28 hour International Flight delay.. Compensation? Result.

CPTM

Hi all, I booked a 3 part flight under a single booking reference. I thought I'd summarise the below in case the detail is unnecessary.

Summary: I took an international flight with Avianca, total price of the ticket was 5000 Euro, the 3 leg trip was delayed because of a technical fault. In total I didn't reach my final airport destination until 28.5 hours after the original timetable. Would compensation ever get given out in scenarios like this?


First leg with British airways, no problems.

Then I was handed over to Avianca Airline:

Second leg from London was delayed by 18.5 hours. After two hours waiting to board, we were sent to a hotel for the night in London. The flight was delayed until the following day 17:30.

Next day comes, we get on the flight to Bogota. When we arrive in Bogota, we find out our connecting flight has been rescheduled to the first available flight next day, also with Avianca. There's nobody around to discuss this with. Eventually an Avianca person floating around immigration sorts us with hotel voucher for the night. So everyone is sent to a Bogota hotel. The hotel isn't ready, takes 2 hours to get the 40-50 people checked in. (I'm travelling solo, but they're all in the same boat).

So here I am, in Bogota hotel, wondering whether to sleep or stay up since I need to be in the airport in a few hours anyways for my final leg.

If the final leg goes ahead, it will be a 28 hour change. I've paid 5,000 Euro for the ticket. Do situations like this ever receive compensation?

mel.b

Firstly, how / why on earth did you pay €5000 for those flights (unless you are flying in Business class?) Seems to be ridiculously expensive.

Have a look here at citizens information http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/air_travel/compensation_for_overbooked_and_delayed_flights.html

Seems you might be entitled to €600 compensation

CPTM

mel.b wrote:

Firstly, how / why on earth did you pay €5000 for those flights (unless you are flying in Business class?) Seems to be ridiculously expensive.

mel.b wrote:

Have a look here at citizens information

Wow Mel.b, thank you so much for this link. I had no idea there'd be this type of information on that site. It's so detailed, even going into previous cases and the ruling the courts gave.

Yep it was business class which helped along the way - I'd love to say I could afford that but it was on the company card! I'm not even sure who would get the compensation money.. I'll need to iron that out with HR. Anyways thanks again, big help

Fred Swanson

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bittihuduga

eu regulation 261 compensation is paid to passenger. as mentioned above, 600 euros will be paid back. first apply for compensation with airlines. if they dont pay after few email exchanges, then you may have to goto small court.

be sure and hold onto your boarding cards

CPTM

Thanks very much everyone. I really appreciate it.

endacl

Slightly over €20 an hour for hanging about. Nice little bonus!

st1903

I used flight-delayed.co.uk a few years ago to handle this. The airline paid out straight away after the first letter from these guys. At the time though it was a flat fee of 30 pounds for the service, but looks like now they're charging 25% of any refund which is steep if the airline pays out right away. But they handle everything, including legal proceedings if it goes that far. Might be worth considering if you don't get anywhere with the airline yourself.

Fred Swanson

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CPTM

Hi all, just thought I'd close the loop with my experience. They offered me a 300 dollar voucher for their airline. I refused saying that I won't be in south America anytime soon. They came back asking for my account details saying that they will send 600 euro to my account. I had to fill in some forms, but I just got the money there today. It's been a couple of months of work but worth it in the end.

Fred Swanson

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