Cerebrito

Hello,

Has anyone ever made a successful EU261/2004 claim to LAN for a delayed flight? More than a year ago, I was booked onto LA1733 MAD-GYE (but ticketed by Iberia), and the flight was delayed by just over 7 hours. We were due to arrive at 9:10 PM local time, but we ended up landing at 4:37 AM the next day, and by the time we got to the hotel we had booked it was 6:00 AM. I remember calling them to complain at the time, but I was just fobbed off.

Reading the BA EU261/2004 thread (here: BA EU261/2004 Thread), it seems that I should be due compensation of 600 EUR, and I have up to six years to claim.

Has anyone managed to successfully claim this from LAN? Other airlines like BA, and even RyanAir now seem to have dedicated forms/teams for this. Is there an address or team to contact for LAN? Or will they just ignore anyone who doesn't threaten legal action?

Many Thanks,

C

warakorn

Yes and No!
They will ignore everyone.
They will also ignore these passengers who threaten legal action.
However, they wont ignore letters, which come from a court.
What was the reason for the delay?

The only chance I see is to actually sue LAN in Spanish court.

Cerebrito

I believe they said it was a technical issue with the plane that delayed it on the way into Madrid.

Wow, really?

Cofyknsult

1) You are clearly due the 600 Euro compensation.

2)You can download a compensation request form for the country from which the flight departs (Spain) on a number of websites. Google EU 261/2004 compensation form. The forms come in all languages.

3) You must file your complaint in Spain, by mailing the form to the address provided Some agencies in the US will do it for you but expect to give them between 30 and 50% of the gained amount (in contingency form... nothing gained, nothing paid)).

4) LA knows the rules perfectly and also that they do not have a leg to stand on. By demuring and dragging their feet, they successfully discourage 75% of the claimers or more. Be firm and you will end up among the winners. I have done it about 5 times in the past 10 years with various airlines (THAI and AEROFLOT were the worst), and have NEVER failed.

Good Luck ! Expect the whole thing to take 6 months from the date of filing. Also, you will be due compensation in real money. Not a voucher for future use. Do NOT accept a voucher, as the airline can demure later on applying it and there is nothing you can do about that once you have accepted. On the other hand, once it has been ordered to pay compensation, the airline incurs a stiff fine if it does not comply promptly.

Cofyknsult

Suing LAN in a just any Spanish court won't work. Your ONLY route is as I outlined above, downloading the form and mailing it to the address mentioned on the form.

Cerebrito

Thanks for the info, I think I'm going to give it a try and see what happens.

Zorro

I claimed in Frankfurt for three tickets to Madrid (3x€250). They ignored everything, including court orders, never defended themselves.

After 6 months we obtained an execution order to embargo a plane at Frankfurt airport, they have no bank accounts in Germany.

LAN found the cash for the bailiff (by now well into the 1500€ due to costs) when he showed up at the airport. In the meantime there was a call from a Spanish lawyer in Madrid promising to pay, which did not happen.

Amazing, I guess you can claim in Germany and they won´t defend the claim as the have no real operations there.

bingocallerb22

Fascinating. Did you think it was incompetence or a deliberate ignore policy?

Zorro

Probably a combination of both. Deliberate ignore policy, when they can´t any longer and should deal with it, it became incompetence. Escalate to Madrid, forget about it and go crazy when a plane might get embargoed.

My lawyer suspects they think its easier and cheaper for them not to involve their own lawyers (external) in Germany and pay up whenever it goes too far.

YMMV

Cerebrito

Well, back in January I passed on the details to refund.me. I had completely forgotten about it, and never really expected to be paid anything, but last week I was contacted by refund.me asking for bank details so they could pay me.

Refund.me take quite a fee (25% fee = 150 EUR + 20% German VAT for a total fee of 180 EUR), leaving me with 420 EUR compensation, but I don't think I would have got anywhere on my own.