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Delay over 3 hours (EC Regulation 261/04) - Vueling Airlines Refusing Claim

Delay over 3 hours (EC Regulation 261/04) - Vueling Airlines Refusing Claim

Old May 31, 2016, 8:00 am
  #1  
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Delay over 3 hours (EC Regulation 261/04) - Vueling Airlines Refusing Claim

Hi - hopefully this is the correct place to post this. Was hoping I could get some guidance .

Traveling London Heathrow -> Barcelona on a Vueling flight I was delayed over 4 hours due to operational issues. At the airport the Vueling staff agreed, this fell under EC Regulation 261/2004 and the ruling in the Sturgeon Case and informed me I could submit a claim through the vueling website for 250.

After an initial response from Vueling denying my claim request, I followed up with a second email calling out specifically how I fell under this ruling (e.g. "Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that passengers whose flights are delayed may be treated, for the purposes of the application of the right to compensation, as passengers whose flights are cancelled and they may thus rely on the right to compensation laid down in Article 7 of the regulation where they suffer, on account of a flight delay, a loss of time equal to or in excess of three hours, that is, where they reach their final destination three hours or more after the arrival time originally scheduled by the air carrier.")

I've copied the next response from Vueling below. Is there any truth in this? Are they lying to me? Are there any next steps that I can take?

Thanks in advance for the help!

---

Dear customer,

We contact you again in order to offer you additional information concerning claim.

As requested by you, we would like to inform you that the delay has been caused because of operational reasons.

As regards the above, we must inform you that your claim is based on an interpretation of applicable legislation carried out by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that extends the effects of EC Regulation 261/04 to delays of between 3 and 5 hours. This interpretation goes beyond the scope of the Regulation and gives it a meaning that was never originally intended when it came into force and was enacted by the European Parliament and Commission.

Similarly, we inform you that the validity and legality of the CJEU ruling on which you base your claim is currently under discussion, as it contradicts another ruling from the CJEU stating that the compensation provided for in Article 7 is not applicable in cases of delay. In this regard, you should take note that, while said discussion is taking place, countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany are not applying the ruling, and furthermore, various appeals and preliminary rulings have been made that are pending resolution by the CJEU which has been requested to clarify the definitive scope of the Regulation.

In light of the above, we must inform you that this company cannot issue compensation payments for delays of less than 5 hours until the problems arising from a single interpretation of said Regulation can be resolved given that any compensation paid out would have to be returned in the event that it eventually be established that the compensation provided for under the Regulation for cancellations cannot be extended to delays (and discussion is also taking place on the possibility of applying this retroactively to all amounts paid out to date), with the corresponding damage to your interests.

We would like to apologize again for all the inconveniences this incident has caused you and hope that despite this you will trust VUELING for your future flights.
Flyers27 is offline  
Old May 31, 2016, 8:08 am
  #2  
 
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they have to pay. all airlines will say they don't, the rules don't apply, its extroadinary circumstances. operational procedures are not extraordinary circumsstances, they MUST pay. keep at them.
nmh1204 is offline  
Old May 31, 2016, 8:50 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by nmh1204
they have to pay. all airlines will say they don't, the rules don't apply, its extroadinary circumstances. operational procedures are not extraordinary circumsstances, they MUST pay. keep at them.
+1. OP's case appears to be solid. Fight on!
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Old May 31, 2016, 9:03 am
  #4  
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More thoughts:
-the airline spent ~$125 in order to respond to the OP (I.e. that was not a canned letter)
-pushing that number north of $500 should be easy
-at that point, they will presumably make amends
-if this was a US based case, I would mention SCC (in inconvenient district)
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Old May 31, 2016, 9:38 am
  #5  
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It may have cost them a few Euros to write the form email, but it's a pre-formatted email which is likely sent to all who claim for delays as cancellations from the UK/Germany. Thus, costs close to nothing to send and likely makes most go their merry way.

For whatever reason, OP didn't complete his profile, so we don't know whether he's a resident of the UK, but if he is, this is a fairly simple claim under MCOL. He will need to carefully follow the processes outlined, but they are all outlined and the form for a "letter before action" is supplied. If OP is not a UK resident, he may still use the small claims process, just a bit clunkier.

The carrier is free to respond to the MCOL claim as it has to OP and the matter will then be transferred for a hearing at which a judge may determine whether the ECJ's ruling as to Type 3 flights, applies to Type 1 as well. More likely, it will simply pay up and note that it disagrees with the claim, but is paying to avoid the costs of litigation.

While I happen to be someone who does believes that the ECJ overstepped the intent of EC 261/2004, having done so, I don't believe that it drew a distinction between Type 1, 2 and 3 flights.
Often1 is offline  
Old May 31, 2016, 9:54 am
  #6  
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Thanks everyone for the responses.

I am US based. Could anyone point me in the right direction regarding the small claims process?

On a related note, I will never fly Vueling again. Our flight displayed as "on time" up until the time to board at which point it updated to 3 hours late and we were informed our flight hadn't even left it's origin yet... Annoyed me enough that I'm willing to go through whatever headache to claim the 250.
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Old May 31, 2016, 10:51 am
  #7  
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Welcome to Flyertalk Flyers27
Please continue to follow this discussion as I move the thread to the Other European Airlines Forum.
Thanks.
Obscure2k
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Old May 31, 2016, 12:15 pm
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It will probably be easier for you to use a website such as http://www.euclaim.co.uk/ to claim it, they do obviously take commission for it though.
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