xmarkymark

Hi there,

I got a really vague response from LH in response to a compensation claim, and I wind be grateful for some advice.

I took flight LH947 from MAN to FRA. This landed 43 minutes late, with the missed follow-on connection leading to 24-hour overall delay.

I received the usual reply partly quoted in my title, which I think a lot of people will be familiar with. It seems quite vague, and it's my experience that this flight is delayed more often than not (a learning point for me here, for sure).

I looked up the aircraft call sign on flightradar24 and the plane had five flights up to that point. Its first departure that day was 53 minutes late. Each of the five flights leading up to mine arrived between 30' and 60' late.

I was wondering if LH's attribution of my delay to adverse weather events and/or airspace restrictions was likely to stand up in court in view of this data. For simplicity, it may be sensible to assume the aircraft's first departure of the day was indeed affected. (Even though it sounds like BS, I have no credible grounds to doubt it!)

Many thanks!

Fabo.sk

Carryover delay over a whole day? Hardly. MCOL is the way.

chris63

UK based, your fortunate, give them 14 days to prove the delay was extraordinary or you will do MCOL

xmarkymark

Haha - sounds like it’s time to give them some tough love. Would my argument be that it is not credible they wouldn’t have made up the time over six flights? It dorsn’t sound like an iron-clad argument when phrased that way… Is there some part of the EU Regulation (UK-equivalent) thata would particularly apply?

chris63

You don’t need to get into any of that, LH have to prove the delay was caused by exceptional circumstances, it is LH decision which aircraft operated the flight from FRA, their main hub, they can & do change aircraft rotations during the day.

xmarkymark

Sorry, I just had one more question: Do judges tend to be happy when the airline mediation service is skipped and you go straight to MCOL? As I understand it, mediation can take up to 12 months!

chris63

In UK yes, you ask a reasonable question & they fail to respond or respond with a ridiculous answer, just write to the UK head office & give them 14 days notice & do MCOL, so easy in UK

xmarkymark

Just to update on this, I did receive compensation via the UK Small Claims Court in the end. This happened by default, as LH was changing their UK solicitors and did not respond to the court in time. Consequently, it's hard to say how the case would have gone if LH had defended it.

It occurs to me the generic responses LH gives may be due to the broadness of the 'reason codes' pilots use to characterise delays. This may not mean they can't then provide a more precise justification when challenged. However, I also appreciate the experience on the Forum of how these are used sweepingly, alongside the fact that money is by far LH's main guiding principle. Overall, I will not be shy to challenge again if I receive an insulting series of emails from LH Customer Service as I did this time in response to an attempt to understand my delay.

chris63

UK mcol is so easy & we need to be thankful for that so much more difficult in different jurisdictions, LHG opus operandi is deny all claims

hugolover

Your trick to issue tickets for trips that don’t touch the UK on the UK market via the call centre is really clever chris63

xmarkymark

Hello again. LH is really dragging its feet paying the County Court-adjudicated compensation. It seems determined to make me think twice about making such a claim again, though I have to say it is only causing me to rethink the collaborative approach I've tried to adopt and act more swiftly and decisively in future.

As I'm very reluctantly about to send an online form to get the bailiffs involved, I was wondering if LH really had some meaningful business activity going on at the following address, and if this was the best UK location to supply for this purpose:

World Business Centre
1 Newall Road
London Heathrow Airport Hounslow
TW6 2FA

Many thanks,
Marko.

chris63

Yes, that is the address & they need to pay all your ongoing legal costs

xmarkymark

Thanks, Chris, for such a quick response - you're amazing!

chris63

Welcome, just happened to be online

Let us know how it goes, maybe the Bailiffs will impound an A321

hugolover

If it goes on it can't be far off Ł600 so we would happily crowd fund your costs to get a writ!