Compensation for flight cancellation

zagmund

Does anyone have specifics in getting cancelled flight compensation out of EI? Their website isn't exactly overflowing with clear information.

This page - http://www.aerlingus.com/Corporate/LEGALCANCELLATION.pdf - says under certain conditions you *are* (not "may be") entitled to compensation for cancelled flights. It says to contact the customer relations department with complaints or queries, but it doesn't say how to actually claim the compensation. This form - http://www.aerlingus.com/help/help/forms/customerrelationsform/ - is the nearest I could find, so it has duly been filled out and sent on to them.

Here's the background - Mrs Zag was due to be on an EI flight which was cancelled yesterday. She turned up at the airport, checked in, went to the gate, boarded and then the flight was cancelled.

In fairness to EI they arranged a hotel for the night and put on an extra flight this AM, so all in all the delay was only ~12 hours. In the grand scheme of things it went pretty smoothly.

I checked the DAA website last night and the inbound flight to Dublin was showing as cancelled, not delayed. The new flight this morning was just showing as due at whatever o'clock and not as being delayed from the night before. In short, the flight was cancelled and a new flight arranged.

I'm not a big one for the compensation culture, but equally I'm not one to turn up my nose at €500 (there were two people travelling) in compensation which the EU tells me she is due the money.

Is that customer relations form the best avenue, and does anyone have any indication of how long it takes to process? In this case there's not a lot to consider - the flight was booked, Mrs Zag was due to be on it, it was cancelled. Short of "extraordinary circumstances" she should be entitled to the compensation. And they better not pull the "a broken bit is an extraordinary circumstance" or I'll have to write a stern letter to someone. Under that logic there is never a delay in ordinary circumstances. A herd of polar bear on the runway - I'll call that extraordinary. A broken plane - not so much.

So, short version - what's the best way to go about getting the compensation?

z

zagmund

Thanks to a post from barnabybear on another thread, I found this more official looking document on an EU website - http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/air/doc/complain_form/eu_complaint_form_en.pdf.

It has the looks of an informal form rather than an official EU one as it's missing all sorts of references, dates, version information, etc.

The weird thing is that it's 7 pages long, when it just needs to be 1 page long and say something like "I was booked on flight <x> from <a> to <b> on <a date>. The flight was cancelled. I am due compensation under the terms of (EC) 261/2004. Please sent it to my account at the Bank of Zag.

A number of the questions look like the sort of thing that the stattos in the EU might be interested in but have no apparent bearing on your entitlement to compensation - especially since this form isn't being filed with the EU, or even the Aviation Regulator. It's going to the airline that *already knows* they cancelled your flight, and *already knows* how long it was for, etc . . . I would be wary that answering some of the questions might give them some sort of get out clause.

Has anyone ever filed one of these EU forms and made progress with it?

z

barnabybear

zagmund wrote: »

Thanks to a post from barnabybear on another thread, I found this more official looking document on an EU website - http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/air/doc/complain_form/eu_complaint_form_en.pdf.

It has the looks of an informal form rather than an official EU one as it's missing all sorts of references, dates, version information, etc.

The weird thing is that it's 7 pages long, when it just needs to be 1 page long and say something like "I was booked on flight <x> from <a> to <b> on <a date>. The flight was cancelled. I am due compensation under the terms of (EC) 261/2004. Please sent it to my account at the Bank of Zag.

A number of the questions look like the sort of thing that the stattos in the EU might be interested in but have no apparent bearing on your entitlement to compensation - especially since this form isn't being filed with the EU, or even the Aviation Regulator. It's going to the airline that *already knows* they cancelled your flight, and *already knows* how long it was for, etc . . . I would be wary that answering some of the questions might give them some sort of get out clause.

Has anyone ever filed one of these EU forms and made progress with it?

Yes, I used that form and it worked. Don't worry about the length: most of the pages are only applicable for certain kinds of delay, cancellation, etc. I sent it (by mail) to the Easyjet customer relations department and received email from them a few days later. In case anyone has forgotten the exact length of their flight's delay, this website is useful.

Jamie2k9

Your flight wasn't cancelled, the flight was rescheduled and operated this morning. The Dublin Airport website hasn't anything to do with it even though it says cancelled. If the their is a very long delay into the following day, the system will overwrite last night flights as the same data will appear for the rescheduled one this morning.

The Aer Lingus link you posted is clear and it states what you get, was the rescheduled/cancelled flight EI's fault or was it weather, ATC etc related. If the latter you will get nothing.

You file the issue with EI, details on their website.

File this form with them.
http://www.aerlingus.com/help/help/forms/customerrelationsform/

It will take a while for them to respond.

zagmund

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Your flight wasn't cancelled, the flight was rescheduled and operated this morning. The Dublin Airport website hasn't anything to do with it even though it says cancelled. If the their is a very long delay into the following day, the system will overwrite last night flights as the same data will appear for the rescheduled one this morning.

The Aer Lingus link you posted is clear and it states what you get, was the rescheduled/cancelled flight EI's fault or was it weather, ATC etc related. If the latter you will get nothing.

It is clear and does state what you will get, but it doesn't state how to go about getting it. This is the relevant part - "If you have any queries or complaints about your rights in the case of flight cancellation, please contact our customer relations department" - what I'm trying to do here is assert my rights, not query them. It may sound like semantics, and it is, but you can be sure that EI didn't just lash down any old words on the form, they phrased it specifically this way for a reason.

Hopefully they will get back shortly with a reference or some other information.

In this particular case, the reported cause was "something broken on the plane", so it's not weather, ATC or other external factors.

z

Jamie2k9

You need to fill out that form and they will give you a case number and process it. If you want more details contact them on facebook or twitter and they will assist you.

redtelephone

Go to the Regulator if you're not happy with the airline's response.

http://www.aviationreg.ie/air-passenger-rights/complaint-procedure.508.html

zagmund

Still working on it. The airline said "it's extraordinary, we're not going to pay", so I asked them again and they said it again. The Irish regulator said it didn't depart from Ireland, so they have helpfully passed it on to the relevant regulator and I hope to hear back shortly.

z