Hello,
Just returned from a work trip to Tenerife on Sat AM - and the return flight was delayed by 9 hours (at Tenerife S. airport) for 'techinical reasons' (airport rumour was that our plane had a small fire after landing which actually closed the whole airport to incoming flights for 3 hours). The operator (Thomas Cook) flew an
spare 'international rescue' (I kid you not that was their phrase) plane over to pick us all up...
They were actually fairly reasonable, kept people fairly well informed and gave us a ~E6 and E8 voucher for food/drink/beer etc.. whilst waiting. No Ryanair..
However, having looked up the NEW(ish) regulations (and lost most of Sat as arriving so late - as well as being shoe-horned into a tiny seat all the way back) it seems like I may be able to get up to E400 compensation... and more importantly the 34 others in the part may be able to as well.. I quote
"If your flight is delayed for more than three hours, you may be entitled to compensation in line with the table below (E400)- unless the airline can prove that the delay was caused by "extraordinary circumstances" which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken".
"Extraordinary circumstances and Regulation EC261/2004*Regulation EC261/2004 states circumstances under which airlines must pay compensation to their passengers when their flights are disrupted. But it also says that airlines do not have to pay compensation when an event "has been caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken".
The Regulation also gives the following examples of such circumstances:
* political instability
* bad weather
* security risks
* unexpected flight safety shortcomings
* strikes that affect the operation of an air carrier
* air traffic management decisions
One of the most common reasons for delays and cancellations is what airlines call "technical problems". And airlines took the view that technical problems were "unexpected flight safety shortcomings". So they did not pay compensation when disruptions were caused by technical problems.
However, in December 2008, the European Court of Justice made a ruling that, as a general rule, airlines should not refuse to pay compensation when a flight is disrupted due to technical problems. They would only refuse to pay if the problem "stems from events which, by their nature or origin, are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control".
(from
http://www.auc.org.uk/default.aspx?catid=306&pagetype=90&pageid=11011)
Has anyone any experience of doing this and what I might reasonably be able to compensate for? Also (as I mentioned above) it was a trip with 34 others (that I'm partly responsible for) and I think I should chase up whether or not they should also do this?
Thanks,
Tom
