Originally Posted by
kasuupo
Hi,
Could somebody give me some guidance on how to claim the compensation from Air Berlin in the correct way ? I already posted a claim of 600 per person via their customer queries on their webpages but should I have done this by attaching the official EU 261/2004 document filled in ?
Our family of 4 were on a flight from Berlin to Miami on March 8th. Somewhere above UK, the captain said we had to return to Germany because of technical problems in the plane. We ended finally in Munich and they re-routed us (after queing 4.5 hours at the AB counter at the airport for rebooking) for the following day with Lufthansa via Frankfurt to Miami. We arrived 24 hours later than scheduled. They kept telling us at the airport that we can claim compensation for this but nobody really told us how.
Anyway - so I send the request for compensation via their website but just want to make sure I didn't miss the essential - the official EU claim paper. Is that needed ? I assume they get all the details of our flight based on the bookingnumber etc. though. How long do you expect it to take before any response from Air Berlin? I got an confirmation by email that they have received my message but that of course was just an automated message.
Thank you in advance for your comments and help!
Wlecome to Flyertalk!
Contacting AB via the regular communication channels (e.g. website contact form) is sufficient, no need to attach documents etc.
Personally IŽd send them another e-mail after ~6 weeks giving them a deadline to respond within 14 business days or similar.
If they do not come through (IŽd be surprised if they did) IŽd hand over the case to one of the specialized law firms, as suggested above.
The commission rate typically is 15%-25% with no risk involved for you, which is quite reasonable IMO. IŽve had good success with EUclaim.com, but other law firms probably are just as good.