, if you had a confirmed booking on a replacement flight, including boarding passes, and were denied boarding, then that would undoubtedly warrant compensation, assuming you can show evidence that the flight operated - if it's only a week ago then you ought to be able to locate this from independent flight tracking sites.

spaceaarvark said:

I know that the airline can include knock-on delays with the extraordinary circumstances - but I believe these are capped at 24 hours.

I don't know what you're referring to here, do you have a source?

spaceaarvark said:

Of course, what I would really like is to get Emirates to cough up for messing us about with rebookings which were subsequently cancelled and for claiming that the rebooked flight itself had been cancelled and for depriving us of 2 days of our holiday, but I'm not sure there is any consumer protection for that! 

Did you book flights and accommodation separately or as a package?  If the latter then you may have the potential for recompense from the package provider.

spaceaarvark

Thanks for the update.
I don't have an official reference for the 24 hour cap.
I came across it here: https://www.claimcompass.eu/blog/en/why-is-my-flight-delayed/

eskbanker

spaceaarvark said:

Thanks for the update.
I don't have an official reference for the 24 hour cap.
I came across it here: https://www.claimcompass.eu/blog/en/why-is-my-flight-delayed/

I don't know where they're sourcing that from but understand their point to be that extraordinary circumstances can't continue to be used indefinitely after the event as a valid reason for not paying out, and that normal service would typically be expected to have resumed a day later.  At a main hub like Dubai for Emirates, where there'd be plenty of spare aircraft and crew, that period would be significantly shorter though, but I don't believe that any defined window is clearly specified in any regulations or case law.

eskbanker

spaceaarvark said:

Flying from UK to Seychelles via Dubai our first flight was delayed so we missed our connection.
The first 2 days of our 7 day holiday were washed out; the first day as a direct result of the delay (unavoidable) and the second due to being denied boarding to the - airline arranged - replacement flight (unbelievable).

I have already posted here regarding airline compensation for the delay/denied boarding and am pretty happy that I know where we stand with that, but now I am wondering whether I have a claim for Loss of Enjoyment regarding the 2 days lost holiday.

I suspect I know the answer: it seems to fall down a responsibility gap where the tour operator cannot be responsible for the flight delays and the airline has no interest in our holiday.

However, just in case there is some regulation that I am unaware of, I would welcome any pointers.

I asked in the other thread if you'd booked a package of flights and accommodation, as this does indeed make a difference - a package provider has obligations under the Package Travel Regulations, separately from those the airline has under the UK261 flight delay/cancellation ones.

It's not really a 'loss of enjoyment' matter as such but if you receive fewer nights of accommodation than you paid for, it should be possible to claim a proportionate refund:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/634/regulation/11
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/634/regulation/16

spaceaarvark

You did ask that and I was so concentrated on recovering the source of the 24 hour knock-on statement that I overlooked the question.

Thanks again for your help.

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've merged the two threads on this matter

spaceaarvark

Final Update:

Kuoni's original response to my claim for a partial refund for missed nights was to tell me to contact Emirates.
I replied that I was already doing that but I was also requesting a partial refund from Kuoni under the Package Travel Regulations.
This got a response of "force majeure" which meant they were not required to refund for 2 lost nights, but following a further review they were prepared to refund one night "as a gesture of goodwill".
Refund for one night was all I expected, so - success.

Emirates dragged out my claim for compensation for being denied boarding, basically by never replying to my emails.
But after I suggested that I was going to go through the available UK processes they came back to explain that this was down to human error and they have now paid the full compensation in line with the regulations.
So - successes all round.

Thanks again to eskbanker for setting me on the correct paths.