Thanks for the replies, Yes it is different in Belfast as the MOT is still run via Goverment agency's, Not like the mainland where you just phone an MOT into a garage, Here you have to pay the fee at least 3 months prior to your appointment date.

Hi,While on a trip to San Francisco I received an SMS that my flight to heathrow had been cancelled.The message was sent about 3 days before the flight was scheduled but I didnt get it right away because I wasnt using my mobile while in the USA.Anyhow I managed to get on a flight the next day.When I got to UK I went onto the British Airways webpage and filled out the claim form.I got an automatic reply just saying they werent liable due to "Extraordinary circumstances".Since then I have been in touch with BA via email they said they were going to send the claim somewhere else EU compensation? who also sent back the same reply.ie "Extraordinary circumstances".I had travel insurance who wouldnt pay out until they knew from BA the reason for the cancellation.I just received a letter from my insurance saying that BA's reason for cancellation was staff shortage which is about the only thing my insurance doesnt cover.I fail to see how being shortstaffed (and knowing 3 days in advance)is "Extraordinary circumstances" for an airline as big as BA.according to the law they should pay me my hotel and extra expenses costs and min 600Euros for the delay,at least thats what their website says.They sent me some vouchers which can only be used to buy something from their onflight HiLife magazine.It was 85 pounds and some of the vouchers are only valid till next month and I have no intention of flying with BA again unless they sort out this to my satisfaction.

bmi cancelled a flight from Gatwick to Aberdeen and I tried to claim, but it was rejected due to "extraordinary circumstances". In this case it was a technical fault and that was enough to get them out of compensating us.

luci

I was on a Hk-Lon-SanFran-Lon-HK trip and my flight was cancelled on the Sf-Lon leg so I had to pay for hotel+ As I now have it in writing(for the first time.The airline has never admitted anything to me apart from "Exceptional Circumstances) that it was staff shortage I really think thet I have a good case considering that they knew about it 3 days in advance?

Are you able to 'keep' an SMS message as this could be used as proof of their 3 day awarness?

Hi,Yes,I've still got it and I've also got it in an email they sent too.

Not sure if I can claim compensation. Had a flight booked to 8.45 Cardiff to Edinburgh with Flybe, checked in on line, turned up at airport. Initially flight was showing as OK, then delayed and finally cancelled. The reason for cancellation was given as operational reasons. Went back down to check in desk, where I was given a £5 pound refreshment voucher, and was then booked on the 13.15 flight to Glasgow. I did mention the EU directives re delay and cancellation but was given no help with it.(the delay meant a half day loss of pay to me).

Rang the EU hotline and recieved some help via that, but unsure whether its worth persuing a claim or not. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Your case depends on what those operational reasons were. It's a term that covers a multitude of sins.

rainbow11 - I'd guess you have a marginal case for compensation. It's perfectly possible to know about it 3 days in advance and be unable to do anything about it - or at least anything that doesn't have even worse side effects.

You do have a case for hotel expenses though - they should have arranged this at the time. Did they not - or did you not ask for it? Basically you were entitled to be looked after during the delay - extraordinary circumstances don't enter into this part of the argument.

hi I am new to your site and would like to know compensation for delays I have written the following letter to the travel company could someone please advise if this letter is ok for me to send just to clarify we were delay by 28hr in total sheduled Departur from manacheste should have been 09.15(local time) on the 6th August with sheduled arrival in Las Vegas at 12.10 (local time) on the 6th August our atual Departure was 13:22 (local time) on the 7th August with Estimated Arrival Las Vegas 15.10 (local time) Actual time of Arrival after being Diverted to Palm Springs was 19.30 local.

Dear Sir/Madame

I am writing to complain about the my holiday to Las Vegas this was a holiday that was booked in October 2007 in preparation for my sons wedding that was taking place in Vegas, the whole holiday was spoilt because of the delay to the flight from Manchester which as you can see from the enclosed information we were given by your staff, from start to finish I felt the information that was given to us throughout the day was insufficient and in adequate, and to be kept on an aircraft for 3 hours before being taken off the plane then not given an further information from anyone other that the people on the information desk telling us that further information would be give at certain times of the day that we did not receive until at 4 o'clock when we were told that we would not be travelling to Las Vegas until the following day.

The right to this compensation is determined in EU Regulation (EC) No.261/204 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as stated in Article 6 and 7 there is also a matter that in Article 14 of the Act no information was handed to the passengers stating there rights, particularly with regard to compensation.

As I am sure you are aware many people arrived at Manchester Airport early on the day of the original Departure to book-in for the flight we arrived at 5:00am which made it an extremely long day to be hanging around an airport, this Holiday Cost £1600 pound for myself and my husband and to have lost two day of this is not acceptable. We were travelling to Vegas for our sons wedding, I had a fitting for my outfit for the wedding on the Wednesday which had to be cancelled and rearranged for the Thursday which then had to be cancelled again as we did not arrive until late on the Thursday evening after being diverted to Palm Springs because of McCarran Airport being closed which caused a further 2 ½ hour delay to the journey. I had to call from my mobile phone to American which also cost me money as well as my calling my son to tell him that we had been delayed, which also caused him distress thinking that we would not be there for the wedding and feel that Thomas Cook should reimburse passengers for part loss of the holiday, you may say that we were put up in Hotels and give food but I would have preferred to be in my Hotel in Las Vegas than sitting looking at Manchester Airport from a hotel not the scenery that I wanted.

I am not the best person when it comes to flying as I suffer from panic attacks I fly because I wish to see the world but do have to take tablet to keep me calm in order that I can fly this did not help on this occasion as I had a panic attack and was taken of the plane onto the gantry by the cabin crew, this was caused because of being kept on a plane for 3hrs going no where.


I hope to hear from you by return post with an enclosed cheque.

Hi and welcome to HT!

If Thomas Cook provided overnight accommodation and meals then they have complied with the regulations. See THIS TOPIC for further information.

If you still intend writing to them, I would suggest reading your letter again and adding some more punctuation, such as full stops, to make it easier to read.

luci

Thank you luci for the prompt reply to my post I will re look at the letter, as I will be sending it to the airline. I think that dispite the fact we were given accommodation and meals we lost 2 day of a holiday and should be compensated.
Once again thank you

I'm a bit confused here - I can appreciate that it must have been really upsetting having to deal with the consequences of arriving 28 hrs later than you planned for but I can't work out how this resulted in you losing 2 days of your holiday? Also, as your departure was also delayed by approx 28 hrs this suggests that the diversion to Palm Springs didn't actually add to the length of journey.

I think that if you want the TO to respond you have to stick to the objective facts, avoid being over emotional in the way you write it and focus in on the things that were within the TOs control. For example,

1) It was your choice to arrive at check-in 4 hours before the flight. They are unlikely to take into account the time you arrived at the airport so early.

2) Did it really spoil the whole holiday? You still arrived in time to have the final fitting for your wedding outfit (and personally I think that you were always cutting it close arranging a fitting for the afternoon of your arrival day from a transatlantic flight). You presumably did still arrive in time for the wedding too?

3) I know from first hand experience that panic attacks are awful but the TO is likely to say that despite knowing that this is a problem you still choose to fly and that they cannot be held responsible for the fact that you had an attack. Delays can and do happen and if they precipitate an attack then that is something that you have to bear in mind when booking.

To the best of my knowledge you are going to find it difficult to get any more compensation out of them other than for the loss of one day of your holiday because the flight was delayed rather than cancelled (though you should check this detail first) and they provided you with accommodation etc. You might have been entitled to canel and recieve a refund instead but presumably the most important thing was to get there for your son's wedding which I'm assuming from your letter that you did?

SM

Passenger groups hail ‘historic' airline delay compensation ruling

Consumer groups have hailed as ‘historic' a European decision to requiring airlines to compensate travellers for long flight delays.

The ruling will require airlines in the European Union to compensate victims of mass delays for which they are responsible.

Passengers who are forced to wait three hours or more will be compensated 600 euros, the same as if their flight had been cancelled, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg decided yesterday.

Airlines will be required not to cancel a flight unless it fits strict criteria set down in the new law.

The ruling stated: "Passengers on a flight which is cancelled at short notice have a right to compensation, even when they are re-routed by the airline on another flight, if they lose three hours or more in relation to the duration originally planned."

The judges said that a technical problem with an aircraft could not be regarded as an "extraordinary circumstance", unless the problem stemmed 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".

The ruling came in a judgment clarifying a five-year-old EU regulation which grants flat-rate compensation for cancelled flights of between 250 euros and 600 euros (£223 to £535).

The judges said that regulation did not expressly provide that passengers whose flights are delayed also have such a right.

They were dealing with cases referred from German and Austrian courts in which passengers claimed compensation after facing delays.

Rochelle Turner from Which? Holiday said: "This is great news for air passengers.

"We hear all too often of people who are delayed for hours at the airport, often without any information about when their flight will finally leave, and are then offered no compensation.

"This judgment means that consumers will now be compensated properly for long and often frustrating delays, and not just when the airline takes the decision to cancel a flight."

Global airline passenger consumer group Flyersrights.org president Kate Hanni described the decision as "an important step forward in creating a legal acknowledgment that the rights of victims, abused and ignored by the big airlines for far too long, will be given priority over the bloodless corporations that have simply taken it for granted that they engage in any behaviour, no matter how injurious it is to consumers, without fearing repercussion".

She added: "Imagine being stuffed like a sardine in a hot metal tube, without working toilets, food or water or access to medicines for over three hours, with no rights?"

Hendrik Noorderhaven of EU Claim, FlyersRights.org European counterpart, said: "This is a historic decision for airline passengers in the EU, and in particular, any passengers travelling to the EU who suffer through anything greater than a three hour delay.

"They will now be reimbursed for this suffering with cash."

*What are passengers currently entitled to?

* Two free phone calls, faxes or e-mails; and
* free meals and refreshments appropriate to the delay
* free hotel accommodation and hotel transfers if an overnight stay is required
* If the delay lasts for five hours or more, you can choose not to travel and get a refund of your ticket cost.


When you're entitled to it:

* When a flight under 932 miles (for example, London to Venice) is delayed for more than two hours.
* When a flight within the EU that is more than 932 miles (for example, London to Athens) is delayed for more than 3 hours.
* When a flight that isn't within the EU but is between 932 and 2,174 miles is delayed by more than 3 hours.
* When any other flight is delayed for more than four hours.

(Source Which? Holiday)

With permission from Travelmole

Just a quick question re delays. We were delayed 14.28 on our return from Goa, we were supposed to leave the hotel at around 4am, our rep advised us that the flight wasn't delayed, but that they expected to make better time so we could have an hours lie in. An hour later we received another note telling us the flight was "further" delayed, and then another hour later we recieved a note telling us it was delayed again. We were told to vacate our rooms by 10am and they took us to a hotel near the airport. We had lunch there, and were then informed that the flight was delayed again and were given the option to stay there or move to another hotel. We moved to another hotel, had our evening meal and were then picked up to go to the airport. As stated, the delay was 14.28 - we were advised that this was due to a hostess not having the correct visa, she had had to return to England and a new one brought to India. Also, because of the delay, we were given a 25 rps chocolate bar and a cup of tea for our breakfast - we were told that they had had "normal" breakfasts but they'd spoilt because of the delay.

We were given letters confirming this and 2 telephone numbers were noted on the letter, one was unobtainable, the other, to Thomson Holidays, adivsed us we needed to speak to our insurance provider as it was nothing to do with them. We were covered with Flexi Cover, Gold, I telephoned them today and was informed that unless the delay was caused by technical difficulties or weather we weren't covered. I've looked through the small print and can't find anything re this, although I must admit my eyes aren't what they used to be so I may well be missing something!

Am I being fobbed off?
Do I need to go back to my tour operator?

Many thanks in advance

Nicky

under travel insurance are you covered for out of hours. we had a 15 1/2 hour delay coming back from Zante due to the cabin crew being out of flying hours, the replacement crew was delayed due to the greek traffic controllors industrail action.

I think you should be covered. We had a 3 day delay years ago in Menorca when the taxi's went on strike (think it was the taxi's ) anyway we sucessfully claimed against our insurance.

The ECJ has today upheld its previous ruling granting compensation to passengers whose flights are delayed by 3 hours or more and the reasons for which are not due to "extraordinary circumstances".

No surprises really as this decision had long been predicted.

In case you missed it, they were talking about the new european ruling and court cases on WatchDog.

The person they were atlking to regarding the above was from the caa, Civil Aviation Authority, and he gave a link to their page:

http://www.caa.co.uk/homepage.aspx?catid=1759

Some very good information on here.