bankops

D-AIXB came in from HND and arrived 45min early in MUC. This was not supposed to be the aircraft for ORD as it arrived when the ORD flight was supposed to leave. They switched aircraft and used D-AIXB for the ORD flight instead of the originally scheduled a/c.

poisson

Quick question: I am requesting compensation for the missed connection from MUC-OTP due to the ORD-MUC flight being delayed. Is this considered a long haul flight since it was booked on the same reservation?

chris63

athome

Normally doors are closed 5 - 10 minutes prior to the time (block time) mentioned on flightradar24, assuming the aircraft did not have to wait at the stand for a long time with passengers boarded due to ATC restrictions. Assuming this was not the case for your missed flight to OTP, aircraft doors were probably closed around a quarter past four. Do you remember at which time you arrived at the gate and and which time your deboarded the LH435 flight from ORD. Knowing these times would help in the argumentation chain towards LH.

poisson

Oh shoot! Now I remember something. The ORD-MUC flight waited for probably 10-15min at MUC on the ground because there was a problem connecting the jet bridge. Do airlines know exactly what time passengers were allowed to exit the aircraft?

Flightaware says LH435 landed at 3:47PM, but I'm pretty sure we weren't allowed off the plane until after 4PM.

gpicur

The reason for the delay of an originating flight (as in this case MUC) is irrelevant for EC 261 Claims for subsequent return flights, as in this case from ORD-MUC. If there is/was a 3+ hour weather delay in MUC that caused the flight to arrive at ORD 3+ hours late, LH cannot claim MUC weather as an exception to liability under EC 261. Really..you ask ? Yes, LH knows when their inbound flight from MUC is delayed. LH has the option, and under EC 261, the duty, to re-book its' passengers on other carriers that are not delayed. If LH chooses not to re-book its' ORD based passengers on other carriers, they face liability under EC261 if that return flight to MUC is delayed more than 2 hours. This is one of the reasons EC261 was implemented. Looking at it another way, a weather delay in MUC today could potentially be cause of delays for days or even weeks. Please let us all know the outcome of your EC 261 claim. I am troubled to hear that LH is becoming so aggressive in trying to avoid EC261 responsibility. My experience with LH has always been quite good during flight irregular operations.

athome

Where are the 2 hours coming from?? Any proof that 2 hours are relevant for a long haul?

Fabo.sk

I don't believe this is true.
Irregularities at the outstation, AFAIK, are considered differently than at the hub. The difference in what are reasonable measures that can be taken. At the outstation you can't do anything reasonable other than wait for the aircraft. In hub, you could swap equipment around.

Often1

1. There is no known precedential authority for your assertion that LH had an obligation to rebook on another carrier. If you can locate any, please provide it.
2. Even if LH did rebook on other carriers, the next flight with a nonstop to MUC was UA the next day at 18:00. Although I could be wrong for the specific date of travel, I believe that there are no other connections on this route (either at a US or European gateway) which would have arrived at either MUC or OTP with anywhere close to the delay OP encountered. This is especially true because OP came close to making his connection at MUC. It is often possible to make up time enroute. If you have rebookings which would have worked better than the delay OP encountered, please provide them.
3. OP's final ticketed destination was OTP and this was then a Type 3 flight. For EC 261/2004 delay compensation to apply, OP would need to have been delayed by at least 3 hours (EUR 300) or 4 hours for the full amount (EUR 600).

The outstation vs. hub issue is not dispositive. However, in this case, it appears that LH did reassign an aircraft so as to minimize delay and the weather inbound directly affected the outbound. Finding another aircraft to perform the ORD-MUC segment was likely fruitless.

OP may choose to pursue a claim, but would be well-advised not to spend the loot just yet.

poisson

Thanks everyone. I submitted an email to LH on December 10. If I don't hear something by the end of the week, I'll send another email.

I'm assuming this process can take several months, right?

chris63

Braniq

chris63

Braniq

That might be, however LX response is usually within one day, I though for LH does not care about status...

chris63