platinumPizza

How do I check the reason? The airline will not give me one. My family members are EU citizens which from my understanding entitles them to financial compensation. We where notified 4 hours before the flight departed at 7am of the cancelation. The next flight we could go out on that made the connection was the following day. I filed a complaint on their feedback page with the proper EU form. I also tweeted how dissatisfied I was and received the below comment. The interesting thing is that there was no bad weather and no other flights I could find going to EWR had been canceled. What we did notice was the flight they did get on was about 20% full, seems to me they where under booked.

The amazing thing is after calling to reschedule they would not even refund the 2 economy plus upgrades or the extra bag fees. They insisted that they could not do this over the phone we would have to ask for it at the airport. When we went to the departing airport they advised us to ask at the connection. The connection told us to go online. It seems they no one really cares and they just keep pushing people around. It is really disappointing; I have platinum status with them and always book them internationally on United. I will think twice on ever doing this again.

Filed Form:
EC 261/2004 (EU Citizen Protection)
Sent complaint and form to
www.united.com/feedback

EDIT: I searched on this site and tried www.flightstats.com but it does not state reason for cancelation
Any advice?

"We're sorry about the cancellation. We don't intentionally cancel flight(s) without a good reason, as you know safety is our #1 priority."

colpuck

OK you're on flight 241, isn't that DFW-EWR, why would that qualify for EU protection? I get that the TATL flight to the EU would, but not the domestic connection.

1K-SFO

You don't mention what date your flight was, so using today to look up UA/241, I see it being a fully domestic flight (PBI-EWR-PDX). As a result, it's not covered under any EU protections, despite your citizenship.

platinumPizza

EU Citizen with final destination (home) in Europe with the same carrier as the DFW EWR. It does not matter if the leg that is effected was in the US, as long as the final destination is effected. This is how I understand it to be.

1/3/4 was the departure. See post above

star_world

Incorrect. Flights from the EU apply, regardless of operating airline. Flights to the EU apply if it's an EU airline. Flights from the US to the US do not apply for anyone or any airline.

platinumPizza

Not how I understand this to be:

The regulation applies to any passenger:
departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies;

The protection accorded to passengers departing from OR to an airport located in a Member State should be extended to those leaving an airport located in a third country for one situated in a Member State, when a Community carrier operates the flight and where a community carrier is defined as any carrier licensed to operate within that community.
departing from an EU member state, or
travelling to an EU member state on an airline based in an EU member state
if that person has:

a confirmed reservation on the flight, and
arrived in time for check-in as indicated on the ticket or communication from the airline, or, if no time is so indicated, no less than 45 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time of the flight
or
have been transferred from the flight for which he/she held a reservation to some other flight
unless
the passenger is travelling on a free or discounted ticket not available to the general public, other than a ticket obtained from a frequent flyer programme.
It does not apply to helicopter flights, to any flight not operated by a fixed-wing aircraft.[1]
[edit]

I am not questioning your post, but just trying to get the best clarification possible.

colpuck

Actually the scope section of EU 261 doesn't mention "final destination" which is defined in the law and you correctly mention. So, there is argument to be made that this situation is excluded from EU 261. \

Beyond that, you haven't given us enough details. Where were you going, were there other flight options available, though IAH, IAD, on US or AA?

Though if UA offered you something to travel that day and you rejected it for whatever reason and then you had to travel the next day, you get nothing.

star_world

They fail the test that you bolded though - they were flying on United, not a EU-based airline, TO Europe.

platinumPizza

Original Flight DFW EWR ARN

They offered no flight out on the day of departure. They really needed to leave as they started work the day they arrived. Originally they routed them the following day DFW houston EWR ARN. Since they are older I asked that they give them the same DFW EWR ARN. We asked for any type of compensation. Not even a meal voucher was offered.

You guys are really trying to find a reason that they are fault, which is interesting to me. Not trying to get a freebee or sue United for millions, but I can't even get proper customer service from a company I spend thousands with. I fly allot and I or they are not the ones to ask for anything. The reason I am so upset is they offered nothing but a jerk on the other line when we originally called.

Altaflyer

Not sure how this factors in but was this a UA issued tkt or SK issued? I always understood the rules to only apply to EU based airlines when looking at Europe bound flights but the wording says "licensed" and presumably all carriers are somehow licensed to fly in the EU (but maybe not).

colpuck

As far as EU 261 compensation goes, I don't think this counts. That being said there are flights out there, if they were willing go off of UA. If they demanded to stay on UA, then yes going the next day would have been the only option.

Maybe the agent was stressed with dealing with all of the passengers on the canceled flight (which happens) and they didn't look for non-UA flights, maybe they didn't want to fly on other carriers. Assuming it was the former then calling in a speaking with another agent would have been the best course of action and getting a hotel room paid for and such is called for. If it is the latter then there is no real cause to complain.

platinumPizza

We asked to be put on another carrier and also to be rerouted that same day. It was really important that they arrived today so we really tried everything. Was never offered anything. Yes we could have kept calling but we where told no and treated terribly so we gave up.

After doing some more research on this I saw some other post that had to do with Delta and US Airways. All the passengers where reimbursed after they put pressure on the airlines. It seems filing this with the airlines and than the local consumer complaints authority at the destination airport works. In one case a lawsuit was filed by the local community (meaning local civil suit) they paid the EU fee and legal fees.

Really frustrating and I don't want to take it this far but honestly the more ridiculous feedback they give me the more I feel they should. I will update this thread as I get more news if you guys would like.

star_world

Put pressure on UA to get compensation for the flight cancellation and subsequent delay in arrival. Forget the EU compensation - for the specific flights you're talking about here it simply doesn't apply. You're wasting your time on that.

colpuck

I understand that. The agent was probably stressed from having to deal with the canceled flight. Rebooking on another carrier takes a lot longer than staying with the original carrier. When this has happened to me, I have had to basically spoon feed the flights I wanted to the agent to get them to book it. Obviously what happened here was the agent was either unable or unwilling to to find other flights, and you should bring that up with UA.

764toHI

You mentioned that UA offered DFW-IAH-EWR-ARN as an alternative - I understand that this would be a challenge but what is wrong with this itinerary? Does that not count as an offer? I guess UA could have offered you DFW-LHR-ARN via BA but I'm not sure if UA has an interline agreement with BA.