Force Majeure - Flight Cancellation excuse

[RudeDog]

Hi,

I recently had a flight from London to San Francisco cancelled with United Airlines. They moved me on to a different flight later in the day but at the airport they provided me with a compensation claim form and advised that I would receive cash compensation for the deal under European Regulation EC261.

This morning, I've received a letter claiming that although they advised compensation was due at the time, they are now stating that the delay was unavoidable because it was a mechanical fault and all routine preventative maintenance had been performed on the aircraft, therefore the cancellation is deemed force majeure and compensation is not due.

I don't think a mechanical fault can be classed as force majeure can it? Any suggestions on the wording of my letter in response.

This affects 4 people in our group and we were advised that we would be due €600 each so its worth sending a letter.

Thanks

RD

[RudeDog]

eldar said:

How long were you delayed?

We were moved on to a flight that was scheduled to take off 3hrs 40mins later but was also delayed about an hour so all in all we had just under 5hrs delay.

I don't think this is relevant to their decision to pay or not though. My understanding is that the length of the delay only affects the value of the payout.

[RudeDog]

Mattt said:

One could argue that their maintenance schedules are therefore wrong.

This was my initial thought. Force Majeure is usually described as an "Act of God" when you look up the meaning (e.g. Hurricane, Tidal Wave, Earthquake, etc). now I have an issue with the term "Act of God" but that's not really important here, the fact of the matter is, its supposed to be something that is completely out of the control of the carrier. An unforeseen mechanical failure of one plane could have been dealt with by sending a different plane if they couldn't resolve the issue. This might be a costly resolution for United but its something that would be well within their control/abilities.

They haven't explained what the fault, just that it didn't get picked up by routine maintenance.

[RudeDog]

eldar said:

So that would be compensation of £110/person/hour. That does seem rather generous, £180k for a fairly fully booked plane.

Is your expectation realistic?

Very realistic as set out by the EU Passenger Rights guidelines:

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passen...

More than 3500km and more than 4hours delayed.

I don't make the rules but thats what they are (I agree it seems excessive)

[RudeDog]

I have drafted a letter to the CAA's Passenger Complaints department asking them for guidance. I'll scan in the letter and send it off to them expressing my dissatisfaction with United Airline's response. Further updates will be posted when I receive a response.

[RudeDog]

swerni said:

Simon Brooks said:

RudeDog said:

Mattt said:

One could argue that their maintenance schedules are therefore wrong.

This was my initial thought. Force Majeure is usually described as an "Act of God" when you look up the meaning (e.g. Hurricane, Tidal Wave, Earthquake, etc). now I have an issue with the term "Act of God" but that's not really important here, the fact of the matter is, its supposed to be something that is completely out of the control of the carrier. An unforeseen mechanical failure of one plane could have been dealt with by sending a different plane if they couldn't resolve the issue. This might be a costly resolution for United but its something that would be well within their control/abilities.

They haven't explained what the fault, just that it didn't get picked up by routine maintenance.

Act of god ............. Issue a lawsuit against the pope, he's the most senior representative

Err, that's a bit of an assumption

I agree, he is only the most senior representative of one of the cults.