Flight Delays – Worth Trying to Get Compensation?

[Deeloveskaya]

We had a flight delay on our last trip that threw off our entire
holiday schedule. I’ve heard mixed reviews about trying to get
compensation, and I’m wondering if it’s worth the effort? Has anyone here successfully claimed for a delayed flight? I’d love to hear how the process went for you—did it take forever, or was it relatively easy?

Just claim yourself….our Ryanair flight landed 3hrs 10 mins late in Spain…so we were eligible to claim….we did it on the website ……the money was in our account within 48 hours…..the Ryanair staff told us how to apply before we landed…it was simple

Certain airlines don't accept claims through resolver including Jet2

On what basis can they not accept a legitimate legal claim?

I didn't say that. I said they refuse to work with Resolver.

They can refuse to do so on the basis that they have their own direct complaints procedure that they can insist you use if you wish to complain.

Jet2, Emirates, SAS, Swiss, TAP among others.

Resolver is a free service from Money Saving Expert.

I used it for a flight delay from Gibraltar and got back more in EU compensation than I paid for the entire trip. I paid to have the house painted!

You don’t need to use middle man. Airlines should have form on website. If they don’t respond for 8 weeks or reject then you can apply to the Civil Aviation Authority who will investigate and require them to pay you if liable.

There is a clause in their terms and conditions, to which you agree when you buy the flight, which says that passengers must claim directly from the airline in the first instance. They are not refusing to accept the claim, they are refusing to accept the claim via a claims agency or other intermediary. This approach has been approved by the English courts, it is entirely legitimate.

Britush Airways subscribe to the CEDR claims resolution service. If you are not happy with their response you can take it to CEDR at no cost to be decided by an independent adjudicator.

Not all airlines have signed up to such an Alternative Dispute Resplution service but there was a consultation last year which concluded that doing so should become mandatory. It remains to be seen whether the legislation will be put forward by the current government but it is fairly uncontroversial.

For information about how to claim I recommend going to the website of the UK Civil Aviation authority, which has lots of practical information and explains how liability works. As regulator, they have said they will be looking closely at ensuring airlines comply with their obligations to pay compensation where due.

All that Resolver does is give you a template to complete - so you do claim direct with the airline.

@Deeloveskaya airlines only have to pay compensation if the delay or cancellation was something they could not control, the legal test is whether or not the delay/cancellation was caused by “extraordinary circumstances”. There was a Supreme Court judgment a few months ago -Lipton v BA Cityflyer- which looked in depth at the case law which defines what are, and are not, extraordinary circumstances. You can Google it for more details.

It is possible that your previous claims related to delays caused by extraordinary circumstances.

I have no knowledge of Resolver or what what Jet 2 have said about dealing with them, was just confirming that the policy of only accepting direct claims is legally sound. Perhaps the issue is that the online claims form does not allow a letter to be uploaded so people cannot use a Resolver template.

I've not flown with Jet2 so I don't have a copy of their T&Cs. Would depend on the wording.
If it says you have to claim directly, then using Resolver would cover that requirement. If it specifies you have to use their own claim form for compensation (separate to additional expense claims) I would be surprised if that would hold up if raised with the Ombudsman.

There is no Ombudsman for aviation consumer claims. Do you mean the CAA?

@flipent you can not use the resolver template to submit a claim on certain airlines no matter how much you think you can.

Unless you know better than the airlines and Martin Lewis himself?

"I would be surprised if that would hold up if raised with the Ombudsman"

What Ombudsman? There isn't one

Happy to accept that I misspoke and Ombudsman was the wrong term. Should have been CCA .

I absolutely do not know better that Martin Money Saving expert! Was querying why it gets rejected when it's a template that you send directly.

Because they have a system of their own which you're required to use if you want their complaints department to process it.

There's nothing wrong with that. Resolver is just a tool which fits the complaint process for most airlines, it's an aid not a legal right.

You’ve got 6 years to claim.

If you’re not getting any compensation from BA then it means the flight wasn’t eligible
not necessarily. I've had several claims initially denied, but they discovered I was eligible if I persisted and provided evidence that I know their excuse is BS.
Also went to AirHelp with one claim where KLM was very stubborn and kept lying to my face. Got my money.

I wouldn't really see any advantage to using the Resolver template when claiming from Ryanair when I claimed recently. From memory I only had to answer about three questions and give bank details for the refund to be paid into. They already have all your booking details on their own system.

Compensation for flight delays and cancellations - compensair.tp.st/xnJWfa2Y Our flight was delayed overnight and the employees were saying they couldn't refund us so we went with Compensair and got a massive refund, more than we were expecting.

I've successfully claimed once when my easyJet flight was delayed for 4 hours. Got back more than the cost of my flight. Last year, my Ryanair flight was cancelled because of the nationwide glitch in the air traffic control system - I didn't even bother seeing if I could get compensation for that flight as this was vey much beyond their control. Now thinking perhaps I should submitted a claim anyway...

Successful claim against Austria Airlines for a 4 hour delay. Received almost £100 more in compensation than the flight costs.

Very easy, used a template from Martin Lewis. Took a couple of weeks.

No, it was indeed “extraordinary circumstances” (officially deemed as such by the regulator) so no compensation payable by any airlines.

No compensation available but the airlines did pick up the bill for things like hotel accommodation, meals and other expenses that resulted from the system failure.

Last I heard NATS (the Air Traffic Service providers involved) won’t comp the airlines and I believe Ryanair may well be taking the issue to court.

Yes, that is because the “care and assistance” obligation under UK 261 does not fall away when there are extraordinary circumstances. Cost the airlines a huge amount when the Icelandic volcano erupted, for example.