Originally Posted by
bsagator
I was on DL8550(operated by AF66) yesterday on a paid J ticket. Our flight was delayed for over 3 hours as they were missing a crew person. Does the EU flight delay compensation pay out in this case? I've read conflicting info, from 3 hour delay to 5 + hour delay. Im not sure how to go about this, other than contacting AF direct?
Of course to make matters worse, my luggage didn't make the flight, due to the luggage being delayed, according to the AF agent at LAX. I asked how that is possible since I was first to check in at Prague, and how I had 6 hours instead of a little over 2 hours for my luggage to make my flight to LAX, but all she could reply was that my luggage was delayed.
Yes you need to claim from Air France. For a 3 hour delay on a long flight, it's 300 euros (to get the 600 euros it's 4 hours).
The EU compensation doesn't apply if there are exceptional circumstances. Now I don't see missing a crew person at an airline's fortress hub as an exceptional circumstance, nor do I see Covid as an exceptional circumstance (as it was well known to both parties when you bought your tickets), but sometimes (often?) the airlines don't see it this way. In the UK this has led to a whole industry of flight delay claims consultants chasing the airlines for passenger's money.