RedChili

As I described above, it really doesn't matter since non-EU airlines are not allowed to fly between the EU and the USA at all. The open skies deal between the EU and the USA is only for airlines registered within the EU and the USA. And to be registered within the USA, an airline needs to be controlled by at least 75% of US owners. Which means that if Norwegian would register an airline in a country outside of the EU, they would have to cancel all their trans-Atlantic routes, making it a moot point.

Furry

Furry

Ok today I got 150SEK so maybe it highly depends on the agent then, 75SEK was "offered" Monday this week. Both times it was not proactively given to me, had to ask for it and then the agent went to get it from back (probably supervisor issuing these?)

This seems to be reasonable amount IMO.

highupinthesky

And this part of the tread is not just about EU <-> US, but how airlines can avoid EU261

RedChili

OK, but earlier in this thread you wrote:

The problem is that almost all Norwegian long-haul flights are operated under the EU-US open skies deal. Their Thailand flights are, I believe, operated under bilateral agreements between Scandinavia and Thailand. The only long-haul flight that they could still operate by registering their Dreamliners in a country outside of the EU/EEA is the LGW-EZE flight. All other long-haul flights would have to be cancelled.

It's a similar problem for most short-haul flights as well. Most of them are flown within the EU/EEA, and must be operated by an airline registered in the EU/EEA. They do have a handful of flights to some other countries, such as Morocco, Serbia, and Israel, but they would be completely crazy to register an airline in any of those countries only to avoid paying EU compensation on 10-15 one-way flights per week.

ksu

I'd go to the lounge

ksu

Doesn't SQ still have their famous JFK-FRA-SIN with passenger rights JFK-FRA?

RedChili

Yes, and that's a fifth freedom flight.

And I wrote about that above. That Norwegian could, for example, register an airline in Serbia, start a flight BEG-LGW-JFK, and apply for fifth freedom rights for a daily flight. But that would mean: 1) The aircraft would likely fly half-empty BEG-LGW. 2) A round-trip trans-Atlantic flight would take 35 hours instead of 24 hours. 3) They would need twice as many LGW slots for one flight. 4) There's no guarantee that both British and US autorities would grant them fifth freedom rights, meaning that there's a chance that they would only be able to carry trans-Atlantic passengers on BEG-JFK. 5) Fifth freedom are in a best case scenario only granted for a maximum of one daily flight per market, which means that Norwegian could in a best case keep 7 weekly flights between the UK-USA, and all other UK-USA flights would have to be cancelled.

And all of that just to avoid paying EU compensation for a handful of passengers?

fassy

Just filed a complaint on Friday evening for a cancellation on Friday morning (SK181). Got a positive decision today after lunch, money is already in my account. Just another data point that one of the good things to say about SK is, they usually just pay up without a fuss. This would never had happened with e.g. OS or LH.

Furry

Fully agree on this. This should be the benchmark of all airlines how to handle EU261.

Flight delay on 24th, filed a complaint on 25th evening - reply from them 26th morning - money on account on 27th.
Flight delay on 26th, filed a complaint 27th morning - reply from them 30minutes! after - money on account 28th.

Despite the delays/cancellations still a happy camper.

s115

Except its not everyones experience is it?
Still waiting for cash, almost a month later. Two attempts at an international transfer, nothing has appeared in the account, multiple checks with the bank, calls to sas etc.
No response to emails unless you call as the case is sitting at 'closed'.

garyfinny

Was hoping for some advice on a potential claim for an elderly relative.
The flight number was SK0502 on Sunday just gone, London-Copenhagen (09.50 departure).

They were notified of the cancellation of the flight the day before. On calling up, they were offered to be rebooked on the 17.00 service but this got into Copenhagen at 19.55 and too late to make their connection, so they had to turn this down and make other arrangements to get there (bought another flight on another airline).

On looking at this again, it seems that perhaps they could have asked for a rebooking on to an earlier service (there was one at 0655), or an indirect service, or on another airline (there was a BA flight with similar timings), but they are not regular travellers and they were not to know this at the time. The 1700 option was the only one offered. Further it was not really worth the gamble of turning up at the desk and finding out that the 1700 was the best they could do and losing the rest of the holiday.

The ticket was the outbound and the return initially was cancelled, however they seem to have spoken to someone who has reinstated the return.

I know the cost of the replacement flights cannot be claimed, but I'd like to know if the rest of the case is sound and in particular if anyone knows the reason for the flight cancellation. Not going to be weather related (other flights flew LHR-CPH that time), but if the inbound flight (which would have been the night before) is cancelled for a extraordinary reason, would that be sufficient to deny a claim?

highupinthesky

Just file the claim on the SK website. It takes 5-10 min. if you have the flight details etc. ready. The details is information like flight number, ticket number and IBAN/bank account information where they should transfer the compensation to. They are normally quite large and fast with honoring EU261 claims. If the claim is rejected they will give you the reason and then you can decide whether you want to take the claim to one of the leeches or challenge the rejection your self.

I don't think the return flight were ever canceled. SK is one of the airlines which doesn't cancel return flights when the outbound leg isn't used.

Often1

Once they declined a reroute, it will be very hard to sustain a claim. At a minimum, they ought to be armed with the reason for the cancellation before making any decisions.

highupinthesky

Not with SK. If I remember correct, there isn't even a field to fill in the cancellation/delay reason in the online claim form. Beside. Unless the ticket is refunded the airline can't reject the EU261 claim whether you fly or not. Specially not when the flight it canceled completely.