It is unlikely that you will get EU compensation due to a mechanical, as they told you, aircraft safelty does not apply. From EU documentation:

Flight Cancellation
· Cancellations caused by force majeure and extraordinary circumstances* are
exempt from the EU compensation regulations.
*examples of force majeure and extraordinary circumstances are: weather, strike,safety and security and ATC delays at the origin or destination.

Sorry about your delay, cancellation.

That's amongst the creative interpretations DL wants to use to not pay. DL and other airlines may make such claims but it does not make those claims true. Plenty of "mechanical" delays are due to commercial reasons like not having spare parts in more places or enough maintenance workers. The "safety" language is not there to allow airlines to hide whenever a mechanical delay/cancellation happens.

I'll give one example: DL plane needs part replacement. DL needs to fly it in because they don't think it makes commercial sense to have such parts at all airports DL serves. In the time it takes DL to fly the part in the crew goes "illegal". DL doesn't have a replacement crew at that airport because DL doesn't want to have a spare crew because they don't consider it commercially sensible to do that, and so DL has to fly a crew in making the delay even worse. Is "safety" going to be accepted by the national authorities as a way for the airline to get out of paying compensation? Not in all or even most cases if you press hard enough, long enough. ;)

I'm sorry , but it is my understanding that DELTA DOES NOT MAKE THE RULES HERE, it is the EU. And Yes if Delta can find a loop hole to get out of paying thousands of dollars Why Not? Would you pay a ticket if the officer made a mistake in your name? Is it Delta's fault if someone left the rules out for interpretation and they benefit the airline instead of the passenger? Everyone in FT will take advantage of an error when Delta makes it in a fare and expect it to be honored, so what's the difference here?

I believe the EU put in place those regulations so airlines would not leave stranded passengers when the flights where overbooked. Imagine this, an airline that would put the safety of the passengers or the flight crew in DANGER because they did not want to pay compensation to every passengers on board, I'm sure Delta would not one as Safety is our number one concern, but my guess is that many African airlines would not care therefore they would fly with a defective aircraft and put the lives of hundreds at risk.

I'm sorry again but that is not an airline I want to fly.

Here is the actual text of Item #3, Article 5 ("Cancellation") of Regulation (EC) № 261/2004:A mere reference to "aircraft safety concerns" does not really prove anything, nor is a foreseeable mechanical defect an "extraordinary circumstance".

DL may be attempting to interpret the law -- and sell its interpretation of such -- despite the EU law .... all because of its financial self-interest, law or no law. That is, creative interpretations of the law by DL agents doesn't change the law. The EU rule doen't allow DL to get away from paying compensation simply because DL classified a delay or cancellation as "mechanical".

DL hasn't found a loophole, DL is trying to buffalo DL customers into not pursuing them for the compensation due under the EU law. (DL is not unique in this area but that doesn't make what DL does a choir boy for legal compliance.)

Let me give you an example: About two weeks ago, DL130 landed in Munich, but the aircraft had some mechanical problems and hence was unable to do the flight back to Atlanta (DL131).

The reason were problems with the engine; parts were neither available in MUC or FRA and had to be flown in from the United States.

Hence, Delta had to cancel the MUC-ATL flight.


This is an example for unforeseen circumstances that do not require the airlines to compensate you according to the EU scheme. As a Medallion, you are likely to receive a $250 - $400 voucher from corporate customer care if you write a letter, but certainly not cash compensation.


If that same flight would have been cancelled due to lack of crew for example, it would have been a different story.

In any event, Delta has set up a website where you can claim your compensation according to EU rules: http://www.delta.com/exiteu

Thanks to all for the advice and quotes from the EU legislation.

I fully intend to pursue a claim against DL for this cancellation. It is time DL realized that penalties for changes to a contract can apply to both parties and the fees are not always one way traffic!

A few years back my wife & I were traveling back from CDG via Air France. The day of our departure the ATC union decided to go on strike in support of some other union. We arrived at the airport about 4 hours before our scheduled flight time. As it turned out, our flight was scheduled to leave on time.

When we were checking in, the TA asked us if we'd be willing to go on standby for our scheduled flight and they'd guarantee us for a flight three hours later. Compensation for going on standby was 75 euro each, plus food vouchers. We were told that if we got bumped from our flight to the next flight we'd get an additional 300 euro's each.

This was back when the dollar was slightly more valuable that the euro. We ended up catching our original flight, but the compensation for volunteering was a nice perk. I didn't realize that compensation was EU law. I just thought Air France was being nice to us.

Lack of useful crew and lack of useful parts to get the plane on its way has resulted in KLM and Alitalia paying out cash compensation. Why would Delta be different?

Strikes don't result in compensation under the EU+ law. Example: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...5/ai_n14933220

Interesting. I guess we were lucky and our trip predated that BA lawsuit by a few years.

FWIW: Here's an article about the strike I'm talking about.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2512603.stm

Doing a Google search on the topic has shown that the French are not afraid of going on strike.

This law has now been refered back to the EU Courts for clayrification.... It is apparently unclear when a flight has been canceled or meerly postponed. Many airlines are saying "canceled" flights are only postponed to another time frame and therefore do not require any compensation at all. I bet that is what they are basing this thing on for the time being.

My tip do not leave the desk with out written confirmation of the compensation. BUT before you play your hand have a copy of this law in you travel docs and make sure you can quote the correct paragraph.......

Good luck. I'm fighting just getting a refund for a British Airways' LHR-MUC flight that was cancelled. While there was bad weather earlier in the day, the flight would have been cancelled because of an expired crew (they never did say that, but as the last flight of the day, it's pretty obvious). I've sent my credit card company after BA and Orbitz as both refused to take responsibility for the refund. I think perserverance is the best way to get compensation, but how much time do you really want to spend trying to get a couple $$?

If you read my post properly, you will realize that lack of crew certainly warrants compensation.

However, if neither LTU maintenance nor LH maintenance in Germany do have the spare part available (which is definetely *very* uncommon), then that's certainly an unforeseen circumstance.

Compensation for cancelled flight? (not weather related)
 

I was supposed to fly from BOS to LAS on July 30th but a couple hours before the flight they cancelled it. I called up to inquire the reason and they said it was due to "crew unavailability". They rebooked me for the FOLLOWING DAY instead of trying to get me on a flight out that evening on JetBlue or US Air "because we don't have agreements with those carriers".

As a result:

1) I lost $200 at the hotel because like most major hotels in Vegas they require 72 hours notice, so I had to pay for the first night in order to keep my reservation for the remaining three.

2) My replacement itinerary was two segments with a tight layover in CIN, whereas my original flight was direct from BOS-LAS. They had upgraded me to F on those segments (since coach was full, not because they were being nice) but that didn't even matter to me seeing as I had an exit row seat on the flight that had been cancelled.

3) I had plans in Las Vegas on July 31st which I had to cancel because I was en route all day.

Is it unreasonable to expect some sort of compensation for this? Weather is forgivable obviously because it's not their fault, and other carriers would be affected as well. However, though there was some rain in Boston that night, JetBlue and USAir (and many other flights) made it out just fine. How can you cancel a flight for lack of crew availability? An airline this large doesn't have any contingency planning for this? I know at least three other people who were on the same flight and they all got equally inconvenient replacement flights the following day.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
-chris