The Lemon Fool

A couple of months ago, my flight - from the (EU) airline's home airport/base - was cancelled. When I spoke to the airline call centre, I asked why. The agent made smalltalk explaining that she was looking it up and then specifically told me it was due to an aircraft malfunction. I was rebooked on a flight that would have got me there >3hrs later than planned.

Unfortunately my rebooked flight was also cancelled and rebooked, but I accept that that was due to bad weather in Europe as it affected loads of flights that day. So my booking ended up a right mess, with 3 different flight numbers and seats etc. (Airline met all their customer care obligations in that regard.)

I therefore submitted a claim for the first flight under EU Regulation 261/2004 (€250).
The airline has refused the claim twice, saying that the flight was cancelled due to weather.

I then requested a copy of the call recording and asked that they confirm that they were denying that I had been told it was an aircraft issue.
Their response then changed to not mentioning the weather, just that they don't release call recordings as they are commercially sensitive blah blah.
I have all my boarding passes, receipts, call records etc.

I feel the call recording will be unequivocal and proof that the first flight aircraft malfunctioned. The weather only happened later.
But of course they have the only proof of this.

Would you bother with a small claim for this? It would pay for the whole ticket, phone costs and a bit for the sheer hassle, so not to be sniffed at.

Sats

Sats,

To be honest I wouldn't bother. Life's too short. They too have a business to run. Live & let live.

(I am flying almost every week by the way, always down at the back)

My only exception would be if it was Ryanair. But then again I only fly Ryanair if there is really no choice at all, and certainly haven't done so for a few years. But if it was Ryanair I'd have posted the letter by now.

regards, dspp

If it is Ryan Air, I'd sue, just to cause the tight gits problems.

It would cost them more in legal fees to defend than to settle out of court, so they'd probably fold.
Though they might muck you about a bit to try and mess with your head, but you being the small guy, the court would most likely favour you.

Slarti

It's not Ryanair (thank god I am nowhere near anywhere they fly from so I won't have to be in that position!)

I think what annoyed me was them making up the weather excuse, and only changing their tune after i asked for the call recording (which makes me think they listened to it!)

....But not that annoyed that I did anything about it then, or till today when i found the pile of boarding passes under a book!

Satsuma wrote:I then requested a copy of the call recording and asked that they confirm that they were denying that I had been told it was an aircraft issue.
Their response then changed to not mentioning the weather, just that they don't release call recordings as they are commercially sensitive blah blah.

That's tosh. A recording of or about you is personal data and you have a right of access to it. You can put in a Subject Access Request asking for it and any and all other personal data they hold on you or relating to or about you. https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-of-access/.

A good idea would be to give the ICO a call and chat it over with them first, they might give you some hints on the best approach. https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/helpline/

Satsuma wrote:A couple of months ago, my flight - from the (EU) airline's home airport/base - was cancelled. When I spoke to the airline call centre, I asked why. The agent made smalltalk explaining that she was looking it up and then specifically told me it was due to an aircraft malfunction. I was rebooked on a flight that would have got me there >3hrs later than planned.

Unfortunately my rebooked flight was also cancelled and rebooked, but I accept that that was due to bad weather in Europe as it affected loads of flights that day. So my booking ended up a right mess, with 3 different flight numbers and seats etc. (Airline met all their customer care obligations in that regard.)

I therefore submitted a claim for the first flight under EU Regulation 261/2004 (€250).
The airline has refused the claim twice, saying that the flight was cancelled due to weather.

I then requested a copy of the call recording and asked that they confirm that they were denying that I had been told it was an aircraft issue.
Their response then changed to not mentioning the weather, just that they don't release call recordings as they are commercially sensitive blah blah.
I have all my boarding passes, receipts, call records etc.

I feel the call recording will be unequivocal and proof that the first flight aircraft malfunctioned. The weather only happened later.
But of course they have the only proof of this.

Would you bother with a small claim for this? It would pay for the whole ticket, phone costs and a bit for the sheer hassle, so not to be sniffed at.

Sats

Most of the airlines are signed up for mediation nowadays I thought. I had excellent results by taking a flight to CEDR. They promptly paid out in full for a flight that they were claiming was delayed due to bad weather (600 euro). Which airline were you with?

https://www.cedr.com/

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/aviation/ ... s-covered/

I know someone who recently had success with mediation in a case that sounds almost identical to yours. Give that a try.

You can't let airlines get away with taking the mick, otherwise they will try it on all the time.

It turns out this airline offer free Subject Access Requests, so I have sent off a request for the audio of my first call.
If they return that, then I will think more strongly about further action.

If not, I'll probably let it go as it's just my word against theirs, and I don't especially need extra hassle in my life right now.

It was a few months ago so they may just say they don't keep records that long anyway. Especially those which don't benefit them...