My flight was cancelled - do I have any claim for compensation?

hoomoo

Yesterday I was due to fly home to Birmingham from Glasgow with bmibaby on their 5.30 flight.

On arriving at the airport I found my flight was cancelled and the only option they gave me was to wait until their next flight at 9pm. ( It was 4pm when I checked in meaning a wait of 5 hours!). I had no choice but to accept as I needed to get home as quickly as possible and wasn't sure whether I could make them book me onto another carrier (they certainly didn't offer this - but then why would they?)

I was told the flight was cancelled for 'operational reasons' which the check in guy himself admitted could mean anything, but was a neat get out. They gave me a voucher for £3 to cover the inconvenience. Needless to say this did not cover the cost of food which I then needed to buy as I was there for so long!

Also, because I arrived back so late into Birmingham, I did not feel safe to use public transport home (it was half ten, dark and I also had noone who could give me a lift). I had to take a taxi - further cost incurred because of the delay.

Do you think I stand any chance of getting any form of compensation from them? Is it even worth me trying?

Shona99

hoomoo wrote: »

Yesterday I was due to fly home to Birmingham from Glasgow with bmibaby on their 5.30 flight.

On arriving at the airport I found my flight was cancelled and the only option they gave me was to wait until their next flight at 9pm. ( It was 4pm when I checked in meaning a wait of 5 hours!). I had no choice but to accept as I needed to get home as quickly as possible and wasn't sure whether I could make them book me onto another carrier (they certainly didn't offer this - but then why would they?)

I was told the flight was cancelled for 'operational reasons' which the check in guy himself admitted could mean anything, but was a neat get out. They gave me a voucher for £3 to cover the inconvenience. Needless to say this did not cover the cost of food which I then needed to buy as I was there for so long!

Also, because I arrived back so late into Birmingham, I did not feel safe to use public transport home (it was half ten, dark and I also had noone who could give me a lift). I had to take a taxi - further cost incurred because of the delay.

Do you think I stand any chance of getting any form of compensation from them? Is it even worth me trying?

If your flight was cancelled EC 261/2004 gives a right to compensation of 250 Euros unless the airline can prove the defence of "extraordinary circumstances".

On the face of it you have a valid claim unless and until the airline can prove this defence to you ( or ultimately a court).

Different airlines appear to react in dfferent ways-many chose to fob off the claims, others seem to be more forthcoming.

There are interesting case studies including successful court judgments, and ongoing cases reviewed here https://www.flightmole.com/forum

Miss_Marple_2

We were cancelled on a flight - and flew the next day - airline gave us each 250 euros, however one of our party managed to get a flight back to the UK to an airport quite close to her home later the same night, even though that was nowhere near the airport she flew from.

She was actually delayed about 6 hours by the time she set off and KLM said she wasn't entitled to anything - I thought the EU rules meant that she would have got something - but they got out of it somehow