Austrian Airline horrible trip.

Old Oct 8, 2015, 10:14 am
  #1  
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Austrian Airline horrible trip.

Hello I had a horrible experience flying with I austian airline
I place a claim and after close to 60 days I got a response They are not taking any action that they are not responsible about anything.
I had a flight from Albania Tirana to Vienna that was canceled.
I was wine with my wife and two kids one of them 16 months old .
They gave us a obligated route from Albania to Munich Munich to London London to New Jersey ... My nine years old son passport was three months before expire and we couldn't go to London they denied is the boarding for London .
After five hours of waiting at passenger assistance they placed us for the next morning into a flight from Munich to New Jersey .
Like I said I place a claim and they answered me (Since the cancellation of the flight was caused by unusual circumstances which could not be prevented although all feasible measures were taken, in this particular case we consider it possible to exonerate ourselves from liability in accordance with the stipulations of Article 5 Paragraph 3 of European Union Regulation 261/2004.)
Does anyone had similar experience to deny reimbursement for the problems caused by a cancellation?
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 12:02 pm
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[redacted]

Because he is quoting a response from the airline ("and they answered me"), albeit doing so without quotation marks.

Last edited by oliver2002; Oct 8, 2015 at 2:29 pm Reason: redacted quote of deleted OT personal comment
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 12:22 pm
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[redacted]

That's clearly a quote from the email or communication he has received from the airline.

The post is unfortunately not really well formatted to reflect this.
From reading his other sentences it's clear that Gelsy is not a native English speaker.

No need to call him out for that or even insult him. I'm pretty sure he speaks better Albanian than you.

Last edited by oliver2002; Oct 8, 2015 at 2:29 pm Reason: redacted quote of OT personal comment
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 12:35 pm
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As this is not a trip report I shall move it on over the Miles & More forum for further discussion.

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Old Oct 8, 2015, 2:07 pm
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But you ultimately got to New Jersey? Just not on the segments you booked? Why are you seeking compensation? Did you have to book a hotel for the night?

I must be missing something...
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 2:17 pm
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Airlines nearly always initially deny EU 261 compensation, hoping you will give up and abandon the claim. Whether you pursue it further depends on how strongly you feel about it, and how much time you are willing to spend on it.

It sound like they at first tried to get you to New Jersey the same day, but the UK passport limits caused that plan to fail.

It will probably take some significant time and effort to fight the EU 261 battle with them, and you may fail. There are some companies which will do the paperwork and fight for you in exchange for a fee. Perhaps that would work for you.

Good luck!
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 2:20 pm
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Sounds like an original TIR-VIE-EWR itinary got screwed due to OS cancelling the first segment and rebooked to TIR-MUC-LHR-EWR, but since GB doesn't have airside transit in T2 the passport validity became an issue. LH solved it by rebooking to MUC-EWR direct the next day, so the trip was significantly delayed.

Tricky one. Usually the traveler is responsible for their paperwork to be in order, but if the only alternative that day is to transit in LHR who has tricky DATV rules?
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 2:28 pm
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Originally Posted by fly7b2
But you ultimately got to New Jersey? Just not on the segments you booked? Why are you seeking compensation? Did you have to book a hotel for the night?

I must be missing something...
According to the European Union Regulation (EC) 261/2004, when departing on a flight to an EU country on an EU airline, or departing on any airline from an EU country, and the passenger arrives a specific time later than originally scheduled, the airline is obliged to pay a specific amount of cash compensation, depending on the length of the flight and the length of the delay. Compensation may not be payable in certain circumstances, notably delays related to weather.

If the reason for the cancellation of TIA-VIE was not weather, then I would expect that 600 of compensation is payable, as the OP arrived in (?)EWR more than 4 hours late.

I'm not entirely sure about the applicability when the origin and destination are both outside the EU, but involve flights transiting the EU on an EU airline. Furthermore, the original reroute may have not resulted in a delay of more than 4 hours, meaning that only 300 of compensation may be due.

However, while the OP appears to have had appropriate documentation to enter the US, and transit VIE, through no fault of his own his son's documentation was not appropriate for the rerouting.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 2:28 pm
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OP - It would be very helpful if you could explain to us several things and ask someone who is fluent in English to help you write your next post. That is by no means an insult. If this were a board conducted in Albanian, I can assure you that I would be seeking assistance from someone fluent in Albanian.

People jumping to conclusions about whether EC 261/2004 applies and if it does, what is owed, are doing just that: jumping to conclusions without any information.

1. Why was your original flight from Tirana to Vienna cancelled? The exact reason really matters. If nobody would answer you, that is fine.

2. If your flight to Vienna had not been cancelled and you had made your connection to New Jersey from Vienna, what time was the flight scheduled to arrive in New Jersey?

3. If you had been able to fly via London, what time would you have arrived in New Jersey?

4. When did you actually arrive in New Jersey on the flight from Munich?

Will look forward to hearing from you.
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Old Oct 8, 2015, 11:58 pm
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It seems Austrian accepts the validity of the claim in terms of origin and destination, and the delay times involved: but is contesting it because of the cause of delay. Or perhaps "cause of delay" is the airline's initial reaction to any claim.

If the OP does not want to do his/her own investigation into what caused the delay/cancellation (and the 60-day turn-rounds in communication could be off-putting ), then I'd suggest contacting one of the companies such as EUclaim who handle claims in return for a share in the compensation. Their commercial interest in success means they'll quickly scan the claim and decide how likely it is to give a positive result.

The points of interest - and complication - are the non-EU to non-EU nature of the trip, and the problems with passport/visa validity. Perhaps OS believes the nature of the delay trumps these considerations. So it would be nice to hear how this claim goes.
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Old Oct 9, 2015, 12:04 am
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Originally Posted by IAN-UK
It seems Austrian accepts the validity of the claim in terms of origin and destination, and the delay times involved: but is contesting it because of the cause of delay. Or perhaps "cause of delay" is the airline's initial reaction to any claim.

If the OP does not want to do his/her own investigation into what caused the delay/cancellation (and the 60-day turn-rounds in communication could be off-putting ), then I'd suggest contacting one of the companies such as EUclaim who handle claims in return for a share in the compensation. Their commercial interest in success means they'll quickly scan the claim and decide how likely it is to give a positive result.

The points of interest - and complication - are the non-EU to non-EU nature of the trip, and the problems with passport/visa validity. Perhaps OS believes the nature of the delay trumps these considerations. So it would be nice to hear how this claim goes.
Was the OP originally booked on EU airlines (or airlines of nonEU countries that follow the EC261 regulations)?
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Old Oct 9, 2015, 1:34 am
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Was the OP originally booked on EU airlines (or airlines of nonEU countries that follow the EC261 regulations)?
OS is an EU airline.

but since GB doesn't have airside transit in T2 the passport validity became an issue.
T2 offers airside transit. You can even transit airside between T5/T4/T3 to T2 or the other way around, without having to go through passport control. You just need to clear security at the respective flight connection center in T2.

My nine years old son passport was three months before expire and we couldn't go to London they denied is the boarding for London .
I am also not quite sure about the passport expiry requirements for airside transit passengers in the UK. However, it is worth investigating, whether the LH gate agent in MUC handled the situation correctly. If the son met the transit requirement in theory, then the OP could claim EC261/2004 compensation also from Lufthansa for denied boarding.

I am checking TIMATIC.

National Albania (AL) /Embarkation Albania (AL)
Transit United Kingdom (GB) /Destination USA (US)
ALSO CHECK DESTINATION INFORMATION BELOW


United Kingdom (GB)


TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
Visa required, except for Passengers holding confirmed onward
tickets making an airside transit at London Gatwick (LGW),

London Heathrow (LHR) or Manchester (MAN) on the same calendar
day to a third country (excluding Ireland (Rep.)).The
following conditions must be complied with:

- passenger must arrive and depart by air; and
- passenger only intends to transit through the United
Kingdom; and
- passenger must hold all documents required for the next
destination; and

- passenger must not leave the transit area; and
- passenger travels with a document listed in the following
warning(s):
- ***Warning*** Passengers may make an airside transit if
holding a valid entry visa issued by Australia, Canada, New
Zealand or USA. (SEE NOTE 57398)
NOTE 57398: E-visas or e-residence permits are only
accepted for airside transit when the airline is able to
verify it with the issuing country.
- ***Warning*** Passengers may make a airside transit if
holding a valid "D" visa issued by an EEA Member State
For details, click here or Switzerland. (SEE NOTE 57398)
NOTE 57398: E-visas or e-residence permits are only
accepted for airside transit when the airline is able to
verify it with the issuing country.
- ***Warning*** Passengers may make an airside transit if
holding a valid biometric visa issued by Ireland (Rep.)
endorsed "BC" or "BC BIVS" in order to transit to a
destination other than Ireland (Rep.). (SEE NOTE 57398)

NOTE 57398: E-visas or e-residence permits are only
accepted for airside transit when the airline is able to
verify it with the issuing country.
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Old Oct 9, 2015, 11:05 am
  #13  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Was the OP originally booked on EU airlines (or airlines of nonEU countries that follow the EC261 regulations)?
Most certainly he was: Austrian is as EU as an airline can be

The "difficulty" is that the trip origin was not in the EU, and neither was the destination. I'm not sure how that fits EC261 requirements.
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Old Oct 9, 2015, 1:00 pm
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EC 261/2004 does apply. OP's original and both rebooked flights were on an EU carrier and to a member state, whether that was the UK or Germany.
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