Dave Noble

I think that moneyclaim requires UK addresses plus , in event that US was to defend case and actually needed a hearing, you would need to organise someone in UK to attend court for you. If you have a UK address, that you can use, you will probably be able to use it

I would have hoped so for #2 , but don't know for certain ; one reason why the 3rd parties would seem a good option

Deltahater

There is an important case law in the EU that states (and I paraphrase): That even if the airline conducted the minimum required maintenance, it is insufficient to claim that a mechanical delay amounts to "events beyond their control" and the airline is still required to pay compensation.

I just went through this with BA, albeit via email and thus much faster. They denied the claim the first three times and the fourth time they asked for my bank account info so that they can wire the funds over.

Tell US that doing basic maintenance is no defense and they need to pay up.

tommyleo

One outfit to consider is refund.me.

jm6886

Thank-you tommyleo, Deltahater, and Dave Noble for your input- I'll be sure to report back my results once I have some updates. Thanks again

ldubin

Let me add to this just for fun...it MIGHT help our case (I say OUR case as I'm probably the fellow passenger you spoke with).

The flight was delayed 219 minutes gate to gate (3.65 hrs). The plane was "broken" in Philly before it took off the day before...APU not working. So PHL being a US hub hooked them up to ground service, started the engines, and had the plane leave WITHOUT a fix. The real delay at LHR should have been the fuel cross-feed problem but they didn't start working on that till they fixed the APU (which took the first hour).

I sent certified mail asking for €300 (I swore we were entitled to €600...sorry about that error). Unrelated specifically, I also added in that we were delayed from our final destinations by almost 6 hours (again assuming you are who I think you are) due to US Air being really really stupid in PHL (seriously, even the gate agents were calling into Pittsburgh Dispatch complaining about this).

ldubin

Actually it looks like we might be entitled to 600 (or I might) as PHL was not my FINAL destination.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...-2004-a-2.html

CHECK IT! http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-13-18_en.htm

jm6886

Hello again everyone:

First off ldubin, nice to run into you again, even if it's only a virtual interaction. Were you the gentleman traveling onwards to MDT from PHL? If you were, I was the one traveling with my parents and younger brother. You're definitely right in that case, had everything gone well, I would have arrived in MDT around 6:15 that night (originally booked on the 5:30-ish departure) so my delay to my FINAL destination was more than 4 hours.

Second, I got a canned e-mail from US Airways denying compensation due to extraordinary circumstances and all reasonable measures being taken. They have a standard copy/paste paragraph I think they send out for cases like this; it reads, " Further, we thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to your request for compensation based on European Regulation 261/2004. Under EU regulations, carriers are not required to provide EU compensation in the event that the carrier performed all necessary maintenance checks and took all steps feasibly viable to prevent a mechanical cancellation or delay. We can assure you our aircraft undergo all required maintenance; however, despite the best preventive maintenance, some malfunctions cannot be predicted. Our records indicate all required measures pertinent to this flight were taken; therefore, no compensation under the EU Regulation No. 261/2004 is due.

My next step I think is going to be to file 4 complaints with the UK's CAA. I understand that they will not pursue the claim for me and that they cannot even force US to pay, but having a determination in my favor will help me when I go to EU Claims or some similar service ( I have no UK address/solicitor so this is my only option if US refuses to pay up). Does this approach sound ok? Should I try writing to US a third time before moving forward? I'd appreciate any input-thanks again!

Dave Noble

I really think that there is no point in contacting the CAA or US again. CAA is not going to force US to pay up. I would just take the easy route and lodge it with one of the claims companies and let them deal with it

The relevant rulings are already out there and CAA is not a legal body so its views would just be its views

serfty

Fully agree.

As I posted earlier, this (BA based) thread has a reasonable guide, with some relevance here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...61-2004-a.html

If you take to time to trawl through that thread, you would see that CCA tend to take the Airline's POV and using them is generally a waste of time.

FlyIgglesFly

Currently in FRA with a 3 hour and 25 minute delay looming for flight 703 today. For maintenance issues with the inbound aircraft. Looks like I'll be in the same situation as you all, I would expect I'll contact US right off the bat citing Sturgeon case. I'll see where that gets me an report back. If not, I'll file a claim through a third party. Considering my flight cost 20,000 miles from BA, this could be quite the deal!

Dave Noble

It does depend on what time you reach your destination. If it can pull back some of the delay and get there no more than 3 hours before it is scheduled , then you will be out of luck. If at 3:25 already, hopefully it can drag to the 4:00 for the full EUR600 rather than EUR300 for 3 hours

FlyIgglesFly

I have every confidence that FRA can drag out the delay just a bit longer.

CDKing

At this point it appears its still going to be close ccurrently scheduled to arrive with only 3 hr 52 min delay and still a chance to shave a little time off

FlyIgglesFly

3:57 minutes late. I s**t you not. On approach I was saying to myself, "come on, circle one more time..."

Dave Noble

C'est la vie