itaexpat

Posted part of this in the dedicated thread as well, but I haven't received an answer so far, and my question has now expanded:

1. I'm having trouble parsing the fine print on whether I'm eligible for EC261 compensation for a cancellation, since my flight will now arrive at destination 2 hours earlier than the original time. Specifically: my itinerary was DEN-MSP-AMS-BLQ, and MSP-AMS was cancelled the morning of due to a technical problem. KL operated, marketed, purchased; the connection from DEN was DL operated. Eventually I was rebooked on UA/LH. Departure time was exactly 1 hour after the original time. Arrival time will be 2.5 hours earlier than the original time. I'm still in transit, so things could change. Does this fall under eligibility for a claim?

2. Regardless, can I claim some other type of compensation from KL? I lost all my original seat assignments in Y comfort, which were nicer than what I eventually got. I got them for free as Plat, but they've got to have some value. I also switched to Star Alliance carriers, where I only have Silver status. I'm killing over three hours of time at FRA with no lounge access. I've got to buy food that would've been free otherwise. And just in general, I lost any other type of assistance/attention/kindness that I could've received flying this whole itinerary as Plat on KL. Seems like I have a good case to request some compensation, no?

Thanks for any advice.

irishguy28

1. Yes, you are due compensation because you experienced a cancellation. However, because your departure time was within an hour of the schedule, and you actually got home faster, it's capped to 50%.

2. There is no additional compensation due to you as long as you were seated in the same cabin (i.e. Economy, Premium Economy, or Business) in your replacement flights. If you had a paid seat assignment on any sectors on the original ticket, you can claim a refund for these. These payable add-ons (even if you didn't have to pay due to your status on the original ticket, but you would have had to pay on your replacement ticket) are not of any relevance as regards compensation; even if you had an "up-front" seat, or an "Economy Comfort seat", or an "exit row seat", or a "duo seat" on your cancelled sectors, but you could stuck in the middle seat in the last row of economy on your replacement flight, you have not further recourse to compensation for what you perceive as a worse seat on the replacement flight. The airline must only get you home in the same cabin that you were originally booked to travel in. The loss of lounge access is also completely outside the scope of the regulation. You will receive meals on your flights; the regulation says nothing about requiring to give lounge access and/or pay for meals on a layover too. (You could, however, buy lunch or whatever, keep the receipt, and lodge it as an expense and see if they reimburse you)

itaexpat

better than nothing! Great that I can get something.

yep, with regards to these extra expenses I was hoping to request a reimbursement regardless of the regulation. And I was hoping to add a spiel about how I experienced inconveniences due to the loss of status throughout this long trip to argue my case let’s see what they say.

It’s good to know I can get something through the regulation either way.

NickB

If the OP left later than originally planned and arrived earlier than originally planned, they are not entitled to compensation.

Fabo.sk

or departed no more than 1h early and arrrived no more than 2h late, even for same-day cancellations.

itaexpat

Ha, bummer. Though it makes sense — my plans were disrupted but overall things didn’t go bad at all. Indeed this itinerary was better served by Star Alliance (2 vs 3 legs) but I wanted to use an AFKL from a previous EC261 compensation and earn some more XPs.

Fabo.sk

You can still claim your XP.

Maestro Ramen

Lets keep stuff on the same thread pls so I dont bother replying to something thats already been answered 😛

I still think OP can claim for refreshments at the 2nd stop, under art. 9.

brunos

I doubt that EC261 would provide any compensation for refreshments purchased at a transit airport (because of status benefit loss).
But a clear benefit should be that you can still claim your miles from FB as per original ticket AND the UA miles as you flew LH.
That could be nice as you are already silver on UA.
That assumes that it was a paid ticket not an award.

itaexpat

My apologies for that! My question had expanded into what felt like non-regulation territory and I didn’t want to bring the regulation thread OT.

I’m going to give it a go and report back

lynxy

I'm not sure what the regulation says, but for someone with Plat status I would bet that AF/KL will pay for the meal during transit.

I did not have exactly this situation, but I was rerouted from LHR-CDG-TLS to LHR-TLS direct because of the LHR-CDG being cancelled. The BA flight arrived in TLS roughly at the same time as our original itinerary, although obviously the departure from London was much later. AF paid without issue meals+alcohol (~90 GBP) for the 3 pax on the booking (2 plats, 1 statusless) since obviously we had no access to a lounge in the LHR terminal served by BA. (And they also paid the full cancellation compensation )

As usual when making the request, it's best to be as factual as possible, little emotion, not too many details. That reduces the scope for misunderstanding/confusion/risk of being denied.

NickB

This is different. There would be an obligation to provide meals and refreshments appropriate to the wait resulting from the delayed departure at origin under Reg 261/2004 so AF is merely complying with its obligations here (although it might do it in a somewhat more generous manner for Plats, in the same way as Plats might get a slightly nicer hotel when delayed overnight). This is not the situation of the OP.

lynxy

Maybe so, but my point was more that they did not challenge what/how much they had to reimburse because Plats were involved (and it was not outrageous obviously). Which is also why I think they will reimburse op as long as their expenses are reasonable, since they are Plat.

NickB

Maybe but, to me, that looks very different. I would have thought that the odds of reimbursement in your situation are substantially higher than in the OP's but we'll see what the OP reports eventually.

itaexpat

Reporting back that I was not eligible for any cash compensation under EC261, as most of you had anticipated, but they will issue a reimbursement for meal expenses incurred during the FRA layover.