Pocket Guide

A question about : Pocket Guide

I wonder if there is a handy pocket guide, as per MSE's Sale of Goods Act/Consumer Rights doodah, that can be taken on flights, with all the Compensation due permutations neatly laid out, including relevant excerpts from Reg 261/2004?
Might be useful when dealing with airline staff in letting them know what their actual obligations are.
And to pass on, via bluetooth/whatsapp etc to other beleagured, suffering passengers. This might also persuade the airline into doing something more positive and proactive in reducing delay, rather than the usual brush off/its not our problem attitude?
A sequel to Vauban's excellent guide?

Best answers:

• I am sure the CAA would love to produce such a guide given that 'the uk passengers are at the heart of everything we do'.
• When in a cancellation, long delay situation I found it's best to be persuasive with the staff to get you on alternative flights to get you home and that includes having knowledge about other nearby airports that the airline operates from, by having this I saved being stuck for an additional 24 hours away from home.
• Monarch Complaints FB Page have one, maybe adapt this ....
  https://www.facebook.com/notes/monar...94962227331834
• I could do a google app with all the information if it would be worthwhile? Including Vaubans guide with his permission
• Reading the Monarch page and the reg 261/2004, am I correct in understanding that a flight delayed for more than 5 hours you are due both a full refund AND compensation? Or am I reading that wrong?
• Only if you choose not to take the flight.
• I digress, but it would appear that if you are are delayed 5hours+, on a multileg journey, you can get both refund of unused leg (presumably including your return flight), compensation AND are entitled to a return flight to your point of origin?
  Obviously, this will affect very few people, except possibly, business flights for one day meetings.
  A "permutations matrix" could be extremely tricky...
• OK, I have modified the Monarch FB page as a pamphlet/pocket guide, text shown below.
  Any suggestions for additions, modifications, glaring ommisions etc?
  Regulation 261/04 makes provision for compensation in the event of cancellation, denied boarding or delays. This includes:
  - in the event of long delays (two hours or more, depending on the distance of the flight), passengers must in every case be offered free meals and refreshments plus two free telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails;
  - if the time of departure is deferred until the next day, passengers must also be offered hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the place of accommodation;
  - when the delay is five hours or longer, passengers may opt for reimbursement of the full cost of the ticket together with, when relevant, a return flight to the first point of departure.
  In a ruling in 2009, the European Court of Justice amended the interpretation of Regulation (EC) 261/2004 regarding flight delays, to
  include additional cash compensation similar to flight cancellations if the delay is three hours or longer at the destination. This is for 250, 400 or 600 Euros depending on the length of the flight. Only if your flight is over 3500km and you arrive between 3-4 hours late is the airline allowed to reduce compensation from 600 to 300 Euros.
  Infants and children paying a publicly available air fare (even if reduced) are entitled to claim the full amount of compensation.
  However, if the airline can prove that the delay was caused by 'extraordinary circumstances' it does not have to pay this additional compensation.
  'Extraordinary circumstances' are events like weather that directly affects your flight, or Air Traffic Control decisions. British and European courts have ruled that technical problems are very unlikely to constitute 'extraordinary circumstances'.
  Insert a matrix for claim amounts?
  Insert a section about obligations for re-routing (often ignored or lacking)?
  AT AIRPORT
• Take photographs of the departure boards.
• Speak to fellow passengers and obtain email addresses; try to establish at least one point of contact as coordinator for subsequent claims.
• Take photographs of any disturbances.
• Record times when information was provided.
• Keep any letters of explanation provided to you; if an explanatory letter is not provided, try and establish from ground staff the reason for the delay
• Ensure you are provided with meals or refreshments (or equivalent vouchers) and if you have any expenditure (alcohol not included) keep copies of your receipts.
• If delayed overnight, ensure adequate hotel accommodation (including transport to and from) is provided - keep a record of where you stayed and receipts if not provided by Monarch directly.
• Ensure you are offered two 'phone calls, telex or fax messages or emails.

DURING FLIGHT

• Establish the registration and type of plane and if not a plane of the airline you booked with, find out the carrier
• Speak to the air crew to see if they know the reasons why your flight was delayed - it may be they have a different 'story' to the handling agents
• Record the departure and landing time of your flight. The landing time is particularly important as it is this time when compared with the scheduled arrival time that determines your delay period.
• The landing time is regarded as the time the doors open, NOT touchdown. This is law.
• Put boarding cards and any other flight information somewhere safe; you will be asked for them when you claim.

POST FLIGHT

• If you have had a particularly long delay or there are other 'unusual' circumstances you may wish to contact our https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...play.php?f=251
  as a concerted effort may well produce a speedier resolution
• Contact fellow passengers (probably by email) and inform them you are going to submit a compensation claim to the airline.
• Advise airline by email that you require claim forms for your flight - you should keep this email factual and to the point. If you wish to raise other matters (such as lack of food, sub standard accommodation etc) these should be a separate email and sent to customer.relations
• Ensure you keep copies of all your emails or other correspondence and if sending boarding cards etc to airline, only ever send copies
• You may now have to wait 28 days for reply from Airline however if no reply from Airlein after 28 days keep pestering them as they have had long enough at that stage to consider your claim.

NEXT ACTION

• It is highly likely you will receive a rejection of your claim from Airline. Airlines where they normally state 'extraordinary circumstances' caused your
  delay so you now have 3 alternatives
• Walk away and forget it;
• Send a "Notice befoe Action" letter (restating your claim details and a 14 day limit) then Submit a small claims court application to take the Airline to court; or
• Appoint a no win no fee firm of solicitors to handle your claim
• If you walk away you are allowing the Airline to 'get away with it' and as such they will continue with their shoddy substandard service to their customers.
• If you front a claim yourself the results can be rewarding both financially and personally however tenacity, patience and a fair degree of research are required. There is a set procedure to adopt and this must be adhered to but there is plenty of help around and you realise the satisfaction of a 100% reward to make up for the lack of respect the airline showed you when you were stuck at an airport for hours on end.
• If you appoint a no win no fee you may only achieve around 73% of your actual entitlement. No win no fee means exactly that - if the solicitor doesn't win it doesn't cost you however if he does he will take around 27% of your award. The plus side is you just complete his initial easy to fill in form then sit back and wait. Often the solicitor will have claimed for others on your Airline flight (if you use a reputable firm) and the procedure will be second nature to him.

FINALLY

• Just two points to bear in mind - flight costs and safety. Critics of the Regulation have said that flight costs will increase due to the Airline having to pay out delay claims: independent assessments have suggested that if everybody claimed (and the vast majority do not) the average flight cost would only increase by € 1 - 2.50. Comments have also been made that, in order to get away on time, flight safety may be compromised.
  This is scaremongering: Airlines and their pilots are responsible to the CAA and we are confident that they would not permit a plane to fly with known safety shortcomings.
• Looks good to me JP
• JP,
  Concise and pocket sized.
  Looks the mutts nuts to me.
  Now where have I heard that before....?!