I don't understand what you are asking to be compensated for. They got you there as soon as they could. You might be entitled to a voucher for refreshments but I don't think you'll get anything else.

Bridd is right..You`ve no chance....

More important in my opinion is why you feel you should be compensated.

You state the delay was around an hour. On a transatlantic flight even if you had taken off on time you were cutting it fairly close. Headwinds or a delay in the baggage claim area could just as easily caused you to miss your connection.

There are various reasons why you could claim compensation but this is not one of them.

They may, as a gesture of goodwill, recompense you for a meal, but it is goodwill.

fwh

I agree with fwh and the rest.

On some routes within Europe during the summer season

we were delayed by an hour and 10 minutes

might be considered an early arrival!

Sorry SandLake, but yours was an unrealistic schedule.

Peter

I do accept what you say - and it is a shot in the dark, but the airline chose to delay our flight and we did end up 8 hours late getting home, granted it all started from a 1 hour delay. After flying during the night all I wanted was to spend the day at Manchester airport, the other nearly 400 passengers just got off in Manchester and went home, I had to hang around for a further 7 hours to get my next flight home. If it had been a weather or ATC delay then fine, beyond the airlines control but this was entirely caused by the airline.

Even if you landed on time, it takes up to 40 mins to get your bag, then you have to make it to check in and check in which would have closed! No chance.
Some airlines advise if you want to go on holiday using connections then advise you to leave 3 hrs in between connections, even then they wouldn't compensate you. You only get help really if booked all connecting with same airline, and all they would do then is transfer you free.

Good luck anyway!

It was all booked on Expedia and all the flights were on one ticket - the connection was legal, the airline made the decision to help out the other passengers (commendable) at the expense of one (actually it was half a dozen) of the existing passengers.

Not sure what compensation you are after either. I agree with bridd and fwh. I think you will just have to put this down to one of life's experiences and move on.

I recently missed a flight back to the UK and was delayed by 5 hours. I had to fly from Rome to Munich and then onwards to Manchester. The delay was due to the incoming flight to Rome.
I was returning from a cruise and there were several passengers who had an onward flight to the US.
Where people had a possibilityof making their flight they were met at the Aircraft and taken by bus right to the boarding gate.
They then told me that I would not make the flight and there were a good few others as well.
As I require met and assist I was taken to the check in desk and they did everything for me.
I was then taken to a room which had a reception area and told that I would stay there until boarding time for my flight. It was 5 hours but to me I would get there when I got there. I saw little point in complaining as it these circumstances occur.
I had comfortable chairs TV tea and coffee facilities and even a sofa bed. I was very impressed and I even had a sleep as my flight was at around 11pm. I was also given a food vouched for a meal.
I had a taxi ordered to pick me up in Manchester to take me to Harrogate and my daughter contacted the taxi company. I arrived home at around 1am.
I saw no need to complain or to ask for compensation. I had lost nothing and I was very impressed with Lufthana!

Sue

I have been delayed on a few occasions and have just accepted it, what makes this situation different was that the aircraft was ready to depart on time - all the passengers were boarded and the captain then made an announcement that we were going to wait about 30 minutes for the transfer of passengers from another flight, that 30 minutes became 70 minutes, so in this situation the airline took the decision to delay the flight, that decision carried with it consequences and I beleive that I am a victim of those consequences.
I think that the airline should make some recompense for that, I am actually disappointed that they didn't offer something (above and beyond refreshments) without having to be asked. I'm not looking for the crown jewels but at this point I would want something more than a bunch of flowers, compensation takes many forms and not all of them are financial!
If it had been beyond the control of the airline (which they have tried to say it was) I wouldn't have asked but it was entirely within their control. They didn't even have the decency to tell me prior to boarding - I had a friend who drove 120 miles to pick me up and he was almost there by the time we landed on Manchester, he just turned around and drove 120 miles home and we got public transport.

But is this really the fault of the Airline itself? You mention a "technical problem" with an aircraft in this saga? Well, these things do happen I am afraid, they are just some of the 'pitfalls' of travelling by air. However, I am quite sure you would not have wanted to have boarded an aircraft that was not airworthy.

At the end of the day it is entirely up to the Captain of the aircraft if he wants to delay the departure of his aircraft for which he would need a very good reason to do, (assuming of course that ATC has not had to enforce a delay for whatever reason) and that is not a decision he would make 'off the cuff' as there could be serious consequences involved not only for his Career, but for his Airline Company.

Not only that but every minute his aircraft is on the ground it is not generating Income for the Airline. Airlines only make money when their aircraft are 33.000 feet or so up in the air, and not parked on the ground at an Airport Boarding Gate. Not to mention the fact that by opting to delay the departure of his aircraft, he will have to wait for the next available departure slot, and that could be a few minutes, or several hours away.

And then he would have to take into consideration the 'flying hours' of his Flight and Cabin Crew. Delaying the aircraft might take them over their permitted hours, and that would mean delaying the aircraft even further while a replacement Crew was found, both to fly the aircraft and to look after the passengers.

I'm just wondering if you have been told the entire story here
I'm very sorry you were inconvienienced on this occasion, and that this is not what you want to hear, but I do have to agree with what other HT Members have said, this being that I do not believe you have a valid cause for complaint on this occasion. But by all means pursue it if you think it is worth the effort.

Have a read of THIS *Sticky* Thread and go from there. You may receive a small 'Gesture of Goodwill' token of some sort, but to be quite honest, I would not hold your breath on this one.

The important phrase in my opening post was "one of its other flights had a technical problem". My flight was boarded and ready to depart - the aircraft was fully servicable - on time.

It was not a decision made by the Captain, it was a company decision to facilitate passengers on an entirely seperate Gatwick flight.

If an aircraft didn't park at a boarding gate once in a while it would mean flying around empty - not producing much revenue!

Last time I checked for a single sector, flying duty period was in the region of 11 hours (that was before JAR OPS came into being) so an 8 hour flight would allow at least a 2 hour delay before crew hours became an issue and even then there are ways around that.

Sandlake

I read your first post

we were delayed by an hour and 10 minutes which was the time we had to make our connection so we missed our connection.
They did rebook us but we ended up spending the day at Manchester and got home 8 hours late.

I have (chanced my arm) and asked for compensation which they are still mulling over

Just the tone of your first post, you say that you "chanced your arm" which to me suggests that you know that you are not being realistic here.

Youve received many posts saying that this is the case. There was very little time for maneouvour (spelling!) between your connections, and unfortnately sometimes things happen to delay flights!

Yet when you get this advice from other members, you dont seem to be taking it on board. Your stance seems to have changed from "I know I dont really have a case but Im chancing my arm" to
"I should get compensation because of X Y or Z.

Give it a go if you feel you have a case, but I think you are being a bit cheeky if you do.

I would again ask the question - Why do you think your should be compensated?

Based on the information you have given us your transfer time was "Very Limited"

I often read here on HT, as well as other sites, that people are claiming compensation.

What often seems to be forgotten in many of these cases is "Duty of Care" and that is on the part of the person who is claiming to be aggrieved.

Any journey, by whatever means, can be subject to unexpected delays. The weather last week is a prime example. How many people missed flights, connections or appointments that had been booked many months ago? Should they be compensated?

As I said in my previous post, headwinds or a delay in baggage reclaim could just as have easily prevented you from making your connection.

Whilst I accept that there are occasions when compensation is justified, in this case I would suggest that your timetable was unrealistic. It allowed no margin for a delay of any sort.

fwh

Well, I have to say, I am in total agreement with the previous two previous well composed posts.

I'm not against claiming for compensation when that claim is totally justified. But if you feel you are just "chancing your arm", I personally see no justification in pursing a claim for compensation in this case based on the attitude of "oh well, I might as well give it a try, what have I to lose" (which with all due respect is how you are coming across, to me anyway), no matter who decided to delay the flight.

By the way, how do you know it was the Airline and not the Captain who decided to delay the flight? Not that that really matters to be quite honest.

I understand that according to the most recent and up to date Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) rules, Flight Crew who make more than seven flights in any one day must not spend more than nine hours on duty, and the clock starts ticking from the moment they report for a flight and only stops on the completion of post-flight tasks. And Cabin Crew must not spend more then twelve hours on duty in any one day. For Health & Safety reasons these CAA 'rules' must be strictly adhered to and I personally cannot "see a way around them", and indeed I would be very concerned if I was aware that any Aircrew of a flight of which I was a passenger were working in excess of their permitted hours.

And to reiterate, "technical problems", although I believe to be quite rare, do happen, and that is just part and parcel of flying. An aircraft is a mechanical machine afterall, no matter how technically advanced it might be. And sometimes, it can go wrong, or break down just like your own car can.

But the same can be said for any mode of transportation really. Trains can be taken out of service for "technical reasons", and indeed so can ships. Bus and Coach Timetables are produced as a 'guide' only and cannot be gauranteed because road transportation of any kind can be effected by light of heavy traffic and fine or poor weather, and all manner of other things such as roadworks, road closures, and diversions which might cause a delay to your journey.

I know it will take me approximately 70 to 90 minutes to reach Humberside Airport from where I live in Skegness, but I always allow myself twice that amount of time, as anything could delay our journey. A traffic diversion might add another hour on top....what if I had not allowed for that eventuality? I'd probably miss my flight.

As has been mentioned, I do not think enough time was allowed for the transfers involved in this particualr flight. Seventy minutes ("an hour an ten minutes") is no time at all to ensure the smooth connection the flight you transfered from onto your onward flight, so maybe next time you might like to consider allowing yourself an extra hour or two.....as they say...."just in case".

The Captain only has authority over his aircraft, it had to have been the airline who advised him that he needed to delay his flight to accomodate the passengers from another aircraft - beyond the jurisdiction of this aircraft.

Why are you telling me about crew that make 7 flights in one day? Granted crew are only allowed to fly a certain number of hours in a day but they can do a 'split duty' which is a mimimum of 3 hours off either at home or in a hotel - but this can be at the start of the duty period.

Regarding technical problems- not relevant as the aircraft I was flying on didn't have a technical problem - it was the neighbouring aircraft which we were helping out.

I made the booking on Expedia and I assumed (and still do) that they knew what was 'legal'.

In all honesty I expected to get some support and advice from this forum about delayed flights but all I get is a badgering about technical problems, crew hours, minimum connecting times and even bus timetables.

I'll know in future NOT TO BOTHER!

Plenty of advice and opinions have been given - perhaps not want you wanted to hear, but nevertheless advice and opinions

Mark

SandLake wrote:

In all honesty I expected to get some support and advice from this forum about delayed flights but all I get is a badgering about technical problems, crew hours, minimum connecting times and even bus timetables.

But you HAVE received some advice. Lots of advice to be honest. And the 'gist' of this advise from what I have read thus far, is that you are wasting your time basically, by pursing this claim as you are not likely to win your argument.

I myself offered you some good advice. I posted you a Link to a Travel Law Solicitor from whom you could have telephoned for more expert advise, and not advise from other members of the travelling General Public. I can only assume you have chosen to ignore that advice.

I mentioned Flight Crew Hours, and Bus Timetables etc, as a 'comparison'. I see no harm in that. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I have most certainly NOT "badgered" you, and I do not believe that the other HT Members who have replied to your post have either.

Like myself, they have merely offered their humble advise as to what they believe you should do, and this being, to just put it down to an experience you would rather not repeat.

You have certainly been give some good advice, but clearly it is not the 'advice' you want or were expecting to hear. Well, I'm sorry, but thats life basically. We are not Travel Law 'experts' and we can only offer an opinion.

SandLake wrote:

It was not a decision made by the Captain, it was a company decision to facilitate passengers on an entirely seperate Gatwick flight

SandLake wrote:

it had to have been the airline who advised him that he needed to delay his flight

So basically, you do NOT know that it was the Airline who enforced the delay, you are only assuming it was based on your own knowledge of air travel.

In all honesty I expected to get some support and advice from this forum about delayed flights but all I get is a badgering about technical problems, crew hours, minimum connecting times and even bus timetables.

I'll know in future NOT TO BOTHER!

Gosh! Im sure all those who have replied honestly to your first post are REALLY glad they made the effort with that attitude.

You asked for advice on whether you had a case. You said in your first post that you were "chancing your arm"........but asked whether it was worth your while.

The resounding answer to your question was NO.

If you just wanted people to agree with you when we feel you are wrong then perhaps you are right not to bother in future.

And in future I shall answer queries from posters who really do have a complaint, not someone who is trying to get compensation after being delayed for an hour