Airline delays :Montreal Convention

mobpd

Hi
Has anyone ever claimed for financial compensation from an airline for costs incurred following delay? I read that the Montreal Convention provides for this - if was the airline's fault.

My parents in law flew with Aer Lingus from Madrid to dublin last Sept - there was a > 5 hour delay. They were given food voucher and phone call in Madrid Airport - but the flight landed so late that they couldnt get the bus / train home from Dublin so they wanted to claim the cost of taxi (40 euro). They wrote to Aer Lingus in October and today receved the reply from Customer Service (!)
1.apologising for delay in replying !! (3 months )
2. admitting delay caused by technical fault with plane
3. saying they are not liable

but I read on
http://www.ecic.ie/topics/air_travel.html#delays
that the Montreal Convention should apply.
We will write back to them with a copy of this. I dont hold out much hope though...any one else had any such dealings?

You would want to check when the regulation became operable.
Afaik it was recently challenged in the European court which ruled in favour of it.
It may only be operative from the date of the ruling.

However If I were you I would write back to Aer lingus stating word for word what the accord says, the lenght of the delay and list the cost incurred by your parents and request payment or that the matter will be handed over to your solicitor.

You could deal with it through the small claims court which afaik is fairly cheap and deals with small sums.
I'd imagine in such circumstances your costs would be covered.

FlutterinBantam

Aer Lingus could say they are not responsible for surface transport if they wanted to play hardball....

then again.. maybe not...

secret_squirrel

I would suspect that Aer Lingus would claim that their responsibilty for you ended when they delivered you to your destination. ie Dublin airport.