msn

The Condor flight from FRA - YHZ Frankfurt to Halifax had a delay as the airline had to remove the baggage from a passenger who did not board the plane.

After that delay, the flight was cleared for take-off, and was heading down the runway at full speed when ground control realized they had an incoming aircraft!

The pilot did an emergency stop and the fire department hosed down the wheels, which will have to be replaced. The aircraft will be out of service for a few days, and the passengers are to leave on Friday morning instead of Thursday.

Does anyone know how the Regulation 261/2004 applies to this situation? Condor has been useless - no managers have appeared, the passengers were sent to a hotel for the night and given nothing more than disposable toothbrushes and a meal last night.

paul4040

Sounds like an extraordinary circumstance, and therefore not applicable for compensation, unless it's proven that the airline was at fault for any of this.

Condor have acted within the Regulation by providing food, accommodation (and toothbrushes!). Could you elaborate on why they've been "useless"? They seem to have done everything required of them at this point.

Mikity

Were you a passenger on this plane? How did you get all your information??

JY1024

Moving to the Other European Airlines forum for further discussion. Thanks. /JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

msn

Yes. I suppose I could upload some pictures as well.

msn

Well for starters they had no information for the passengers. After getting us off the aircraft and putting us on buses to the terminal, the gate person had no idea what was happening until an announcement was made that we were to go to the hotel. At the hotel 'we would be informed about the flight' but the hotel had no information.

They arranged for a buffet at the hotel - it was cheaper than giving everyone vouchers - but no Condor representatives were present and no information was available to us. I went to the counter in the terminal several times and after two or three trips was able to find out that we had a new take-off time for just after 8 AM on Friday morning.

The only problem is that no one knew this. I spoke to as many of the passengers I could find in the hotel, and we asked the hotel staff to change the signs, which told Condor passengers to come to breakfast at 7 AM the next morning. Obviously, if a plane is leaving just after 8 AM, you need to be at the gate by about 7:30 AM, and with security it is not possible to do all this if you are not ready to go well before the time the hotel gave.

What the hotel did do if to put a message on the guest televisions. The only issue there is that unless guests knew to go into the menu, scroll to hotel, then to messages, and to open the message, they would not see the message.

The night before, the counter agent told me that a Condor representative would meet the guests at breakfast and inform them of their rights in this situation. Of course, he also said we would be supplied with the typical overnight kit, and was surprised to learn there was none. Keep in mind, we did not have our checked baggage all this time as it remained on the original aircraft.

On Friday morning there was no representative and no breakfast of course, and the counter agent said we would be informed at the gate. At the gate we were told there was no manager or supervisor, and that we would get a piece of paper as we boarded. It was a note for employers or others who wanted an official 'excuse' for being late.

One couple made it just in time - they had no idea about the timing of the flight' and another three people apparently missed the flight, but pretty much all of us made it on time as there were more delays, and many applauded when we made it into the air and even more applauded when we landed safely.

All that time, not one official from Condor spoke about the incident or made themselves available, and front-line staff were pretty much told nothing.

That is why Condor was 'useless'.

As to the causation, they already knew the passenger was missing with enough time to remove the baggage, and it is through this delay that the aircraft went through the incident.