How to get the cabin doors open time

R4ngdo · 14 October 2019 at 10:01AM

Hello
I recently contacted Royal Brunei Airlines to raise a compensation claim for delayed flight back in 2016 which I believe exceeded the three hour limit. In their reply they have simply given the scheduled flight times and stated compensation is not payable because the delay was only 2h 45m.
I will be responding to them stating that if they do not believe compensation is due then they will have to provide the cabin doors open time to prove this.
So my question is, is there anywhere I can get this information myself because as a passenger you don’t get access to this kind of data and at the moment my claim is really just based on my recollection of the arrival time of a flight we took 3 1/2 years ago being over 3 hours. If it’s not possible to get this data what do you suggest my best approach is?

JPears · 14 October 2019 at 10:06AM

Put your flight details into Botts online or EUClaim, they should give an indication of claim validity.

R4ngdo · 14 October 2019 at 10:39AM

I have tried that but I just get a generic sounding response saying “Good news, our records show you may be entitled to claim up to €600 per passenger in compensation.”.

I don’t want to use a claims company if I don’t have to and I have the airline responding to me so it would be good to get a quick resolution with them direct if possible.

I know I can make a court claim to force the issue but that is extra cost and time that I’d like to avoid.

I’m looking for if anyone knows if it’s possible to get the actual arrival data to support my case, and if not then what the best next steps are to try to push a resolution with them without having that data.

JPears · 14 October 2019 at 11:28AM

Short answer to that is probably no. Long answer is that someone may be able to track your flight historically and get an idea of the likely door opening time.
I suspect you may have to at least initiate court proceedings on this one. It will then be up to RBA to prove to the judge that the delay was the time they say, with confirmed door opening times.

R4ngdo · 14 October 2019 at 1:27PM

Ok thanks. So essentially my next steps will be:

1) Respond to them stating they need to assess it based on, and provide as evidence, the cabin door opening time.
then if no luck:
2a) Raise a court claim forcing them to provide the formal arrival time to calculate the delay.
or
2b) Raise a claim via a claim company like Bott & Co to do the legwork and arguing.

The reason I wanted to try to get the data was if I then needed to do the court claim I could be fairly certain of winning to cover the claim cost before starting. I can remove this risk by using Bott & Co but their fee is much higher than doing the claim myself.

JPears · 14 October 2019 at 2:24PM

Did you try EU claim checker too? This maybe more reliable. Botts can be a bit optimistic.
RBA are signed up to Aviation ADR? If so that could be your next move if RBA are intransigent.

R4ngdo · 14 October 2019 at 3:18PM

I’ve just tried it but it doesn’t seem to like the combination of flights we had so cannot find any results.

I wasn’t aware Brunei used a dispute resolution organisation as they weren’t listed in the Resolver tool on the MSE flight compensation page.

I’ll respond to their letter as I said above and if no luck then I’ll try using Aviation ADR.

JPears · 14 October 2019 at 3:51PM

Resolver is not the same. Ignore it.

How to get the cabin doors open time

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