How to claim flight cancel compensation?

blackstar

Hello all,

We had a flight from Frankfurt to Scotland canceled while sitting on the bus to take us from the check in to the actual plane. 
The flight was already delayed by an hour at that point. 
We then had to stay over night in Germany and Lufthansa paid for a hotel and taxis that night and new flights the next day. 
I've looked online but loads of websites saying they can help with compensation but don't know if they are scams and I did see something called Resolver on MST but the reviews were terrible.
Anyone recommend a good website to get compensation from and also is it for each traveler ie the whole family and how much is it likely to be?
Thanks all

Hoenir

Surely all you need do is approach the airline? 

bagand96

You don't need a company or website to do it for you. Lufthansa have a claim form on their website.

The reason for the cancellation will be important though. 

eskbanker

blackstar said:

is it for each traveler ie the whole family and how much is it likely to be?

If the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control (e.g. adverse weather or air traffic control restrictions) then there'd be no entitlement to compensation at all, but if deemed to be within the airline's control (e.g. technical issue or staffing) then compensation would be £220 or €250 per person, assuming the distance from Frankfurt to your (unstated) destination within Scotland is less than 1500km.

blackstar

Thanks for this.

I made a claim on their website and  they said this 

"We are very sorry that you were affected by a flight irregularity.  

We understand your frustration with this occurrence, as we are aware of how stressful every change to your journey can be.

The flight irregularity, however, was caused by circumstances beyond our control.

Compensation payments are not provided for in Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 in this case. We cannot comply with your request for compensation."

However we were told by Lufthansa the flight was cancelled due to a technical issue. But how do I prove this is true?

eskbanker

blackstar said:

However we were told by Lufthansa the flight was cancelled due to a technical issue. But how do I prove this is true?

The short answer is that you can't - there's no public domain database of cancellation reasons.

There are informed insiders who can sometimes offer reasons, occasionally on here but more often on sites like FlyerTalk, if you share more details of the specific flight number and date, but even that's still not proof as such.

You could go back to the airline and advise that they'd informed you that it was a technical issue, which, assuming it related to the aircraft itself, is deemed by case law to be within their control, but if they continue to deny compensation then you have the option of escalating to the German ADR scheme SOP.

blackstar

Lh974 is the flight number Jan 3rd and we were sitting on the bus on the run way to board plane and they said sorry there's a technical issue on plane so there's a delay. We will close doors for you to keep warm.
30 mins later they said sorry but they were not able to resolve the technical issue and flights now canceled. Good bye.

So they can just now deny a technical issue and we are pretty much stuck

blackstar

One of the passengers told us that Lufthansa said to them the speedometers were not matching each other that was the technical issue. However I don't have anything in writing.

blackstar

I emailed them again about this and said how as it was a technical issue we are due compensation but they said

"We understand your wish to receive compensation. Please allow us to clarify why we are unable to fulfill your request.  

 

Of course, our decision was made after assessing carefully considering the legal liability along with goodwill considerations. Therefore, we kindly request your understanding that we choose to uphold our decision and consider the case closed. 

 "

bagand96

blackstar said:

I emailed them again about this and said how as it was a technical issue we are due compensation but they said

"We understand your wish to receive compensation. Please allow us to clarify why we are unable to fulfill your request.  

 

Of course, our decision was made after assessing carefully considering the legal liability along with goodwill considerations. Therefore, we kindly request your understanding that we choose to uphold our decision and consider the case closed. 

 "

Your esclation options are either a legal claim (Small Claims Court) or Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

Lufthansa's ADR scheme is detailed at the bottom of this page Passenger rights | Lufthansa as operated by Schlichtungsstelle für den öffentlichen Personenverkehr - söpTEST

TELLIT01

With the weather over past several days I suppose it's possible that there was a technical issue and then they were prevented from flying to the airport due to worsening weather conditions at the arrival airport.  Where that leaves any compensation claim is anybody's guess.