zachbb

Hi everyone,

My wife is an American (non-European) who flew DY7149 on January 16 2019 from CDG to BOS. The plane suffered technical issues and then diverted back to CDG. The flight was issued a new flight number (which I forget) and landed around 11:30pm instead of 8:10pm (so it was over 3 hours late).

I've looked everywhere on the Norwegian website and can't seem to find the form to claim the EU Compensation. There are links to the European Commission's website and a link to claim other expenditures like hotels, but nothing to claim this. Does anyone know where the form is?

Also, this makes me suscpicious that Norwegian is going to be non-responsive to the claim anyway. Is it worth going with a website like AirHelp.com (or do they take a large cut)?

All of this was easier when I faced a similar situation with BA!

Thanks!

gab787

See https://www.norwegian.com/us/ipr/ref...category=DELAY but Norwegian will probably not answer you, so you will need to escalate to US DoT which will force an answer, and then if you are not satisfied reach out to AirHelp (which might take up to 50%) of file a claim in small claims court. I have a small claims court hearing scheduled two weeks from now and I will report on how it goes...

gab787

You might also want to read the thread Norwegian Air - A Cautionary Tale

irishguy28

First read:

https://www.norwegian.com/us/booking...ation-2612004/

Then you will see that compensation for a late arrival for an intercontinental flight only falls due under EU261/2004 if the flight arrives 4 hours late. As such, you are not due compensation for this flight based on the information provided. (The nationality of the passenger is never of any relevance for EU261/2004, by the way, so no need to specify that!!!)

zachbb

Thanks for the feedback.. I guess Norwegian is a tough one to claim from. There really should be more enforcement of the law from the EU.

After the flight was diverted back to CDG it was given a new flight number before taking back off for BOS. Any idea how to find this?

Also, the pilot said they are unable to reach cruising speed, and that was the reason for having to divert back to CDG. Then at CDG we had to wait for "paper work" and eventually a "new pilot" (my wife was very panicked as she has a tremendous fear of flying... she kept texting me that she wanted to leave the plane). Any idea as to whether this would qualify as an "extraordinary circumstance"?

ajeleonard

There is. If you take an airline to court in an EU country and prove your case the court will enforce the law. Doesn't mean the airline has to cooperate with you prior to going to court if it doesn't agree with your interpretation of the law. No different from the US.

Often1

There is some poor information in this thread.

OP's wife is due EUR 300 in compensation for a delay exceeding 3 hours on a Type 3 flight (EUR 600 at 4 hours). The claim must be made to DY. It is best done using the portal on the DY site. It is located by searching under "Delay" and clicking on the link for submitting a claim, Here is a linkL

https://www.norwegian.com/us/travel-...layed-flights/

Take this step at a time. If you do not hear back in a reasonable time period, follow up. Complaining to DOT is useless as DOT does not enforce EU law and will tell you so. Rather, your complaint in this case is to French authorities and you may also sue DY in France. For that, you may want to use one of the claims agencies which will handle the claim for 25-33% of the loot.

But, for the moment, make the claim.

zachbb

Made the claim. I'll report here the results.
Still wish I could figure out the new flight number.

Often1

The new flight number is irrelevant. All that matters is that she was scheduled on the original flight and that it was delayed by more than 3 hours and that the reason for the delay was not an "extraordinary circumstance." EC 261/2004 claims are binary and all that matters are the very specific facts of the claim.

craigthemif

The DoT must be rather tired of receiving complaints it has no jurisdiction over...

To take an EU airline to small claims court your best bets are:

• the EU country you live in (or are a national of)
• the EU country the flight departed from / arrived to

If you don't fancy either option, then passing your claim off to an agency is perhaps the most sensible alternative. But the starting point is always the airline's online claim form.

Im a new user

You are not eligible for compensation if this was due to extraordinary circumstances. Airlines sometimes claim "extraordinary circumstances" even if this isn't true, so you shouldn't necessarily trust the airline.

One of the claims agencies can probably help you with suing DY in France should this be necessary. Note that you need an agency which can sue in France. Some of them may only operate in other countries.

gab787

Right to care is not the same thing as right to compensation. At the 3-hour mark you are entitled to 50% of EUR 600 which is about USD 350. At the 4-hour mark you are entitled to the full EUR 600 or about USD 700.

gab787

After I was left without a reply to my claim with Norwegian for weeks, I contacted the DOT and the gentleman that handled my case was very profesional and helped getting my taxi and meal reimbursed in a matter of days. He could not assist directly with 261/2004 but provided useful information to prepare my claim in small claims court. I agree that the airline's online claim form should always be the first step, but the DOT should be in my opinion the second step. Agency or small claims court should only be the third step.

gab787

If you understand French you can also submit a claim to the DGAC via Formulaire de saisine de l?administration - Ministère de la Transition écologique et solidaire (MTES) Note however that when I did so I was told that they have a 8-month backlog... So if you want your money before Norwegian goes bankrupt, I would not rely exclusively on that path...

PS: don't try using the built-in PDF viewer in Microsoft Edge to fill and submit the PDF form as it most likely will not work. Use Google Chrome and Adobe Acrobat Reader.

gab787

If you want to go to small claims court and you live in the Boston area it would probably be best if you could find an agent of service record for Norwegian in Massachussets. The DOT can help you locating it if there is one. If not, you probably still be able to go to small claims court where you reside and sue the agent of service in New York City by filing an affidavit of diligent inquiry. Email the ombudsman of your county for directions.