Flight Delay compensation-Gulf air-No response

usthad

Hi There,

My Flight was delayed from Manchester to Bahrain was delayed by 6hrs 28mins and as a consequence I missed my connection flight to Kochi and arrived kochi 24hrs later than scheduled. Gulf air provided hotel accommodation and food at a hotel and transfer to and from airport. In the flight, or during the boarding process they didn't explain why the flight was delayed, only thing I noticed was that incoming flight to Manchester was delayed. 

I made the claim under under The Air Passenger Rights and Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and used MSE template through their Gulf air website and got acknowledgement automatic reply with a reference number. In the claim, I requested them to reply with 14 days informed them that or else I will take them to court. It's been 3 weeks now there is no reply from them.

Is there anything I need to be doing before going to small claims court? Is there anything else I could do? Many thanks,

eskbanker

The first place to start needs to be establishing what the root cause of the delay was, i.e. whether or not it was extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control, which absolves them of any liability to pay compensation.  If the inbound flight was heavily delayed then it's the cause of that delay that'll apply.

If you don't know the reason then you're effectively in their hands and need to wait for their response before deciding whether it needs to be challenged or not - the regulations don't specify a timescale within which such claims need to be addressed, so many take months rather than weeks.  I don't know if they're a member of any ADR scheme but these typically allow a complaint to be escalated after eight weeks.

Nothing stopping you from taking a punt with court, but it would be a gamble at this stage if you don't know enough of the facts....

MattMattMattUK

eskbanker said:

Nothing stopping you from taking a punt with court, but it would be a gamble at this stage if you don't know enough of the facts....

I would suspect it will be far more than a gamble, if the OP does not know the facts then how would they hope to present them to a court...

usthad

Thank you eskbanker and MattMattMattUK. I guess I could wait for few more weeks. Send some more emails enquiring them to explain the reason for the delay and reiterating my intent to go to court if they don't respond. But how long should I wait if they don't reply at all?

MattMattMattUK

usthad said:

Thank you eskbanker and MattMattMattUK. I guess I could wait for few more weeks. 

I would be prepared to wait several more months, it is not always quick.

usthad said:

Send some more emails enquiring them to explain the reason for the delay

If you know the flight before you can potentially find out some reasons as they may well be recorded on the flight tracking sites, that usually shows for things like weather, ATC etc. 

usthad said:

and reiterating my intent to go to court if they don't respond. But how long should I wait if they don't reply at all?

Why are you so desperate to rush to court? You have submitted a claim, I would say that up to six months would not be unreasonable. They have acknowledged your claim via the claim reference number that they issued you when you submitted your claim via the form, but repeatedly sending emails is not going to help anyone, nor expediate the process. Your threat to take them to court after fourteen days likely made them laugh, not feel threatened, as you already threatened the nuclear option you have the choice of pressing the big red button or waiting it out. The former will be a lot of hassle and mean you will likely be waiting a year or more, the latter will mean you do not need to do anything and will probably get paid at some point in the next six months.