fassy

I wouldn’t go after an airline for a EU261 case by using an independent lawyer even if an insurance would cover for that.

Much easier to use one of the specialist platforms like https://simplyright.de/ or https://www.flugrecht.de/

Sure, they take a cut but in the long run I rather keep my legal expense insurance for real important stuff and not have such a small non-sense case on file with the insurance - especially if you lose.

pseudoswede

At this point, I'm happy if I get reimbursed for the backup flights from my travel insurance and refund from SAS. Any EC261 compensation on top of that will be just gravy.

tr3k

I used a service like that last time. They initially told me "I have a case" and they will take it. 3 months of waiting (SK did not respond to them), and then suddenly "we just realized your cancelation is not subject to EC261" and that's it.

jerry_greece

I see this for my two-leg flight tomorrow (first is flying, second is cancelled). I am not sure what they mean by "waiting to see that the flight is cancelled" before applying for refund. Any other experiences?

pseudoswede

Definitely not a dumb question, and I'm also curious. If their rebooking efforts are not to my satisfaction--e.g., I don't arrive in ORD until 11:59pm on 7/11--can I decline rebooking, request a refund, and file an EC261 claim? Their duty is to get me to ORD, but my ultimate final destination is DEN (for which I have a seperate booking on another airline).

I think my strategy on 7/10 will be to wake up early in the morning, put myself in the phone queue, and hope that SK 946 is cancelled by the time I reach a live person.

FlyingMoose

SAS has no obligation other than to get you to ORD, you can take the refund and argue about rebooking options but matching SK945 timing from ARN on an alternative is not easy. You can always try to get rebooked on 7/10 if the strike has no obvious end in sight if you find a friendly agent (or corporate booking agent).

the810

Their duty is to get you to ORD at the earliest opportunity (what exactly does that mean hasn't been tested in court yet). Your separately booked flights are irrelevant for this purpose - carrier doesn't have to get you to ORD before your onward flight leaves.

Whenever a flight is cancelled, you are always entitled to a refund. As for the compensation, I will assume that you were informed about the change less than 7 days in advance (as SAS usually cancels flights ~24 hours in advance). You would be entitled to a compensation unless you were offered a rerouting that would allow you to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach your final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival and unless the strike is deemed to be an extraordinary circumstance outside of airline's control.

​​​​​You will not, under any circumstances, have a claim for the cost of eventual new ORD-DEN ticket.

jackiesyu

voluntary refund was only in the $40 at this point for 7/10 flight(CPH->SFO). Is it only going to be at ticket price when they cancel my flight 24 hr before departure?

Another question is I(my daughter to be exact) have separate booking for PMI->CPH on 7/9 evening, CPH->SFO on 7/10. Can I combine this itinerary and just rebook a PMI->SFO flight instead? Appreciate all the help!

GUWonder

The clouds on the horizon are dark, so my hopping back and forth is being reduced until SAS gets its act together.

I just released back those three seats. SASPlus and then economy to DEN. ARN-LHR-DEN-ORD they probably could have done if they wanted to do so. And on arrival in DEN, jumping ship at DEN works even if bringing back everything and the kitchen sink that got checked in at ARN.

vanillabean

SAS says

cpworld

Is it too simple to grant stock equity to pilots in exchange for wage concessions? Other shareholders might object to dilution but Chapter 11 provides some leeway.

FlyingMoose

I already suggested that but the locals got all fired up about it.

fassy

Which one? I had pretty good experience with some of them. Anyway, I only use them after I tried myself and the airline pushed back 2 times while I think they have an obligation to pay up. The bigger question is: If you use your insurance and contract a lawyer... do you think you will get anywhere then? For at most EUR 600 compensation? Or worse, you lose the court case and your insurance company will make a mark in their CRM (Customer sued and lost, be careful!)... btw, this information is often shared between insurance companies. Which means, if they kick you out at some point... no other insurance company will take you in. At least not for a good rate.

Btw, for me SAS has not ONCE denied a valid EC261 claim. LH and OS... they refused to pay every single time.

dingo

Here's my situation...which is about 1 day from getting cancelled.

Three of us flying from Newark to Copenhagen on Sunday July 10, flying from Stockholm to Newark on July 20; booked into business class on SAS by purchasing the tickets via American Express and paid for them with Membership Rewards points. We have a flight on SAS from Copenhagen to Oslo, and another from Oslo to Stockholm; we paid cash for those. The itineraries are not linked / are not linkable.

I have positioning flights from Charlotte to Newark on American.

All of the SAS flights we would be on have been getting cancelled obviously, at least a day in advance. We have not heard anything from SAS and I don't know that we will since I went through AMEX to book the first flight.

So if we get rebooked, we'll get rebooked out of EWR and I'll have to throw away my positioning flight and use the credit; no big deal. But IF we get rebooked and IF I don't choose to cancel it, it would be great to ask them to put us on LH or AA to Germany and then on to Scandinavia.

Anyway, anyone have thoughts on how my TATL will be handled since it was booked through AMEX? And if they do rebook me and I don't want to even make the trip, how do I get the refund from SAS? (I'll figure out how to get the points back later).

poshul

I think it's worthwhile if it leads to a judgement that establishes clarity on what counts as extraordinary cases for airlines I think its a worthwhile use of my time.