wcalvert

Hello,

I'm helping someone claim EU261 compensation, I believe against Swiss in this instance.

She traveled on a United award ticket in biz from IAH-YUL on AC, YUL-ZRH on LX, then ZRH-MXP on LX (and operated by LX).

YUL-ZRH was on 04/19 and was late due to late arriving in-bound aircraft. Can't find out why this was the case. Inbound landed 29 minutes late and out-bound departed 1 hour 43 minutes late.

She landed in ZRH at 07:14 and missed her connection to MXP at 07:30. She was rebooked onto a Helvetic-operated flight 09:40-10:20 that was canceled.

She was then rebooked onto a Helvetic operated flight 12:55-13:44 that was delayed and landed 1 hour 2 minutes late.

So original expected time in MXP was 08:25 and she arrived at 14:27.
The delay from the canceled Helvetic flight to landing was just over 4 hours.

Questions:

1) Can anyone find the reason for the delay on the 04/19 YUL-ZRH flight for me?
2) Is she entitled to 600 Euro compensation from Swiss?
3) If not, is she entitled to 250 Euro compensation from Helvetic or from Swiss?

I know Swiss is pretty stingy when it comes to EU261 compensation and I'll likely have to use a third party.

Thank you in advance!

Air Rarotonga

2) If the reason of the delay of the flight YUL-ZRH is not "force majeure", then yes.

3) Yes from LX. WK is just flying for LX under wetlease agreements. (also here - if "force majeure" no compensation).

DaRealAd

EU261 compensation does (by law) only apply on flight cancellation or denied boarding, not on delays. The extension on delays is only given by EU court rulings.
LX does not accept those, as the EU court has no judiciary in switzerland.

So I'd say she is only entitled to get 250 € for the cancellation.

YuropFlyer

You might want to wait for some court ruling after which hopefully LX will have to run according to existing EU laws.. right now they act like they're an outlaw in the wild, wild west..

SWISSBOBBY

Which court rulings are you thinking about?

ung1

I didn't know this. I was actually about to post a similar question and saw this thread right at the top.

My OSL-ZRH flight was cancelled so I arrived in GVA (with an overnight in FRA) the next morning instead of the same evening.

Swiss refuses to pay compensation saying this was a cancellation due to adverse weather conditions, but at the same time LH/SN/SK were operating all their flights ex-OSL - and I've tried to use this as an argument against LX but they are not budging.

What annoyed me most was that they never actually informed me about the cancellation! But, looks like this is a lost cause?

malmostoso

Find evidence that the airport was operating just fine at the time of cancellation (screenshots of flightaware are OK) and write one last time to LX. Give them a two week deadline to reply. They will probably reply that they won't communicate further on the matter (if they haven't done so yet). Reply that you regret their decision and you will contact the federal aviation office.

Go to the BAZL website (Google BAZL EC261) and fill out the form. They will inform you of the outcome. If they still deny you, you can try to refer the case to an online agency. If they turn your case down, probably best to let it go.

YuropFlyer

Swiss let everything escalate but EVENTUALLY (That means years) pay out before a final, binding verdict. Basically pax on Swiss have no protections from delays (only cancellations) when they dont touch EU area in their schedule..

Its really sad but unfortunately all the Swiss "independant" gouvernmental agencies like BAZL are 100% on Swiss side.. (weird enough for a company owned 100% by German Lufthansa)

This went as far as appointing an LX employee as "expert" for a court.. even North Korea has more checks and balances than that..

see last paragraph..

https://www.google.com.hk/amp/s/www....ten-1.18616187

cesco.g

Quick Question:
4h30 delayed arrival ZRH via Toronto to Halifax (final destination), all on AC.
Any chance for the Euro 600 per EU261?

P.S. Did post details on AC board, but never got any reponse.

Unterwegs

I believe for inbound flights to europe only european airlines are obligated. So then the answer would be no.

airoli

But it's an outbound flight!

I think cesco.g, in a somewhat confusing way, meant to say that he flew ZRH-YYZ-YHZ on AC, arriving in YHZ 4h30min late.

cesco.g

Correct, airoli. That was exactly the case (of my friends flying).

SK AAR

Where did the delay occur? If the ZRH-YYZ flight was more or less on time but it was a delayed departure of YYZ-Halifax that caused delay at final dest. then no comp. is due. EC Reg. 261/04 does not apply to non-EU carriers' flights outside EU.

If ZRH-YYZ was delayed and caused your friend to misconnect, you have a valid claim against AC (unless the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances)

thbe

Unfortunately there is no chance to claim compensation, even if ZRH-YYZ was delayed.

ZRH is not an EU airport, so EU law can only be applied, if it's ratified by Switzerland.

EC Reg. 261 is ratified by Switzerland, but EC reg. 261 doesn't provide compensation for a delayed flight. Compensation for a delayed flight is based on EU jurisdiction.

So, denied boarding or a canceled flight on an AC flight ZRH-YYZ means compensation based on EC Reg. 261, but not a delayed flight.

cesco.g

What your describe was exactly the case.

Based on your assessment my friends are out of luck, because it was a delayed flight out of Switzerland. If the same situation would have occurred out of an EU airport (e.g. FRA-YYZ) compensation would apply, if I am reading this correctly.
A real drawback of EC261 for folks flying out of Switzerland!

Thanks both of you for your timely replies!