Cancelled Flight compensation
Discussion
Hi all,
Hoping someone might have any experience of the EU compensation laws...
The short facts are:
Boarded a flight from an EU airport destined for another
Boarding was abandoned due to the plane having an issue, and the flight cancelled.
New flight was scheduled for 24 hours in the future as they didn't have a spare aircraft at the airport, so I got another airline to fly back 14 hours sooner.
Original airline is refusing to pay out due to us not boarding the replacement flight, but I can't see any reference to this in the terms of this? On top of that they are also claiming it was 'delayed' not cancelled despite having to fly a totally different plane over for the replacement flight... Anyone had any issues claiming this back?
Any help much appreciated!
Hoping someone might have any experience of the EU compensation laws...
The short facts are:
Boarded a flight from an EU airport destined for another
Boarding was abandoned due to the plane having an issue, and the flight cancelled.
New flight was scheduled for 24 hours in the future as they didn't have a spare aircraft at the airport, so I got another airline to fly back 14 hours sooner.
Original airline is refusing to pay out due to us not boarding the replacement flight, but I can't see any reference to this in the terms of this? On top of that they are also claiming it was 'delayed' not cancelled despite having to fly a totally different plane over for the replacement flight... Anyone had any issues claiming this back?
Any help much appreciated!
I spend half my life flying, and the airlines try everything they can to get out of paying when they have cancelled a plane.
Reply to them stating facts. Your flight was delayed more than three hours, therefore under EC 261/2004 you are entitled to a fixed payment.
The original flight was cancelled for technical reasons. Under 261/2004 this is not considered 'exceptional circumstances', and is no reason to withhold payment. Ask them to specifically state why you are being refused payment, in order you can take your case to the regulator.
They will soon change their tune
Reply to them stating facts. Your flight was delayed more than three hours, therefore under EC 261/2004 you are entitled to a fixed payment.
The original flight was cancelled for technical reasons. Under 261/2004 this is not considered 'exceptional circumstances', and is no reason to withhold payment. Ask them to specifically state why you are being refused payment, in order you can take your case to the regulator.
They will soon change their tune
PorkInsider said:
Or they've refunded you but won't pay compensation?
If it's the latter I believe that's normal; you don't get compensation if you've had a refund.
Compensation payments are for a passenger's inconvenience. The payments are independent of (and are not affected by) any refund, replacement flight, accommodation or subsistence which may have already been provided by the airline.If it's the latter I believe that's normal; you don't get compensation if you've had a refund.
OP - keep at it, they'll pay up.
Yes, they are happy to refund me, but won't pay compensation. I'm wary of accepting the refund first in case they then refuse the compensation for that!
The official reason they are giving me is that they won't pay because I didn't take the replacement flight.
Will give it another go today! Cheers
The official reason they are giving me is that they won't pay because I didn't take the replacement flight.
Will give it another go today! Cheers
United did this to me earlier this year, cancelled my flight from heathrow to chicago the night before, then rebooked me on a flight that had an impossible to catch connection in Newark one day later.
Of course thanks to TSA and the ridiculous connection arranged by United i missed the connection in Newark and spent the night in a hotel courtesy of the airline.
When I got home i got the flight compensation letter template from Which? -
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/letter/let...
Filled it out, and got £500 in compensation direct from United around 2 weeks after.
Keep at it, you will be compensated.
Of course thanks to TSA and the ridiculous connection arranged by United i missed the connection in Newark and spent the night in a hotel courtesy of the airline.
When I got home i got the flight compensation letter template from Which? -
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/letter/let...
Filled it out, and got £500 in compensation direct from United around 2 weeks after.
Keep at it, you will be compensated.
Just to update you all as you helped, I got in touch with them this morning and they couldn't have been more different - immediately accepted blame, willing to refund the flight I didn't take and pay compensation, I didn't even have a chance to use any of the silver bullets you gave me!
Maybe they just have a 3 strikes rule, you just have to keep on them. In total I think I spent an hour on the phone, 4 emails and 2 Web chats... So they definitely do make you work for it. Of course if they change their mind again I reserve the right to come back to this topic and rant again haha
Thanks again!
Maybe they just have a 3 strikes rule, you just have to keep on them. In total I think I spent an hour on the phone, 4 emails and 2 Web chats... So they definitely do make you work for it. Of course if they change their mind again I reserve the right to come back to this topic and rant again haha
Thanks again!
Edited by Jaska on Wednesday 14th August 10:19
We booked through Air France for a return flight Newcastle to Bangalore. They used different airline carriers and the one used for our return trip from Bangalore to Amsterdam stopped operating, leaving us stuck in India.
AF customer services were diabolical at the airport and basically turned round and said tough. KLF (AF partners) ended up rescheduling us a flight the next day from Bangalore to Dubai after many, many, E mails. Unfortunately they gave us an impossible connection in Dubai, resulting in a group of us Needing Hotel accommodation for the evening, albeit early hours of the morning. Emirates then rescheduled a flight the next day, but this had an eight hour wait in Amsterdam for connecting flight to Newcastle. All in all a horrendous trip that resulted in arriving home two days later than expected.
Obviously we had a few bills for wasted taxis, food, hotel etc so contacted Air France on our return. Their response was just like the airport customer service in India, basically not our problem we got you back (eventually). Any recompense needed to be sought from the Indian airline that stopped operating. Never going to happen, E-mails not replied to, so had no where to go as it all happened outside EU
AF customer services were diabolical at the airport and basically turned round and said tough. KLF (AF partners) ended up rescheduling us a flight the next day from Bangalore to Dubai after many, many, E mails. Unfortunately they gave us an impossible connection in Dubai, resulting in a group of us Needing Hotel accommodation for the evening, albeit early hours of the morning. Emirates then rescheduled a flight the next day, but this had an eight hour wait in Amsterdam for connecting flight to Newcastle. All in all a horrendous trip that resulted in arriving home two days later than expected.
Obviously we had a few bills for wasted taxis, food, hotel etc so contacted Air France on our return. Their response was just like the airport customer service in India, basically not our problem we got you back (eventually). Any recompense needed to be sought from the Indian airline that stopped operating. Never going to happen, E-mails not replied to, so had no where to go as it all happened outside EU
tony wright said:
We booked through Air France for a return flight Newcastle to Bangalore. They used different airline carriers and the one used for our return trip from Bangalore to Amsterdam stopped operating, leaving us stuck in India.
AF customer services were diabolical at the airport and basically turned round and said tough. KLF (AF partners) ended up rescheduling us a flight the next day from Bangalore to Dubai after many, many, E mails. Unfortunately they gave us an impossible connection in Dubai, resulting in a group of us Needing Hotel accommodation for the evening, albeit early hours of the morning. Emirates then rescheduled a flight the next day, but this had an eight hour wait in Amsterdam for connecting flight to Newcastle. All in all a horrendous trip that resulted in arriving home two days later than expected.
Obviously we had a few bills for wasted taxis, food, hotel etc so contacted Air France on our return. Their response was just like the airport customer service in India, basically not our problem we got you back (eventually). Any recompense needed to be sought from the Indian airline that stopped operating. Never going to happen, E-mails not replied to, so had no where to go as it all happened outside EU
No idea if it would work, but you could try running it by one of those claims managemrnt companies.AF customer services were diabolical at the airport and basically turned round and said tough. KLF (AF partners) ended up rescheduling us a flight the next day from Bangalore to Dubai after many, many, E mails. Unfortunately they gave us an impossible connection in Dubai, resulting in a group of us Needing Hotel accommodation for the evening, albeit early hours of the morning. Emirates then rescheduled a flight the next day, but this had an eight hour wait in Amsterdam for connecting flight to Newcastle. All in all a horrendous trip that resulted in arriving home two days later than expected.
Obviously we had a few bills for wasted taxis, food, hotel etc so contacted Air France on our return. Their response was just like the airport customer service in India, basically not our problem we got you back (eventually). Any recompense needed to be sought from the Indian airline that stopped operating. Never going to happen, E-mails not replied to, so had no where to go as it all happened outside EU
) and have moved on. Not sure I’ll be flying Air France again though.We recently got delayed for nearly 24 hours in the USA. The airline said the initial issue was an electrical fault caused by a lightning strike (while on the ground).
They claim that the lightning strike was exceptional circumstances so won't pay compensation, but is it reasonable given the near 24 hour delay?
The plane was repaired earlier and used for a different flight, and our new flight wasn't one of their regular timeslots.
The main thing that pisses me off is that I lost a days pay due to the delay.
The
They claim that the lightning strike was exceptional circumstances so won't pay compensation, but is it reasonable given the near 24 hour delay?
The plane was repaired earlier and used for a different flight, and our new flight wasn't one of their regular timeslots.
The main thing that pisses me off is that I lost a days pay due to the delay.
The
tony wright said:
We booked through Air France for a return flight Newcastle to Bangalore. They used different airline carriers and the one used for our return trip from Bangalore to Amsterdam stopped operating, leaving us stuck in India.
AF customer services were diabolical at the airport and basically turned round and said tough. KLF (AF partners) ended up rescheduling us a flight the next day from Bangalore to Dubai after many, many, E mails. Unfortunately they gave us an impossible connection in Dubai, resulting in a group of us Needing Hotel accommodation for the evening, albeit early hours of the morning. Emirates then rescheduled a flight the next day, but this had an eight hour wait in Amsterdam for connecting flight to Newcastle. All in all a horrendous trip that resulted in arriving home two days later than expected.
Obviously we had a few bills for wasted taxis, food, hotel etc so contacted Air France on our return. Their response was just like the airport customer service in India, basically not our problem we got you back (eventually). Any recompense needed to be sought from the Indian airline that stopped operating. Never going to happen, E-mails not replied to, so had no where to go as it all happened outside EU
I may be wrong, but I thought if a flight originates or ends in the EU then the EU rules apply?AF customer services were diabolical at the airport and basically turned round and said tough. KLF (AF partners) ended up rescheduling us a flight the next day from Bangalore to Dubai after many, many, E mails. Unfortunately they gave us an impossible connection in Dubai, resulting in a group of us Needing Hotel accommodation for the evening, albeit early hours of the morning. Emirates then rescheduled a flight the next day, but this had an eight hour wait in Amsterdam for connecting flight to Newcastle. All in all a horrendous trip that resulted in arriving home two days later than expected.
Obviously we had a few bills for wasted taxis, food, hotel etc so contacted Air France on our return. Their response was just like the airport customer service in India, basically not our problem we got you back (eventually). Any recompense needed to be sought from the Indian airline that stopped operating. Never going to happen, E-mails not replied to, so had no where to go as it all happened outside EU
Jaska said:
Original airline is refusing to pay out due to us not boarding the replacement flight, but I can't see any reference to this in the terms of this? On top of that they are also claiming it was 'delayed' not cancelled despite having to fly a totally different plane over for the replacement flight... Anyone had any issues claiming this back?
A similar thing happened to me a few years ago with a sleasy airline. After my familiy's flight was delayed overnight, when returning to the next day, was told the flight would not leave for another 8 hours. So found a flight with another airline that was due to leave within the hour and flew back with them.Contacted the airline, and they paid out the hotel costs and refunded my original flight, but refused to pay any compensation, (which just about covered the cost of the alternate flights). Fortunately I was able to get the CAA to intervene:-
https://www.caa.co.uk/Passengers/Resolving-travel-...
CAA ruled in my favour, and told the airline to pay up, giving me a case reference to quote
Said sleasy Airline were still refusing to pay up, so I then started trolling their social media pages, making sure to include details of the CAA ruling at every opportunity. After a few days of this, they realised their original ruling was in "error", and paid out.
The process took about 6 months from original missed flight to getting paid out, and the airline could not have been more obstructive. I was sorely tempted to give up as the compensation was not worth the effort, but they'd pissed me off, so it was more the principle than anything else.
SS2. said:
PorkInsider said:
Or they've refunded you but won't pay compensation?
If it's the latter I believe that's normal; you don't get compensation if you've had a refund.
Compensation payments are for a passenger's inconvenience. The payments are independent of (and are not affected by) any refund, replacement flight, accommodation or subsistence which may have already been provided by the airline.If it's the latter I believe that's normal; you don't get compensation if you've had a refund.
OP - keep at it, they'll pay up.
MoneySavingExpert Article said:
Can I get both a refund and compensation?
It looks pretty unlikely.
The law around the amount of compensation and delays is based on the time you arrive at your destination, therefore if you opt for a refund instead you technically haven't arrived and so it can be argued you're not entitled to compensation as well.
That said, there have been court cases on this, so far unsuccessful, which suggests there are arguments for you to be owed some kind of compensation. Until there is a definite precedent set you could always ask the airline to pay the equivalent compensation as a goodwill gesture, if you feel you were suitably inconvenienced.
It looks pretty unlikely.
The law around the amount of compensation and delays is based on the time you arrive at your destination, therefore if you opt for a refund instead you technically haven't arrived and so it can be argued you're not entitled to compensation as well.
That said, there have been court cases on this, so far unsuccessful, which suggests there are arguments for you to be owed some kind of compensation. Until there is a definite precedent set you could always ask the airline to pay the equivalent compensation as a goodwill gesture, if you feel you were suitably inconvenienced.
Just to add some more info, they did offer me a refund first but I refused several times and said I want it all in one go, to avoid being told I accepted a refund so can't get compensation - so reading that money-saving article seems like I made a good choice.
Regards to the airport itself, nobody had a clue what to do, it was an utter shambles, only a third of us managed to get into the accomodation they booked, the rest were stranded at 1am in a foreign country in peak season to find their own hotels. Luckily we got into the hotel else I'd be raging about something else too...
The original issue I think is they were trying to claim the flight was delayed not cancelled, despite even the pilot himself using the word cancelled to describe the flight. I guess this means they don't fail some target or other but the airline is describing it as 'overnight delayed' despite needing a different plane, flight code, us having to check in and get new boarding passes etc - if that isn't cancelled then what is!!
For advice, if you're ever in this position, screenshot everything, take photos of the departures board, film everything at the airport if you have to - keep as much additional info as you can because finding it after the fact is impossible...
Regards to the airport itself, nobody had a clue what to do, it was an utter shambles, only a third of us managed to get into the accomodation they booked, the rest were stranded at 1am in a foreign country in peak season to find their own hotels. Luckily we got into the hotel else I'd be raging about something else too...
The original issue I think is they were trying to claim the flight was delayed not cancelled, despite even the pilot himself using the word cancelled to describe the flight. I guess this means they don't fail some target or other but the airline is describing it as 'overnight delayed' despite needing a different plane, flight code, us having to check in and get new boarding passes etc - if that isn't cancelled then what is!!
For advice, if you're ever in this position, screenshot everything, take photos of the departures board, film everything at the airport if you have to - keep as much additional info as you can because finding it after the fact is impossible...
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