Claimng compensation for a delayed flight

[malumbu]

I'm about to make a claim following a five hour delay from a small airport in France. The airport was not up to the job and hence we were transferred to a better airport about an hour away. The airline is one of the main budget ones, and I expect them to argue that the delay was outside of their control (weather). My argument is that a five hour delay was totally unreasonable and the there should be plans in place to shift passengers quickly and smoothly in such situations.

Without having a pop at the airline (that uses Stansted as a hub), it would be great to hear of other's experiences.

Also whether it is OK to also claim from my insuarance (a free policy from my bank, I wouldn't usually bother with short haul).

Thanks in advance.

[Alan Medic]

I helped my son make a claim a couple of years ago. I don't remember the specifics but I did it via the EU regulations which covered it. I believe we got the maximum compensation of 5-600 Euros. Look it up. It took a bit of effort but had a satisfying conclusion.

[Mrs Pacifier]

I have just recently received compensation for my claim on our delayed flight. It is worth forwarding a claim form than wondering if you are owed or not. Use the citizen advise website to get a valid form if the airline doesn't provide their own. Best of luck.

[malumbu]

Civil Aviation Authority provides good advice and a template. The airline will riggle out of it and it would be good to know if anyone has been successful in such a situation.

[Alan Medic]

I thought I said I was?

[Cardelia]

If you want to claim for a weather-related delay under Article 7 of EC261 then I expect that you will be unsuccessful. Most airlines will (justifiably) say that the weather is outside of their control and thus does not fall under the scope of EC261. If you wanted to press the issue it's likely you would have to take your case to MCOL (small claims court, essentially) where you would need a very convincing argument as to why bad weather would not constitute "extraordinary circumstances" which are outside of the airline's control. However, each case should be examined on its own merits and if you can argue that the delay should have been mitigated by better planning on the part of the airline, you might just get the airline to back down.

Before submitting a claim it would be worth looking on the Flyertalk forum, specifically the subforum which deals with the airline in question. You may find that your specific circumstances have occurred before and someone else has already tried to do what you want to do. I wish you luck if you do decide to submit a claim.

One final thing to be aware of is to ask for the right amount of compensation. It's not clear what your exact route was, but assuming it was under 1500 km then the maximum you can claim for is ?250 per person for a delay of greater than 2 hours. Stansted to any airport in mainland France will fall into this category.

[peckham_ryu]

It took me nearly a year to get compensation out of BA for a flight delayed by six hours.

The compensation paid for most of the air fare to my subsequent holiday. Totally worth it. I Followed the advice on moneysavingexpert.com

Complaints departments often have a policy of 'rejecting' complaints first time around, but if you stick to your guns you'll get there.