s115

So we were flying CPH to KEF a few weeks ago. We woke up to 'welcome to copenhagen' in a panic, thinking we got on the wrong flight. Nope, mechanical issue and we'd turned back and hour into flight, unknown to sleeping us. As soon as we'd turned back, SAS knew the delay would be well over 3 hrs (its a 3 hr flight). we land and are simply told to be back at the neighboring gate in an hour and 15 minutes for a new flight with a new plane. No offer of food, vouchers, information in writing on compo. Lots of 'better safe then sorry', no apology. I inquired with the pilot, a mechanical issue that couldnt be fixed in iceland. Oh so, not preventing us getting to iceland, just would cost them a lot to send a plane an mechanics etc. ok, so eu261 applies. Get out, no one at either gate to talk to.

Get lunch on our own dime, back to the plane for boarding slightly late from new time. Are told on the plane once door closed that limited food on board, for purchase only and it'd need to be claimed back, no freebie food. Ha. Get to KEF 3.5 hrs past original arrival time.
Email in eu 261 claim, guy ignores the no food, the no comms, no info in writing. Offers 300eur, as its a 600 eur compo flight and he thinks the 50% reduction applies.
Reduces compo by 50% and ignores me when I say that doesnt apply due to article 8 saying I must have arrived within 3 hrs of original scheduled time. I did not. I arrived 3 hrs and 31 min after scheduled time (flight radar proves this).

I intend to file a compliant with the danish authorities as I believe its either 400 or 600 eur each pax.

As a side note - SAS are terrible. They do the absolute bare minimum and less than that to accommodate people and follow the law. They were at their home base, I was expecting to be handed a 50eur food voucher on deplaning from the first flight. No mention of this, comms availability, or written info. How hard is it to send someone down to the gate with a stack of food vouchers and compo pamphlets in your home airport?! Seems their bs strategy is to make it the pax problem, not the airlines. Will avoid SAS in future.

Nick Art

You should be entitled to a refund of 400 Euro each, if I recall correctly. Keep in mind to reclaim all your food and beverage expenses as well.

Expecting a 50 eur food voucher is a bit much. 15 eur is more what you should expect.

s115

Cheers, 400 eur is what I was expecting.

I only said 50 eur as thats what I read was acceptable. I really didnt care as long as it covered the cost of a sandwich and drink. Usually these vouchers are one use one time up to x $$ not incl booze. Ie to spend 50 eur youd have to spend it at a convenience store or better restaurant and max it out,.

herwig

SAS is usually very correct with such payments. I had a few cases recently, the money was in my account three days after the incident every single time.

Also for a > 3.500km (e.g. you booked to KEF from Asia) you should only receive 300 € for a 3-4 hour delay.
In your case (if you started from Europe to KEF) it is most likely a 1.500 - 3.500km flight and it would be 400 € in your case.

If you complain for compensation, compare to WOWair for KEF. It will take you 6+ months if you get any money from WOW (and they are almost bankrupt).
But also other StarAlliance airlines can be very relaxed with paying, e.g. TAP Portugal took me 5 months...

Often1

It would be very easy for someone reviewing your claim to become confused due to the lack of punctuation and proper use of capitals.

EC 261/2004 claims are simple and straight-forward. 2-3 short declarative sentences.

You are not entitled to EUR 600, but rather EUR 400 in compensation as well as a reimbursement (not compensation) for a reasonable meal appropriate to the delay, Make sure you include your receipt showing the meal and expect somewhere in the EUR 15-20 range of it covered.

All you need for your compensation claim are the flight details, your PNR, your e-ticket number, and the assertion that your flight arrived at your final ticketed destination 3.5 hours late. The rest is not relevant.

highupinthesky

Use the EU261 claim form on the SAS website (haven't had to use it for a while, but assuming it's still there). It's pretty effective and guide you through submitting all relevant information.
Vouchers are often not used when a short haul flight is diverted back to org. airport and next flight is within 2 hours. But as previous posts has stated, you can claim reasonable food expenses together with the EU261. I recently had a 2,5 hour delay, on a flight back from PRG, where they accepted to refund my additional parking and PRG lounge fee instead of restaurants expenses.

s115

So the bit i ommitted was that the journey was one pnr doh cph kef. They are claiming that its a trip greater than 3500km, that began in doh with a less than 4 hr delay, as opposed to just the segment cph kef, which is 2100km and over 3 hrs delay (400eur flat, 3.5 hrs total delay).

Which is the correct way to interpret for eu261?

alibi

Correct way is to interpret the complete journey (DOH-CPH-KEF).

Nick Art

Often1

Everyone else got it wrong because your omissions and lack of clarity resulted in the wrong information and thus the wrong conclusion.

Indeed, EC 261/2004 looks at the ticket which is now apparently DOH-KEF and there happens to be a connection along the way. That is a Type 3 flight and provides for EUR 300 at 3 hours and EUR 600 at 4 hours. Thus, the proper compensation in your case is EUR 300.

s115

It was a Qatar airways PNR. DOH > CPH on Qatar, CPH > KEF on SAS.

What has qatar airways got to do with providing compensation for the entire journey? They told us (when called to find out how to file as their online link goes no where) to talk to SAS - its their problem.
SAS segment is the only relevant thing here and it's basically that the SAS journey (with an SAS flight number) is a separate segment itself - Qatar airways are treating it as such.

Often1

EC 261/2004 compensation (as well as refunds and duty of care) is paid by the operating carrier causing the delay, cancellation or whatever other bad thing has occurred. In this case, the operating carrier of the cancelled flight is SK and thus it is SK which must pay any compensation due.

QR is irrelevant. DOH only matters because the distance covered by the ticket determines the length of delay required and the compensation itself.

s115

So where is it defined that the total journey is considered and not one flight? Ive reas entire of eu261 and its not specified exactly?

highupinthesky

Is it this link, which doesn't work? https://www.care.flysas.com/selfserv...Sections/EU261

Often1

There are several decisions of the CJEU which you are free to read and research.

Usually, this calculation cuts the passenger's way. By way of example, had your delay into KEF been 4+ hours, you would have been due EUR 600 for a Type 3 flight. You are due EUR 300 because your delay exceeded 3 hours on a Type 3 flight and that 50% of compensation is itself the result of CJEU precedent.

You are free to litigate to upset the precedent, but I suspect that most here are quite happy with the law as it is.