Kenya Airways - Compensation claim UK 261 CAA cannot help

Ericthepenguin

Hi Guys

I submitted my case to the CAA as Kenyan Airways are ignoring my claim. 

Now the situation is, I flew from London to  Antananarivo on Kenya Airways. The connecting flight to Antananarivo was in Nairobi and was delayed over 3 hours, (all tickets purchased with the same airline at the same time). I was told the reason for this delay  was 'rota's, (so I assume this is down to the company)

So after i submitted my case to the CAA I received an automatic reply

"This UK Regulation only applies in the following scenarios:

• Departing from the UK with any airline
• Departing a country other than the UK, arriving into the UK, on an EU or UK airline
• Departing a country other than the UK, arriving into an EU country on a UK airline, unless the passenger received benefits or compensation and were given assistance in that EU country

As the flight you are complaining about departed Nairobi with Kenya Airways Ltd, we regret to inform you that the above Regulation does not apply in your case. We are sorry to say that the Regulation does not take into account where the flights were bought or where the passenger resides.

We would also like to clarify that although your journey may have been booked as a single itinerary and your outbound flight initially departed from an airport in the UK, the outbound and return flights are considered separate flights, following a binding decision by the Courts. This interpretation is also supported by the Regulation’s guidelines."

I am confused as I thought as along as the flight came from the UK/EU, even if the delay was with a connecting flight, rather tham the initial flight, even though the connecting flight was outside the UK/EU than the connecting flight would still be covered under UK261. When I input these details into the automated claims checkers on various claims companies sites they all seems to suggest a claim would be due. I have also looked at posts on this forum and the same thing applies.

Any views/observations?

Regards

Eric

jaybeetoo

Did you buy 1 ticket from the UK to Antananarivo or did you buy 2 tickets (1 from UK to Nairobi and 1 from Nairobi to Antananarivo)?

eskbanker

EU case law (pre-Brexit and therefore applicable to UK) does clarify that:

the regulation applies to a passenger transport effected under a single booking and comprising, between its departure from an airport situated in the territory of a Member State and its arrival at an airport situated in the territory of a third State, a scheduled stopover outside the European Union with a change of aircraft

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:62017CJ0537 (C‑537/17, Wegener v Royal Air Maroc, 2017)

The CAA's response seems to imply that they believed you were claiming for the return leg of a trip to Kenya, rather than part of the outbound journey, so maybe worth clarifying to them that this isn't what you asked about?

However, as noted last time you asked about this (maybe worth getting the threads combined), the CAA's enforcement powers are limited, so going legal may be more productive anyway?

Newbie_John

Also accept there are UK/EU laws and there's Kenya Airways, unless you have time for a big fight you may not get anywhere.

Where did you buy the ticket? If on KLM website, claim with them for the entire UK - Final Destination trip.

Keep trying but prepare yourself for not getting anywhere with this.

Alan_Bowen

Ignore the suggestion of claiming from KLM, claims are against the actual carrier not the ticket issuer, There does seem to be a valid claim against Kenya Airways but the CAA have no actual powers of enforcement, they might write a letter to the airline, but there is no penalty if the airline ignores it!

saajan_12

Please continue your original thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6635631/kenyan-airways-refusal-of-compensation#latest

As advised there, did you use the email address suggested? How have you concluded KA are ignoring you? They are notoriously slow, so if its been a couple of months ("only") then I'd wait them out rather than tying yourself in knots. Your rights to escalate legally etc won't change in a few more months time.