On 03/20/2012 09:14 PM, Jake wrote:
Regarding my recent thread on 02/02, a character called 'Martin' provided
some advice by Which, which I followed, and the airline have replied... I
have replaced identifying information with XXXXX, but as it is not really
relevent to understanding the issues, you will get my gist.

****************

"Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting our Customer Relations Department. Please accept
our sincere apology for the inconvenience caused by the delay of your
flight.

With regards to your claim we would like to draw your attention that the
flight XXXXXXX on XX January was departed with a 6-hour and 47-minute delay
due to technical issues (double wheel replacement). This flight delay was an
unpreventable, unforeseeable yet serious technical shortcoming that could
not be detected during the regular maintenance sessions, and required
immediate in-depth assessment and repair.

Furthermore please be informed that our company does not agree to the
concept that passengers with delayed flight should be treated equally with
those whose flight was cancelled, as this is not in any way implied by the
operative EC Regulation 261/2004:

"We agree with two of the three rulings of the judgment of the European
Court of Justice in the joined cases C-402/07 and C-432/07 dated 19 November
2009. The third ruling, according to which passengers whose flights are
delayed more than three hours not caused by extraordinary circumstances
shall be treated as passengers whose flights are cancelled regarding the
compensation, is, according to our view, the misinterpretation of the
Regulation 261/2004, since the Regulation does not suggest it in any way.
The wording of the Regulation reflects the intents of the European
Commission as the legislative body: the compensation set out in Article 7 is
only due to the passengers whose flights are cancelled (if the reason of the
cancellation is not an extraordinary circumstance), and not to passengers
whose flights are delayed - irrespectively of the reason and the length of
the delay."

We would like to inform you that according to the operative EC regulation
and our General Conditions of Carriage, in case of a flight delay we are
willing to reimburse your expenses occured directly due to the delay such as
meals, refreshments and two brief telephone calls can be reimbursed in
reasonable relation to the waiting time upon reception of supplementing
invoices.

As for the additional expenses, we kindly ask you to forward all related
invoices, as an attachment to your reply, so that we can determine a
possible compensation and please send us the further information:

- IBAN
- swift code/BIC
- account holde's name
- full name of the bank
- account currency.

Again, please accept our deepest apologies for the inconvenience and
disappointment caused. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best regards,

XXXXX XXXXX
Customer Relations Department"

*********

I don't have any expenses that I would have kept receipts for, they provided
one £4 voucher per person for the entire duration, and given the airport
prices, this was enough for a coffee and a chocolate bar. I paid a few quid
in cash for food, but didn't keep the receipts. And at the destination late
night taxis when all the city bus transport has stopped running, european
drivers inflating the fare for unfamiliar foreigners to god knows how much
more than we would have paid if travelling by bus.

Still, if 261/2004 says I'm entitled to 400 euro per person, I'd like very
much to get it. We effectively lost a whole day of the holiday, given we
were expecting to land in early afternoon, we ended up at our destination
well after the close of business of everything and had to cancel our plans
for the whole day. There is no direct monetary loss, more like it is the
loss of your holiday time that you can't get back as your itinerary dates
are fixed.

Additional advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.




Unfortunately, it would appear that 261/2004 is worded in such a way
that you are not entitled to compensation.
The text is here -
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...01:0007:EN:PDF

If I read this correctly, the situation is that you were subject to an
unforseeable delay. Under Article 6 it says -
"1. When an operating air carrier reasonably expects a flight to be
delayed beyond its scheduled time of departu . . . "

However, the air carrier apparently did not expect the flight to be
delayed - it was unforseeable.

Then, even if the air carrier did reasonably expect the delay, it
doesn't help you any further, because Article 6 then stipulates that
Articles 8 (reimbursement) or 9 (Right to care) apply.
It looks like you could make a valid claim under 9(1)(c) for the
additional costs involved for the taxi rides to the hotel.

Compensation, in particular the €400 compensation is regulated by a
completely different Article 7 - which only applies in the event of
cancellations, and that is exactly what the airline is saying in their
letter.