Compensation for onward flight

dlevene

On the evening of the 5th March, I flew from Manchester to Madrid using Ryanair. I then self transferred for my flight to Quito, Ecuador. The flight was with Air Europa and scheduled for 1.45am on the 6th.

We boarded on time, and then sat on the plane for an hour while they switched the electronics off and on again. They told us (in Spanish, with the passenger next to me translating to English for me!) that there was a problem with one of the components. Eventually we were deboarded while they repaired the part, then reboarded. We arrived in Quito a few minutes short of 4 hours late. 

On the 22nd March I completed Air Europa's compensation claim form. On the 9th April I was sent, in my opinion, a generic, useless "sorry for the inconvenience" email that did not directly address my claim. Full text below. It's possible they're saying I'm not eligible for compensation, which I'm not satisfied with.

I immediately replied, pointing out they hadn't addressed my claim and explicitly requesting compensation in line with EU regulation 261/2004. I'm waiting for a reply but want to be ready to escalate. Air Europa do not seem to be a member of an ADR, something they themselves seem to confirm.

Does this mean I should go through the CAA? It's an EU airline flying from an EU airport so that seems counterintuitive. Although obviously I'm claiming from the UK.

Appreciate any help!

Dear ,

My name is Melanie of the Customer Relations Department, and I’m contacting you about our flight UX39 MAD-UIO 06/03/2025.

We are very sorry about the delay that the above mentioned flight suffered on its departure due to an unexpected flight safety shortcoming.

We assure you that it is always the Company's aim to offer the greatest punctuality and service to all its passengers and that we apply all our efforts into trying to achieve this. Nevertheless, some of the factors that affect the day to day running of our flights are beyond our control.

Air Europa has attempted at every moment to ease and minimise the effects of the delay, keeping the passengers informed of developments at all times.

We would like to inform you that in these cases the company offers assistance to the passengers up to the flight departure, in relation to the waiting time, and depending on the distance and country of departure of the affected flight, and also in accordance to the normative in force in each case.

On behalf of Air Europa, thank you for your comments and we look forward to welcoming you on board again.

Best regards,

Melanie

Customer Relations Department

Mark_d

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

I suggest you contact the authority for Spain:
https://transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/d7b5dd33-4083-4faa-8132-b6dc8b3a1c07_en

Mark_d

From the website:
"If you arrived at your final destination with a delay of 3 hours or more, you are entitled to compensation, unless the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances."

dlevene

Mark_d said:

I suggest you contact the authority for Spain:

https://transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/d7b5dd33-4083-4faa-8132-b6dc8b3a1c07_en

Thanks - so you're saying, rather than go through the CAA, use the Spanish form? 

Mark_d said:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

Mark_d said:

From the website:
"If you arrived at your final destination with a delay of 3 hours or more, you are entitled to compensation, unless the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances."

Yes I'm reasonably comfortable in the knowledge that they do owe me compensation! It's just clarifying the best process to go through to get it, especially if engaging directly doesn't do the job.

Westin

06MAR / UX39 MAD UIO
STD 01:45 ATD 05:35
STA 06:35 ATA 10:17
Arrival delay 3hr 42min

The CAA in the UK have no sway in a flight from Spain to Ecuador.   Look at the link that @Mark_d provided.

dlevene

Okay great, so the Spanish authority yes?

dlevene

So an update and a further question.

After being stonewalled by the airline, I raised a claim with the Spanish regulator. Between a terrible website, the language barrier, and huge delays due to the massive power cut Spain suffered last year, this has been a very painful process.

The good news is that the regulator recently messaged me to say they'd started work on my case and, surprise surprise, today I've had an email from the airline offering me some compensation. I allowed myself a moment of satisfaction with the results of a moneysaving attitude against a business taking the michael.

They've quoted:

"paragraph 63 of the Judgment of the Court of Justice (Fourth Chamber) of 19 November 2009, compensation for delays of between 3 and 4 hours on long‑haul flights may be reduced by 50%"

They've also offered to discuss further...

A quick Google suggests that they might be right, and that the 50% reduction from €600 to €300 applies. Mildly annoying but there you go.

The airline is offering €450 of credit (which I'm not interested in at all), or €300 cash.

So, should I:

1) Take the win and just go for the €300,

2) Push my luck and try and blag €450 cash on the basis on how poor their customer service has been, or

3) See what the regulator says.

I'm leaning towards 2 - worth a try - but welcome any advice!

saajan_12

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81860130#Comment_81860130

We arrived in Quito a few minutes short of 4 hours late. 

Now I'd be certain exactly how long the delay was since you say it was just short.. how long was the delay between the scheduled [gate] arrival time and actual time the doors opened? As that's the first time you can actually disembark, it doesn't matter when the wheels touched down.

I actually received the higher compensation because a flight touched down 3h55m late but was slow getting to its gate which was 4h05m late.

"paragraph 63 of the Judgment of the Court of Justice (Fourth Chamber) of 19 November 2009, compensation for delays of between 3 and 4 hours on long‑haul flights may be reduced by 50%"

The wording is EUR600 and then halved because its under 4 hours, but in other words, a delay of 3-4 hours for a flight over 3500km simply is EUR300.

If you do end up in the 3-4 hour bucket then they are correct, and I can't see any incentive for them increasing that unless its beneficial for them (eg a credit voucher which gets them further business). There's no compo for customer service. It would be such a remote chance, I wouldn't consider it worth a moment of time.

dlevene

The plane was originally due to arrive at 6.35am. Apparently, the "official" arrival time was 10.17am (based on what someone posted above, but I can't find this anywhere online. But, I believe the plane doors opened at 10.35am based on when I text the taxi, but I can't be sure exactly...

Is there anywhere free online that records the doors open time, rather than the wheels down time?

Edit:

This website says 10.20am. A bit of googling suggests the key is disembarkation time rather than touchdown - I've emailed them asking for clarification.

https://www.flightera.net/en/flight_details/Air+Europa-Madrid-Quito/UX39/LEMD/2025-03-06