flyinghlxman

My flight from LHR to AMS will be delayed about 2Hrs 45 Minutes.
What compensation can I expect according to EU laws?

cfischer

probably nothing. What was the reason? ATC? weather?

JuPe

Meal and refreshment, as well as two phone calls (flight of less than 1500 kms and delay of more than two hours).

TGV

Rules:

EU directive:
http://europa.eu/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/d...en00010007.pdf

And a more user friendly leaflet.
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air/ru...leaflet_en.pdf

Raf

Last time having >2h delay from Amsterdam (due to technical - they replaced on-board computer) I got 30 EUR:-) in voucher + 1000 FB points. Not much, but...

flyinghlxman

The flight was delayed 2Hrs 45 minutes.
We got nothing for that.
As I was wating in the lounge, refreshments and phone card mean nothing to me anyway.
On boarding they handed out the EU regulation leaflet.
I took a taxi to Amsterdam city due to late arrival, as I had to wait for almost 50 minutes for the train. It cost me extra 40 EUR.
Thank you KLM for making me contribute a bit to increase Dutch GNP.

cfischer

50 minute wait for a train in AMS If you have lounge access airlines generally do not give you food vouchers etc. So what was the reason for the delay?

flyinghlxman

The plane took off LHR at 23:10 GMT, and landed in AMS 01:30 CET.
We were told that the reason for the delay was technical one.

Escape

A few days ago i read about an compensation claim site on http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl. Basicly what they do is help you to get your compensation you're entitled to, check; http://www.airclaim.nl/
Unfortunately it's still in Dutch. But I don't think this' a problem, just try contacting them.

frankvb

Hmmmm, they (airclaim.nl) charge you EUR 14.95 for something that you can as well do yourself for the cost of a stamp. The best thing for the OP to do IMHO is send a letter to KLM customer relations and claim the additional taxi cost.

Aviatrix

In my experience KLM in AMS always give out their little book of vouchers, regardless of whether or not the passenger has lounge access.

dked2407

You mean in the plane ? Or at the gate ? Or you need to fight for it ?

I already had such bad experiences in AMS: missed connection to BRU coming back from ALA at 5AM. Had a 20 min connection to a Cityhopper with bus drive ... Of course it was not enough. The lady at the gate was so rude, emphasizing that the "system was saying I had enough time so she wouldn't call another bus" !

Then the next flight was 2 hours later. But unfortunately, due to technical reasons (read: probably not full enough), it was cancelled (this has happened quite a few times to me in AMS, and in AMS only).

So the next flight available to BRU, it was on a Saturday I remember, was at 13h45 ... Approx. 8 hours later ! Nobody came to offer anything, no EU regulations in the plane (it was not the same delayed flight), and no nice compensation from KLM.

The only piece of comfort was that another lady, at the connection desk, understood my situation and spontaneously complained about KLM, and when I stressed it was so frequent lately, she answered a loud: "I understand, even for us it is not funny anymore" !

So, to your opinions, what did I miss ?

Thx

NickB

In terms of automatic entitlement, all you get is refrehsments/food voucher and telephone card.
In addition to that, under the Regulation implementing the Montreal Convention in EU law, carriers are liable for damages resulting from delays up to SDR 4150 (roughtly €4800). However, here, the compensation is not automatic. You need to bring a claim with KLM, identifying the damage you have suffered, suported by evidence (eg: copies of invoice), that can be attributed to the delay. The liability of the carrier in case of delays is presumed but they can exonerate themselves by establishing that they took all reasonable measures to avoid the damage of that it was impossible for them to take such measures.
As to whether your taxi costs can be regarded as a damage resulting from the delay of the plane, this is essentially a matter for Dutch law. I don't know anything about Dutch law but it could be tricky in so far as trains were still running, even though you would have had to wait 50 mins.

cfischer

I would send the invoices/receipts to your local customer relations office, they will usually reimburse your expenses without much questioning. I once had to argue that a delay (and misconnect = hotel stay) was NOT weather related and after a short rebuttal they reimbursed the hotel cost.

sjefenole

About the lounge access / food and soft drink voucher, a way to get it at AMS is to demand a phone call - as they tried to explain that I get free food in the lounge.
You won't get free int'l phone calls from there.
Anyway, should you not want to eat the food - exchange voucher for 2000 FB or WP miles.