Claiming compensation + extras?!

georgiac

Hi, Sorry this is going to be a long one!

We are unsure whether we are able to claim compensation for a flight we were supposed to make recently and what else we may be entitled to.

We were due to fly from Saudi Arabia to the UK via a European city with a EU national carrier.

We have been to Southeast Asia and this was a transit stop and as it was the end of a special holiday I had upgraded our seats to premium economy with all 3 seated together.

Unfortunately, the plane had a technical issue on takeoff and it was aborted. We were taken back to the terminal and told we would be taken to a hotel until a new flight have been found.

This happened for everybody else on the plane, but because ours was a transit flight and we had something called a final exit ticket, we weren’t allowed to leave the airport so we were dumped in the departure lounge.

It was absolutely freezing with the air conditioning and we were wearing shorts and T-shirt from our holiday with no access to our luggage. We asked about purchasing trousers and a hoody but were told we could only buy a blanket each.

The airport shop was very limited and actually only had one blanket So two of us couldn’t have them.

We were given food and drink which was limited but sufficient, but there was absolutely nowhere to lie down and It wasn’t very comfortable.

Our flight had been due to leave at midnight and at 7 am the airline representative told us they would put us on the first available flight regarding of the carrier which was a relief but didn’t materialise. 

They then told us we would be on the following midnight flight  but when our boarding passes arrived at 4 pm, we realised that the date was wrong and we were not due to depart for another 48 hours.

I went on line and found we could book flights with a major carrier via the Middle East but it was business class. The airline agreed to this which was a relief. It meant we would only be in the lounge for 23 hours. I have arthritis and back issues so was pretty sore by this point and our child has complex mental disabilities, which is why we had purchased all three tickets together.

When we received the boarding passes, close to boarding we realised they had purchased economy tickets and we were all separated around the plane. We tried to get hold of the representative but they never replied.

Our child was incredibly anxious but thankfully they were sat next to some very understanding people and we were just relieved to be going home. 

My question is can we claim for the travel compensation and also for the expenses and the loss of our upgraded seats and anything else and if so how?

Thanks in advance