Monarch Airlines Volcanic Ash Refunds

A question about : Monarch Airlines Volcanic Ash Refunds

Hi all,

if anybody is still having problems getting a full refund from Monarch Airlines for expenses covered under Right of Care following the Volcanic Ash Cloud, then please let me know. I had some friends who were caught in this, and we have now got a FULL refund, including the costs of hotels abroad at full rate, the cost of a hotel in the UK at full rate, the cost of a coach ticket up from london to manchester, and incidental expenses of Ј30 i claimed for to cover extra's, such as telephone calls etc.

I dont want all my friends details going public, so if you PM me, i'll give you the details, and possibly 2 direct contacts you could take it up with.

Cheers guys.

Best answers:

• Hi,
  After months of communications with Monarch airlines they finally sent me a cheque for a shameful Ј238, after 6 nights stranded that didn't even cover the hotel??!!
  Please advise on what steps you took to reclaim what we should be entitled to.
  Thank you in anticipation
• Sandypan, I must admit, mine took a while, however i eventually managed to get all the costs back for my friends after persisting.
  I will send you a PM, as i do not wish to publicise my friends details. it should be with you in the next half hour or so, as i will need to get the details from my e-mail account.
  Regards.
• Sandypan,
  PM sent, can you please advise if recieved.
  Regards
• Hi,
  Thank you very much for the information yes I did fill in two claim forms, sent them by registered post after they lost the first one!!!!
  This site is amazing, when we were stuck in the first place they were the only ones offering us any information about our rights and what to do. I will email these people straight away - here's hoping.
  Thanks again
• Hi,
  Emailed the two people you mentioned, had automated response to the first which said she was out of office until next week and had this from the other today!!
  Thank you for your message below.
  We have not changed our policy with regard to the benchmark limit to accommodation and subsistence claims and we applied this to the booking you mention below.
  I regret any confusion and you may wish to seek clarification from the people to whom you refer.
  I am sorry your own claim was not resolved to your satisfaction.
  Yours sincerely
• Hi sandypan,
  I agree, Monarch still being 'shoddy' on payouts. I thought you must have contacted them as i too had an e-mail from Keith advising that my friends claim only being paid out in full due to returning to a different airport than origibnally booked - even though when the original claim went in and they were paid out initially, it stated that they would not pay out part, however when pressed they finally agreed.
  All i can suggest is to keep on pushing, and if i come up with any further info i will advise.
  Regards
  HXDave
• Have emailed the other email address you gave me and had automated response saying she was out of the office until Tuesday so let's see what happens after then!!
  Did you threaten Monarch with the small claims court to finally get them to pay up? I have read on this site of others who have done that successfully but not Monarch - yet!!??
• Sandypan, it appears my claim was slightly different. Intially they only paid out about half the claim, as the other half was related to a hotel in the UK and coach travel back, however this was because they eventually got a flight to Luton instead of Manchester. It appears it is for this reason they have paid out my claim in full, and not actually increased the limits.
  However i do have a few more irons in the fire, and if i hear anything further, i will let you know.
  As far as the small claims court goes, i've not yet heard of anyone going down this route with Monarch. Would be good to hear if they do and if they win, as that would set an immeadiate precident.
  HXDave
• I will be going down the Small Claims route with Monarch, it's in hand and I have already sent them a letter before action ages ago. Many thanks for your earlier pm, Dave, I may ask for more details if my solicitor can't easily resolve this...but if I instruct the person I am thinking of then rest assured he is pretty experienced in the small matter of Airline law.
  Progress a bit slow right now though as I am using my legal cover from my house insurance policy to pay for a Solicitor and they want me to exhaust the section75 possibility with my credit card provider first. Christmas then got in the way somewhat and they (DAS) won't pay for the solicitor until I have jumped through their stupid hoops.
  Two steps forward, one step back but will get there in the end. Let us know what happens with the email please Sandypan!
• coupon mad, i have, if it helps, written confirmation from Monarch that flight numbers ZBXXX & ZB9XXX (where the flight number just had a 9 inserted in front) were indeed the same flights, and that it was due to a 'system error' that people who had re-booked on a ZB9xxx flight were effectively 'denied boarding', thus effectively due compensation under EU261/2004 Article 4 - Denied Boarding. Not sure what documentaiion you have following your discussions withMonarch, but if i can help, please feel free to ask.
  as for my friends claim, then after checking down various avenues, then the only course of action i have is with the NEB of spain, where the incident took place. they are the only official people who can handle this, without going through the legal process, and thus incurring additional expenses. unless - coupon mad, your friend will also act on my behalf FOC, using the info that i have been able to obtain from Monarch.......... he he he.
• Had another rejection from Monarch today, don't know what avenue to take now!!!!!???? Please money savers any suggestions??
  "Christine has returned to the office today and has passed on your e mail message below. We are writing to confirm we received this.
  Your message is the same as that sent to me and to which I have already replied. We applied the same benchmarks to the claim under reference Ј*&@$ as we applied to yours and I regret you seem to have been misinformed.
  Once again I am sorry your claim has not been resolved to your satisfaction."
• Received latest letter back from Monarch this week this time from Geoff Atkinson (Group Lawyer) I quote:-
  "In response to any legal action Monarch would accept that it is subject to the provisions of Regulation EC261/2004. However, as to the extent of liability thereunder Monarch says that the purpose of the care provisions set out at article 9 of the regulation was to eliminate the shameful spectacle of delayed passengers on EU flights huddled on the concrete floors and plastic seats of airports around the world. This being so the legislators cannot have intended that carriers be required to fund other than an adequate minimum to achieve the said purpose. This argument is supported by paragraph (13) of the Preamble to the Regulation, the text in the AUC Information pack and the said guidelines (notably 13-16) copies of which are annexed hereto.
  I calculate that your total expenditure on 26 meals is Ј480.50 which averages at Ј18.48 per person per meal most, if not all, being taken in restaurants. This may be reasonable as holiday expenditure but from 15.04.10 this was not the case and much cheaper food options should have been chosen.
  There is no justifiaction for increasing the sum of Ј283.60 already paid. To do so would be unfair to all those who have accepted payments calculated on the same basis.
  What he fails to understand is that it certainly wasn't a holiday, I needed to be home to be back at work and looking after my 14 year old niece who lives with me!!! However I was stuck in the Costa del Sol at Easter in a bed and breakfast hotel with no cheaper options available. He doesn't even mention the cost of the hotel which was Ј80 per night and they ar only offering me Ј8!!!!
  I work full time in a very stressful job and need advice about what to do next. If it is to go down the small claims court route I am prepared to do it but need support and advice. Please help me beat this airline from what robbing what is due to me and many others.
• Thanks City boy, you are right, I know what I need to do so that they don't beat me but the thought of going through the paperwork of a court case after being at work all day fills me with dread.
  I am going to do it though, you say I can do it online?
  Do I need to notify Monarch of my intention to proceed?
  Thanks again for everybodies support on this site
• Hi Dave
  Glad to see here is someone else who will not roll over... The Ј20 ppp day was an insult. We asked them where at that time of utter chaos they thought we could get that price, but there was no reply. We referred our claim to the CAA who posted it on to Spain under whose auspices this comes apparently. Nothing from there either. We feel that court action is the only thing they will understand, We have been offered only half of our fully receipted and very reasonable extra costs for a week, with no drinks, lunches or any extras (such as the significant internet and phone charges to try and get some sense out of Monarch). Monarch as good as abandoned us in Tenerife and left us to our own devices. To then say after several months of delay that we should just accept their paltry offer shows complete disdain for the principles of good customer relations, so I guess we will see them in court...
  Anything else I can do?
• John DW Parsons,
  Good luck in fighting Monarch through the small claims courts. I know of 2 / 3 people from here who have persisted, and won. Personally, i think the main person to target is Geoff Atkinson, Group Lawyer. I went through normal channels to start off with and they dismisse the claim (this was for denied boarding). after going through Geoff Atkinson, and virtually lodging a claim in the small claims court, they agreed my friends were denied boarding and paid up. As far as the expenses under Right Of Care, again i got all the money back for my friends (ok, was not much, but more than what they offered before). I think this was to try appease me and hope that i wouldn't take the case further, however it didn't work.
  Cityboy is **** hot on this, and hopefully he'll come along and give some advice. One other thing is to check your household insurance to see if you have legal cover. I know people have used that to save money.
  Keep us updated.
  Regards
  HXDave
  [EDIT]
  If going through small claims court, 2 things are essential:
  1. To have given monarch reasonable chance to rectify the situation (which i presume you have already done).
  2. Send a 'Final Letter Before Action' to Monarch, giving them a period of time in which to resolve your dispute amicably (7 or 14 days is usually sufficient), or you will take legal proceedings.
  Just as a quick note, i wrote myself to the spanish CAA in january 2011 complaining about Monarch. Monarch settled about march time, however just recently (early june) i finally got an acknowledgement from the spanish CAA saying thanks for registering the complain. Seems they have 2 speeds - SLOW & STOP!. dont expect anything from then in the very near future..... lol