Jul 18, 2019, 5:20 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishes common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91.
Best FT thread for referencing EC261/2004: The 2019 BA compensation thread: Your guide to Regulation EC261/2004
Note update - 2016 June 10
EU clarification on EC261/2004
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes...16)3502_en.pdf
Where and how to address for EC 261 claims:
Link to article on Wikipedia: "The Flight Delay Compensation Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 is a regulation establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding, flight cancellations, or long delays of flights. It repealed Regulation (EEC) No 295/91, and went into effect on 18 February 2005. It sets out the entitlements of air passengers when a flight that they intend to travel on is delayed or cancelled, or when they are denied boarding to such a flight due to overbooking, or when the airline is unable to accommodate them in the class they had booked." It applies to Member States and includes French overseas territories.
Heretofore, the ruling only applied to flights leaving Europe on all airlines, or flights from anywhere to Europe, on European airlines. Most recently (July 2019), a new European Court of Justice ruling commands that even flights which connect to non-EU airlines, but were booked as one ticket from the EU must be compensated. (link to article on godsavethepoints.com)
Link to EC 261/2004 text in several languages.
Link to language (English) Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) of EC 261/2004
Link to description by Air Passenger Rights a "multilingual consumer website explaining the rights of air passengers in the European Union."
Link to contact details of EC 261/2004 enforcement bodies
Link to English language EC 261/2004 compliaint form PDF
Email for EC claims at (to determine)
Link to BAEC Forum lengthy EC261/2004 thread.
Link to thisismoney.co.uk article explaining EC261/2004.
Emirates told to pay out on missed connection claims, by Mark Caswell, Business Traveller, 19 Mar 2018
“Despite all this, expect airlines to give you a hard time with your claim. File a claim on your own, but if you find yourself stonewalled or denied unfairly, enlisting a firm like AirHelp or Bott & Co can be huge, since they fight the case for you, in exchange for a 25% cut of the recovered cash. A 75% chunk of something is better than 100% of nothing.” (godsavethepoints.com)
Signed in members with 90 days / 90 posts can edit this Wikipost; wiki contents may be printed by using the
(lower right wiki corner)
Best FT thread for referencing EC261/2004: The 2019 BA compensation thread: Your guide to Regulation EC261/2004
Note update - 2016 June 10
EU clarification on EC261/2004
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes...16)3502_en.pdf
Where and how to address for EC 261 claims:
EC261/2004 claims should be lodged with the operating airline.
Go to the complaints page, select "Submit a complaint", and select "Delay" in the drop-down box.
Keep the comments to the bare minimum - stick to the facts, and best to use bullet points. Keep all commentary about anything other than the bald facts of the case out of the submission ("We were very upset and disappointed..." etc etc) and make no reference to any of the topics already explained to you in this thread to be of no relevance to the airline or to this claim ("We lost the first pre-paid night of our vacation as we had a non-refundable hotel booking" etc etc)
Attach scans/photographs of your boarding passes - the original boarding passes showing the original departure details, and the replacement boarding passes showing the later actual departure details - and include the original e-ticket receipt and any communications/emails/texts from the airline notifying you of the delay.
I would also advise you specifically write that you want the €600 per passenger in cash (transferred to your bank account) rather than a voucher to be used with TAP within 12 months of 50% greater value...unless this truly is your wish. I've explained above why it is generally a bad idea to accept a voucher in lieu of cash.
Go to the complaints page, select "Submit a complaint", and select "Delay" in the drop-down box.
Keep the comments to the bare minimum - stick to the facts, and best to use bullet points. Keep all commentary about anything other than the bald facts of the case out of the submission ("We were very upset and disappointed..." etc etc) and make no reference to any of the topics already explained to you in this thread to be of no relevance to the airline or to this claim ("We lost the first pre-paid night of our vacation as we had a non-refundable hotel booking" etc etc)
Attach scans/photographs of your boarding passes - the original boarding passes showing the original departure details, and the replacement boarding passes showing the later actual departure details - and include the original e-ticket receipt and any communications/emails/texts from the airline notifying you of the delay.
I would also advise you specifically write that you want the €600 per passenger in cash (transferred to your bank account) rather than a voucher to be used with TAP within 12 months of 50% greater value...unless this truly is your wish. I've explained above why it is generally a bad idea to accept a voucher in lieu of cash.
Code:
The regulation applies to any passenger: - departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies;
Code:
The protection accorded to passengers departing from or to an airport located in a Member State should be extended to those leaving an airport located in a third country for one situated in a Member State, when a Community carrier operates the flight and where a community carrier is defined as any carrier licensed to operate within that community.
Code:
- departing from an EU member state, or travelling to an EU member state - on an airline based in an EU member state if that person has: - a confirmed reservation on the flight, and - arrived in time for check-in as indicated on the ticket or communication from the airline airline, or, if no time is so indicated, no less than 45 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time of the flight or - have been transferred from the flight for which he/she held a reservation to some other flight unless - the passenger is travelling on a free or discounted ticket not available to the general public, other than a ticket obtained from a frequent flyer programme. It does not apply to helicopter flights, to any flight not operated by a fixed-wing aircraft, nor to flights from Gibraltar Airport.[1] (wikipedia)
Heretofore, the ruling only applied to flights leaving Europe on all airlines, or flights from anywhere to Europe, on European airlines. Most recently (July 2019), a new European Court of Justice ruling commands that even flights which connect to non-EU airlines, but were booked as one ticket from the EU must be compensated. (link to article on godsavethepoints.com)
Link to EC 261/2004 text in several languages.
Link to language (English) Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) of EC 261/2004
Link to description by Air Passenger Rights a "multilingual consumer website explaining the rights of air passengers in the European Union."
Link to contact details of EC 261/2004 enforcement bodies
Link to English language EC 261/2004 compliaint form PDF
Email for EC claims at (to determine)
Link to BAEC Forum lengthy EC261/2004 thread.
Link to thisismoney.co.uk article explaining EC261/2004.
Emirates told to pay out on missed connection claims, by Mark Caswell, Business Traveller, 19 Mar 2018
“Despite all this, expect airlines to give you a hard time with your claim. File a claim on your own, but if you find yourself stonewalled or denied unfairly, enlisting a firm like AirHelp or Bott & Co can be huge, since they fight the case for you, in exchange for a 25% cut of the recovered cash. A 75% chunk of something is better than 100% of nothing.” (godsavethepoints.com)
Signed in members with 90 days / 90 posts can edit this Wikipost; wiki contents may be printed by using the
(lower right wiki corner)
GUIDE: EC261 / EC 261/2004 “EU” complaints, compensation and TAP
Jan 4, 2020, 3:22 pm
#152
Join Date: Aug 2008
Programs: UA MP, Delta Sky Miles, AA Advantage
Posts: 163
That said, the moment TP is forced to admit it wasn't extraordinary circumstances they are much more likely to pay up.
Otherwise consider the EU online dispute resolution.
As soon as the complaint statutory time passes (I believe it's 30 days) I intend to use one of those online law firms/agencies that take the airlines to courts and force them to pay compensation under EU 261/2004. But it seems that TAP is using a new strategy and blaming all its delays on the ATC restrictions. Is there any way to find out whether they, actually, saying the truth or not? Is ATC data for a specific date/airport/routing available online?
Jan 4, 2020, 4:18 pm
#153
Join Date: Aug 2008
Programs: UA MP, Delta Sky Miles, AA Advantage
Posts: 163
AviationADR works only for the UK. For the rest of Europe there is this one:
https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/m...screeningphase
You may also file a complaint with the Autoridade Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC).
Which claims agency is better in forcing TAP to pay EU 261 compensation? This guy:
https://www.leantravellerguide.com/2...aim-companies/
tries to make you believe that AirHelp is the best.
Is it?
https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/m...screeningphase
You may also file a complaint with the Autoridade Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC).
Which claims agency is better in forcing TAP to pay EU 261 compensation? This guy:
https://www.leantravellerguide.com/2...aim-companies/
tries to make you believe that AirHelp is the best.
Is it?
Jan 5, 2020, 12:00 am
#155
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Cross-posting in different threads is frowned upon. Cross posted and duplicate posts have been deleted.
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Jan 5, 2020, 7:50 am
#157
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
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Posts: 20,345
It is "letter before action".
Mar 5, 2020, 4:39 pm
#159
Join Date: Mar 2020
Posts: 1
Hi,
I need some advice regarding a complaint with TAP that has not been fruitful up until now.
On July 2019 our flight from DC to Lisbon was delayed in 24 hours (original flight canceled, we were sent home and they booked us on a later flight)
A complaint letter to TAP with an attempt to exercise EC261 got a response that claims that the cancellation was due to an "unexpected safety issue"
when asked to receive information about this safety issue, TAP responded that i should take their email response as an official response and that is it.
Two friends of ours that were with us on the same flight both received the requested 600Euro compensation, one on his own and another through a service that collected 50% of their compensation.
Any advice about what am I doing wrong or how to proceed?
Thanks
I need some advice regarding a complaint with TAP that has not been fruitful up until now.
On July 2019 our flight from DC to Lisbon was delayed in 24 hours (original flight canceled, we were sent home and they booked us on a later flight)
A complaint letter to TAP with an attempt to exercise EC261 got a response that claims that the cancellation was due to an "unexpected safety issue"
when asked to receive information about this safety issue, TAP responded that i should take their email response as an official response and that is it.
Two friends of ours that were with us on the same flight both received the requested 600Euro compensation, one on his own and another through a service that collected 50% of their compensation.
Any advice about what am I doing wrong or how to proceed?
Thanks
Apr 6, 2020, 11:36 am
#160
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 14
I had similar issue with TAP in November (misconnection) and carrier also answered me with a copy-paste message (airport restrictions) like this:
We apologise for the delay of the flight TP 1482 from DSS to LIS on the 11-11-2019., which was due to airport restrictions. All the reasonable measures have been taken in order to minimize the consequences of a situation, which is completely unrelated to TAP Air Portugal. In the terms of the EU Regulation 261/2004, there is no compensation in case of extraordinary circumstance, as verified in this situation.
Due to delay of about 30 minutes of Dakar-Lisbon flight TP1482 (02:05 a.m. – 06:00 a.m.) I missed my connecting flight TP536 from Lisbon to Berlin Tegel (scheduled departure time was 07:05 a.m. / arrival 11:35 a.m.). After landing in Lisbon I was surprised that there was no attempt from the ground staff to transfer me and other passengers on the flight TP536 to Berlin Tegel. I need to highlight that there were at least 10 people booked on the same connection DSS-LIS-TXL and we expected some action from the airline (like taking us all together through passport and security control and short transfer to the aircraft). Instead of this I received SMS with new flight details when I was still on board of the plane TP1482. We were rebooked by TAP when we were in the air, there was no chance given to us to catch our connecting flights in Lisbon, new flight details were:
TP932 Lisbon-Zurich 08:50 - 12:40
LX968 Zurich-Berlin Tegel 13:40 - 15:05 (arrived on time)
As you can see, the arrival time in Berlin Tegel (TXL) was more than 3 hours later (but still less than 4 hours) than the original ETA (11:35).
What I found out on Flight Radar 24 was quite surprising as both my original flights TP1482 (DSS-LIS) and TP536 (LIS-TXL) on 11th November 2019 were physically operated by the same aircraft Airbus A321 with reg. number CS-TJF. In this case it should have been quite easy for TAP staff at the Lisbon airport to transfer all connecting passengers on time (around 10 people with me were booked on the same route), especially when taking into consideration that the aircraft arrived at 06:24 a.m. and departed more than 1 hour later at 07:28 a.m. local time. All passengers were automatically rebooked for later flights when we were still airborne while the same airplane CS-TJF was scheduled to fly to Berlin after turn around in Lisbon. After getting in touch with ground staff at LIS airport straight after landing we asked for possibility to still catch our original connection but we were told that the gate is closed, we were given new boarding cards and vouchers for breakfast.
As a passenger I didn't notice any particular issues at the airport in Dakar and the other operations run on time (previous flight LIS-DSS arrived on time), the pilot didn't mention anything particular to the passengers on board regarding this slight delay of our departure from (but of course I may be wrong and we were just not informed about “airport restrictions”). The main issue in my case was not the delay of the aircraft (as the arrival in LIS airport was in fact only around 25 minutes later than the original ETA) but the quite short connecting time in Lisbon airport (exactly 1 hour and 5 minutes in reservation).
After getting two “copy paste” rejections from TAP I submitted last month a claim at ANAC in Portugal and LBA in Germany. Do you think is there any change for getting financial compensation (300 EUR / 600 EUR) from the airlines according to the Regulation (EC) No 261/2004? Do they need to prove somehow the question of “airport restrictions”? Thanks a lot for your advice / opinions.
We apologise for the delay of the flight TP 1482 from DSS to LIS on the 11-11-2019., which was due to airport restrictions. All the reasonable measures have been taken in order to minimize the consequences of a situation, which is completely unrelated to TAP Air Portugal. In the terms of the EU Regulation 261/2004, there is no compensation in case of extraordinary circumstance, as verified in this situation.
Due to delay of about 30 minutes of Dakar-Lisbon flight TP1482 (02:05 a.m. – 06:00 a.m.) I missed my connecting flight TP536 from Lisbon to Berlin Tegel (scheduled departure time was 07:05 a.m. / arrival 11:35 a.m.). After landing in Lisbon I was surprised that there was no attempt from the ground staff to transfer me and other passengers on the flight TP536 to Berlin Tegel. I need to highlight that there were at least 10 people booked on the same connection DSS-LIS-TXL and we expected some action from the airline (like taking us all together through passport and security control and short transfer to the aircraft). Instead of this I received SMS with new flight details when I was still on board of the plane TP1482. We were rebooked by TAP when we were in the air, there was no chance given to us to catch our connecting flights in Lisbon, new flight details were:
TP932 Lisbon-Zurich 08:50 - 12:40
LX968 Zurich-Berlin Tegel 13:40 - 15:05 (arrived on time)
As you can see, the arrival time in Berlin Tegel (TXL) was more than 3 hours later (but still less than 4 hours) than the original ETA (11:35).
What I found out on Flight Radar 24 was quite surprising as both my original flights TP1482 (DSS-LIS) and TP536 (LIS-TXL) on 11th November 2019 were physically operated by the same aircraft Airbus A321 with reg. number CS-TJF. In this case it should have been quite easy for TAP staff at the Lisbon airport to transfer all connecting passengers on time (around 10 people with me were booked on the same route), especially when taking into consideration that the aircraft arrived at 06:24 a.m. and departed more than 1 hour later at 07:28 a.m. local time. All passengers were automatically rebooked for later flights when we were still airborne while the same airplane CS-TJF was scheduled to fly to Berlin after turn around in Lisbon. After getting in touch with ground staff at LIS airport straight after landing we asked for possibility to still catch our original connection but we were told that the gate is closed, we were given new boarding cards and vouchers for breakfast.
As a passenger I didn't notice any particular issues at the airport in Dakar and the other operations run on time (previous flight LIS-DSS arrived on time), the pilot didn't mention anything particular to the passengers on board regarding this slight delay of our departure from (but of course I may be wrong and we were just not informed about “airport restrictions”). The main issue in my case was not the delay of the aircraft (as the arrival in LIS airport was in fact only around 25 minutes later than the original ETA) but the quite short connecting time in Lisbon airport (exactly 1 hour and 5 minutes in reservation).
After getting two “copy paste” rejections from TAP I submitted last month a claim at ANAC in Portugal and LBA in Germany. Do you think is there any change for getting financial compensation (300 EUR / 600 EUR) from the airlines according to the Regulation (EC) No 261/2004? Do they need to prove somehow the question of “airport restrictions”? Thanks a lot for your advice / opinions.
Jun 15, 2020, 5:16 pm
#162
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Jul 4, 2020, 2:22 am
#163
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: SJC
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Explorist, Bonvoyed Lifetime Gold
Posts: 117
Sorry long story.
I purchased flights in Oct from Mad-opo-lis-cgn and return Cgn-lis-Mad. The problem occurred on my return flight. I got to the airport early for my return flight and for some reason CGN wouldn't allow me to pass security with my phone boarding pass, they asked me to get a hard copy. Well TAP doesn't fly all day, so literally I ended up waiting 3 extra hours till they opened. At that point, I knew it was going to be a long day. I finally got the boarding pass and everything seemed to be smooth all the way to the gate. They called boarding and people started to head to the air bridge, they never got past the first steps onto the air bridge. The front tire had issues and someone just noticed. They asked everyone back to the gate. We were told to wait and that they will alert us in 15 min to see how long it would take to resolve the issue, nothing was said initially. About 30 min later they came back and said there was a tire issue and they needed another 30 min to determine if the tire can be replaced. About 45 min later they said they needed another 30 min, they said they were trying to resolve the issue. The plane landed about 30 min before the board and I couldn't imagine a huge issue occurring, everything seemed normal. So this went on a few times after 4 hours of this with updates every 45 mins, I had enough and went to the gate agent and asked to be rebooked on any flight heading to MAD at this point. I was getting really nervous I was going to miss my connecting flight. Gate agent said there were no more flights leaving to LiS or MAD and that they were still working the problem. So I asked if they were providing any meals or anything to drink, the gate area had most of the things closed. Nothing around the gate area was open and I had been at the airport now for a few hours. They said they were sure the issue would get resolved soon and not to worry. We had been waiting for longer than the flight time at this point. 45 min updates became 90 min, the next thing you know its 6.5 hours. During this whole time I tried calling TAP customer service a few times and was looking for the last flight out to any major city, I knew if I flew i would have a chance to catch my MAD-PVG in time. Tap customer service wasn't helpful, they 800 number rang and rang. No one ever picked up. I found a flight on Turkish, leaving in about 45 mins. I went to the gate agent one last time and asked what was happening. He said the tire couldn't be fixed and that they were getting another plane flown in. I asked how long that would take and he said he didn't know, but they would let me know in about 90 mins. I asked if we were getting hotel rooms to accommodate us, he said they didn't know when the replacement plane would arrive. At this point, I had lost faith in TAP and it had been over 7 hours with no real communication and no water or food. I said screw it, ran to the international terminal and bought a ticket on Turkish. CGN-IST-MAD only problem was the IST-MAD was gonna cut it close.. like 20 min close. I bought the ticket and headed to the gate.. Got to the gate. Turkish plane was at the gate but they had arrived late and they were still cleaning. Starving at this point, there was a restaurant open I grabbed a quick bite and then boarded. I literally got the last plane out of CGN for the night, I guess I was lucky. I then flew to IST and got to IST around early morning. I had 2-hour layover so I went to the lounge. IST is SUPER NICE, im going back there again. Left the lounge and got on my journey to MAD. I must have been super lucky my IST-MAD arrived 50 min early. I guess we had good winds. I ran from the gate to the Iberia separate bus terminal, MAD airport SUCKS! IBERIA has its own terminal that I didnt know about and you need to get special transportation to take you to the other terminal, its not walkable. I finally got to the gate, they weren't calling final boarding but I wasn't the first on board. I made it with literally minutes to spare. I had flown all night to catch this flight and got super lucky. I don't believe TAP communicated properly and I don't think TAP honored my air passenger rights. When I got to PVG, I checked flight times. The replacement flight from TAP flew from CGN-MAD 1 hour after my PVG flight the next day. I would have missed my connecting flight and I would have missed my 2nd connecting flight from PVG-BKK. Basically I traveled all night for a 3-hour flight and if tap communicated properly I could have caught a direct flight.
I have been asking TAP for a refund of the ticket since NOV 2019, they keep ignoring me. I finally got tired and called my credit card company which offered me half of the ticket back. I then tried to get ec261 from TAP directly for the replacement flight (CGN-IST-MAD was about $360), they did not respond. I then wrote to DOT which included tap in the communication. DOT said they couldn't do anything bc it wasn't flown in the US. I then went to the SOEP Germany transportation authority (arbitration). Arbitration awarded me $700+ euros because they agreed that TAP was liable. TAP has refused to answer the arbitration email from SOEP. Soep has asked me to give them another month to respond. If TAP doesn't reply to arbitration I think my only recourse is to hire an attorney, AirHelp and those companies wont really help. I need to take TAP to court. Has anyone else had issues with TAP and arbitration???
UPDATE: Wrote email to TAP CEO, also sent email to customer service. Still no response. It's been july since I sent email. Im going to keep trying.
I purchased flights in Oct from Mad-opo-lis-cgn and return Cgn-lis-Mad. The problem occurred on my return flight. I got to the airport early for my return flight and for some reason CGN wouldn't allow me to pass security with my phone boarding pass, they asked me to get a hard copy. Well TAP doesn't fly all day, so literally I ended up waiting 3 extra hours till they opened. At that point, I knew it was going to be a long day. I finally got the boarding pass and everything seemed to be smooth all the way to the gate. They called boarding and people started to head to the air bridge, they never got past the first steps onto the air bridge. The front tire had issues and someone just noticed. They asked everyone back to the gate. We were told to wait and that they will alert us in 15 min to see how long it would take to resolve the issue, nothing was said initially. About 30 min later they came back and said there was a tire issue and they needed another 30 min to determine if the tire can be replaced. About 45 min later they said they needed another 30 min, they said they were trying to resolve the issue. The plane landed about 30 min before the board and I couldn't imagine a huge issue occurring, everything seemed normal. So this went on a few times after 4 hours of this with updates every 45 mins, I had enough and went to the gate agent and asked to be rebooked on any flight heading to MAD at this point. I was getting really nervous I was going to miss my connecting flight. Gate agent said there were no more flights leaving to LiS or MAD and that they were still working the problem. So I asked if they were providing any meals or anything to drink, the gate area had most of the things closed. Nothing around the gate area was open and I had been at the airport now for a few hours. They said they were sure the issue would get resolved soon and not to worry. We had been waiting for longer than the flight time at this point. 45 min updates became 90 min, the next thing you know its 6.5 hours. During this whole time I tried calling TAP customer service a few times and was looking for the last flight out to any major city, I knew if I flew i would have a chance to catch my MAD-PVG in time. Tap customer service wasn't helpful, they 800 number rang and rang. No one ever picked up. I found a flight on Turkish, leaving in about 45 mins. I went to the gate agent one last time and asked what was happening. He said the tire couldn't be fixed and that they were getting another plane flown in. I asked how long that would take and he said he didn't know, but they would let me know in about 90 mins. I asked if we were getting hotel rooms to accommodate us, he said they didn't know when the replacement plane would arrive. At this point, I had lost faith in TAP and it had been over 7 hours with no real communication and no water or food. I said screw it, ran to the international terminal and bought a ticket on Turkish. CGN-IST-MAD only problem was the IST-MAD was gonna cut it close.. like 20 min close. I bought the ticket and headed to the gate.. Got to the gate. Turkish plane was at the gate but they had arrived late and they were still cleaning. Starving at this point, there was a restaurant open I grabbed a quick bite and then boarded. I literally got the last plane out of CGN for the night, I guess I was lucky. I then flew to IST and got to IST around early morning. I had 2-hour layover so I went to the lounge. IST is SUPER NICE, im going back there again. Left the lounge and got on my journey to MAD. I must have been super lucky my IST-MAD arrived 50 min early. I guess we had good winds. I ran from the gate to the Iberia separate bus terminal, MAD airport SUCKS! IBERIA has its own terminal that I didnt know about and you need to get special transportation to take you to the other terminal, its not walkable. I finally got to the gate, they weren't calling final boarding but I wasn't the first on board. I made it with literally minutes to spare. I had flown all night to catch this flight and got super lucky. I don't believe TAP communicated properly and I don't think TAP honored my air passenger rights. When I got to PVG, I checked flight times. The replacement flight from TAP flew from CGN-MAD 1 hour after my PVG flight the next day. I would have missed my connecting flight and I would have missed my 2nd connecting flight from PVG-BKK. Basically I traveled all night for a 3-hour flight and if tap communicated properly I could have caught a direct flight.
I have been asking TAP for a refund of the ticket since NOV 2019, they keep ignoring me. I finally got tired and called my credit card company which offered me half of the ticket back. I then tried to get ec261 from TAP directly for the replacement flight (CGN-IST-MAD was about $360), they did not respond. I then wrote to DOT which included tap in the communication. DOT said they couldn't do anything bc it wasn't flown in the US. I then went to the SOEP Germany transportation authority (arbitration). Arbitration awarded me $700+ euros because they agreed that TAP was liable. TAP has refused to answer the arbitration email from SOEP. Soep has asked me to give them another month to respond. If TAP doesn't reply to arbitration I think my only recourse is to hire an attorney, AirHelp and those companies wont really help. I need to take TAP to court. Has anyone else had issues with TAP and arbitration???
UPDATE: Wrote email to TAP CEO, also sent email to customer service. Still no response. It's been july since I sent email. Im going to keep trying.
Last edited by JfromTheBay; Nov 16, 2021 at 3:13 am Reason: update
Apr 19, 2021, 8:06 pm
#164
Join Date: May 2004
Location: HNL
Posts: 124
Get a free Revolut account and give them the EUR account number. Then you can do a free transfer within the app (to USD) and then ultimately to your Chase account.
Revolut
Revolut
Jul 2, 2021, 8:15 pm
#165
Join Date: May 2004
Location: HNL
Posts: 124
Originally Posted by pxm View Post
Scheduled to fly from Orly to Madrid with a connection in Lisboa on 24 June. The flight from Orly to Lisboa was late, resulting in a missed connection to the last flight of the day from LIS to MAD. Upon arriving at LIS, there was a long queue of passengers waiting for rebooking. TAP agent told me that he could not book a hotel for them and that I should book my own hotel, make arrangements for transportation to/from the airport and that I would be reimbursed . When I questioned why, TAP representative indicated that contracted hotel rooms for the evening had been exhausted. Furthermore, TAP representatives indicated that they would reimburse hotel room for no more than 80 € per passenger. This made me believe that TAP was violating EU 261 duty to care regulations. TAP did provide, however, vouchers for meals at the airport. Low and behold, by the time all of this was sorted out it was 2300 and my attempts to book a hotel resulted in me finding a 215 € per night hotel. To add insult to injury, TAP representatives gave me a boarding pass for the next flight to Madrid, which was scheduled at 0620 on 25 June. When I noticed this, I had to get back in a long queue to ask them to change the flight to a later departure to MAD as I was exhausted (had flown from FDF to ORY earlier on 24 June). I have no idea what the reason for the delay of the ORY-LIS flight was as the weather in both airports was fine.
Here are my questions:
1. How do I file a complaint against TAP regarding the violation of duty to care under EU 261?
2. Am I entitled to EU 261 compensation?
3. Does it make any difference in regards to EU 261 compensation if I asked to be booked on a flight later than what I was originally offered?
4. Given that TAP did not provide a reason for the delay in the ORY – LIS flight, is there a way for me to determine the reason?
5. Is TAP likely to refuse to reimburse me for the hotel as it exceed 80 €?
Thank you in advance for your responses.
I am going to follow-up on this post. After two years of doing battle with TAP in order to get EC 261 / 2004 compensation and reimbursement for a missed connection in LIS, which resulted in me having to spend a night there, I finally received partial reimbursement* for expenses and full EC 261 / 2004 compensation today. TAP is a really shoddy outfit that did everything that they could do in order not to pay me. The entity that was able to assist me was ANAC (Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority) and I am very grateful to them for their assistance. I know that TAP would not have responded to my initial complaint (form on their webpage) without being prompted by ANAC, and would not have followed through and paid me without again being prompted by ANAC several times. Some of the tactics that TAP used were unscrupulous, even after ANAC contacted and told them that they should compensate me, including responding in Portuguese (I speak Spanish and I have no problem understanding written Portuguese), delaying responses to e-mails for weeks, asking for a non-existent document from my bank regarding wire transfers, claiming that their finance department did not accept my bank information, sending the wire transfer to the wrong bank account, claiming that the payment was made, and over all making me go in circles. In any case, I persevered and must say that I kind of enjoyed doing battle with them. I will, however, be sending a report of what I had to go through to my European MP as TAP needs to be held to account and follow EU regulations. I imagine that many people just give up on their claims after going around in circles with TAP; my advice, however, to all FT readers is to realize that you are in for a long battle and to contact ANAC as they are very responsive and will contact TAP to question why compensation was not provided.
*As it relates to partial reimbursement for expenses, TAP representatives had claimed at the LIS airport that they would only reimburse me for 80 EUR for my hotel stay and associated expenses. It turned out that they paid 200 EUR for these expenses, which did not, however, cover all of my expenses (e.g. hotel charges, Uber to/from hotel, telephone calls to rearrange schedule).
Scheduled to fly from Orly to Madrid with a connection in Lisboa on 24 June. The flight from Orly to Lisboa was late, resulting in a missed connection to the last flight of the day from LIS to MAD. Upon arriving at LIS, there was a long queue of passengers waiting for rebooking. TAP agent told me that he could not book a hotel for them and that I should book my own hotel, make arrangements for transportation to/from the airport and that I would be reimbursed . When I questioned why, TAP representative indicated that contracted hotel rooms for the evening had been exhausted. Furthermore, TAP representatives indicated that they would reimburse hotel room for no more than 80 € per passenger. This made me believe that TAP was violating EU 261 duty to care regulations. TAP did provide, however, vouchers for meals at the airport. Low and behold, by the time all of this was sorted out it was 2300 and my attempts to book a hotel resulted in me finding a 215 € per night hotel. To add insult to injury, TAP representatives gave me a boarding pass for the next flight to Madrid, which was scheduled at 0620 on 25 June. When I noticed this, I had to get back in a long queue to ask them to change the flight to a later departure to MAD as I was exhausted (had flown from FDF to ORY earlier on 24 June). I have no idea what the reason for the delay of the ORY-LIS flight was as the weather in both airports was fine.
Here are my questions:
1. How do I file a complaint against TAP regarding the violation of duty to care under EU 261?
2. Am I entitled to EU 261 compensation?
3. Does it make any difference in regards to EU 261 compensation if I asked to be booked on a flight later than what I was originally offered?
4. Given that TAP did not provide a reason for the delay in the ORY – LIS flight, is there a way for me to determine the reason?
5. Is TAP likely to refuse to reimburse me for the hotel as it exceed 80 €?
Thank you in advance for your responses.
I am going to follow-up on this post. After two years of doing battle with TAP in order to get EC 261 / 2004 compensation and reimbursement for a missed connection in LIS, which resulted in me having to spend a night there, I finally received partial reimbursement* for expenses and full EC 261 / 2004 compensation today. TAP is a really shoddy outfit that did everything that they could do in order not to pay me. The entity that was able to assist me was ANAC (Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority) and I am very grateful to them for their assistance. I know that TAP would not have responded to my initial complaint (form on their webpage) without being prompted by ANAC, and would not have followed through and paid me without again being prompted by ANAC several times. Some of the tactics that TAP used were unscrupulous, even after ANAC contacted and told them that they should compensate me, including responding in Portuguese (I speak Spanish and I have no problem understanding written Portuguese), delaying responses to e-mails for weeks, asking for a non-existent document from my bank regarding wire transfers, claiming that their finance department did not accept my bank information, sending the wire transfer to the wrong bank account, claiming that the payment was made, and over all making me go in circles. In any case, I persevered and must say that I kind of enjoyed doing battle with them. I will, however, be sending a report of what I had to go through to my European MP as TAP needs to be held to account and follow EU regulations. I imagine that many people just give up on their claims after going around in circles with TAP; my advice, however, to all FT readers is to realize that you are in for a long battle and to contact ANAC as they are very responsive and will contact TAP to question why compensation was not provided.
*As it relates to partial reimbursement for expenses, TAP representatives had claimed at the LIS airport that they would only reimburse me for 80 EUR for my hotel stay and associated expenses. It turned out that they paid 200 EUR for these expenses, which did not, however, cover all of my expenses (e.g. hotel charges, Uber to/from hotel, telephone calls to rearrange schedule).
Last edited by pxm; Aug 10, 2021 at 5:11 am Reason: Added original post.