Cancelled flight compensation, as per EU rules.

milltown

Briefly, a group of 18 of us were flying from Gatwick to Orlando this summer, having descended on Gatwick from Dublin and Cambridge. Virgin Atlantic flight was due to leave at 1pm on Saturday but after waiting around watching the departures board, we were eventually told at about 2pm that the plane had a problem and wouldn't be flying that day. After being given the runaround in the airport we were finally loaded on a bus to a hotel until the following day to finally fly out at 4pm.

I'll spare the ineptitude of how the situation was dealt with but the official story we were given was that an oil leak was found which grounded our plane and the spare plane had been struck by lightning.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/content/dam/VAA/Documents/Travel%20Information/EU-claims.pdf

As expected, our initial letters for compensation were rebuffed, saying that this was exceptional circumstances and therefore not covered. A bit of digging on the web reveals that they have been through the courts at least twice, and lost, over almost identical circumstances. It seems that the Virgin MO is to reject these claims again and again and hope that people get bored and give up, so the legal route seems the only option.

The question is, would buying our flight tickets from American Holidays here give jurisdiction to the Irish Small Claims Court? Or will we need to pursue this through the UK courts?

I'd be interested to hear about any large groups proceeding with a class action type claim in similar circumstances.

tricky D

milltown wrote: »

As expected, our initial letters for compensation were rebuffed, saying that this was exceptional circumstances and therefore not covered. A bit of digging on the web reveals that they have been through the courts at least twice, and lost, over almost identical circumstances. It seems that the Virgin MO is to reject these claims again and again and hope that people get bored and give up, so the legal route seems the only option.

Not just Virgin. I'm getting the run around by British Airways over delayed luggage.

zagmund

And Aer Lingus with a delayed flight.

The whole compensation thing seems to be a bit of a laugh for the airlines. I've been reading up on bits & pieces and it looks like "the EU" is still trying to work out how to get this to work 9 years after the regulations were introduced.

I can't find the document at the moment, but there was a draft document issued in the last 12 months where they attempted to put strict definitions in place - this would at least help. However, it's still draft so can't be relied upon when making a claim. I'll see if I can dig it up.

The whole thing is a mess. If I'm delayed somewhere I don't care whether it's because the pilot had a dodgy curry the night before, there was dirt in the fuel, the plane struck birds, etc . . . . 10 hours delay is 10 hours delay is 10 hours delay. It's mad that you ought to be compensated for one type of delay but not the other.

I'm not saying that we should all just get free money, but if there is legislation & regulation providing for compensation then the least they should do is abide by it.

In my books the airline should have to declare a delay as being within scope or not. No grey area. No need for each of 150 passengers to contact the airline and make their case. If people want to challenge it being out of scope then let the aviation authority review the details and make a judgement and be done with it. It's madness that it's up to each customer individually to make the claim, fight the fight, etc . . .

z

whitebriar

You might be better bringing your jurisdiction question to the legal issues forum,op.
Persist though.
I'm aware of a case similar to yours during the summer with BA where several hundred euro's in statutory compensation was eventually applied.
Claiming mechanical or safety issues,as I understand it, does not negate responsibility and I suggest you read up in and quote the relevant sections in all correspondence.