So I had a lovely nightmare on an AA flight from LHR to ORD a couple days ago (as the last leg of a very long JNB-ORD ordeal), where they found a "maintenance problem" a couple hours into the flight, turned the plane around, and deposited me back into Heathrow, then cancelled the flight and rebooked me, with a total 7 hour delay off the scheduled time.

as I understand it, the UK still kept the EU compensation rules, and so I have some money coming to me... a pretty nice bit of money, actually, a solid 500 pounds, per the Civil Aviation Authority. But of course AA provides no information on what one should do to actually claim this.

has anyone successfully claimed cash from AA under these circumstances? If so, how? Did you call someone, write to someone?

thanks!