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GUIDE: EC261 / EC 261/2004 “EU” complaints, compensation and TAP

Old Jul 18, 2019, 5:20 pm
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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:

Originally Posted by irishguy28
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.
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)
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)

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GUIDE: EC261 / EC 261/2004 “EU” complaints, compensation and TAP

Old Jun 27, 2019, 7:45 pm
  #76  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
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Originally Posted by UKtravelbear
Just a reminder that EU261 is based on cash compensation (equivalent of the € amounts in the regulation)

An airline is permitted to offer alternative - voucher for a greater amount or miles - but only if the passenger agrees,

If you want the cash then they have to give you that. If you are happy with a voucher then take it but the choice is the passengers and not the airline.
The voucher was for $850USD... more than the $600 cash so yes I went with that.
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Old Jun 27, 2019, 7:45 pm
  #77  
 
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Originally Posted by guv1976
What kind of "voucher"?
For any TAP future flights. (Like a "gift card.")
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Old Jun 28, 2019, 1:39 pm
  #78  
 
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Originally Posted by fly2nrt
The voucher was for $850USD... more than the $600 cash so yes I went with that.
it’s eur 600, so roughly $682 in cash.
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Old Jun 28, 2019, 4:32 pm
  #79  
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Originally Posted by fly2nrt
The voucher was for $850USD... more than the $600 cash so yes I went with that.
Air Canada does this, they will offer 900 EUR voucher instead.
Those vouchers come with so many restrictions (no residual, dont cover fuel surcharge) - its a borderline scam.

Always take cash.
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Old Jun 28, 2019, 6:48 pm
  #80  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 902
Originally Posted by fly2nrt
I filed an EU 261 claim with TP last week and had my voucher emailed to me within 5 days.
For real?!... It took them almost 6 months to accept my claim. They did offer 150% of the EU 261 compensation if I was willing to take a voucher for future travels with them.
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Old Jun 28, 2019, 7:37 pm
  #81  
 
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Originally Posted by rankourabu
Air Canada does this, they will offer 900 EUR voucher instead.
Those vouchers come with so many restrictions (no residual, dont cover fuel surcharge) - its a borderline scam.

Always take cash.
Already used it... basically a gift certificate. Even paid for tickets for other people.
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Old Jun 29, 2019, 6:43 pm
  #82  
pxm
 
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EU 261 Questions Regarding Terrible Experience with TAP

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.
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Old Jun 29, 2019, 9:27 pm
  #83  
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Originally Posted by pxm
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.
First, you are definitely eligible for the EU261/2004 compensation unless TAP has a valid reason that EU261/2004 won't apply for that case. ( Answer of Question 2 and 4 )

1 - You could contact them via their website and they should be assisting you. If not, you could take legal action. Another alternative is that you could use one of the agencies that would do everything for you but they could ask for %20-%40 of your claim. So, I would suggest that you try on your own

3- Unless you weren't offered to arrive within the 3-hour window of your originally scheduled LIS-MAD flight, the flight you preferred to take doesn't matter. However, if they made you sign something at LIS ( at the transfer desk ), that might cause you a problem. Sometimes, in similar cases, some airlines hand a form to the passenger to sign that the passenger had voluntarily changed his flight and would not be eligible for compensation.

5- It's TAP's duty to provide you accommodation, food, and transportation to the accommodation facility. So in your case, food was provided but accommodation and transportation were not provided. They should reimburse you but if you preferred to stay in a 5-star luxury hotel in a suite instead of a 3* or a 4* hotel, they probably won't and would have a reasonable excuse only to pay 80€.
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Old Jun 30, 2019, 7:49 am
  #84  
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there is an expectation that if you arrange your own accommodation that it is reasonable quality and a reasonable price but at some destinations at some times of the year even a mid range (reasonable to most people) can't be had for a reasonable price

BUT there are no limits on room rates listed in EU261 and whilst an airline might have a policy it cannot be an absolute limit. €80 seems very low to me. The BA 'policy' is Ł200 for example and that still causes problems for some people.

There is a claim form / email on the tap website. You must given them a change to process your claim - you can't just jump down the legal route. Yes a claims handler could do it for you but since you'll have to provide them with all the info anyway you might as well do it your self.

Refusing to take the flight they offer does not automatically preclude them paying delay compensation it can limit your chances of getting it. Their obligation is to get you to your destination ASAP and if you chose to get a later flight there is an argument to be made that you extended the delay yourself and so no compensation is due. Though in your case given you were going to be delayed anyway thus meeting the EU 261 criteria they are still likely to pay but may initially push back.

Keep your email simple - stick to the facts ' this happened on X day and I claim compensation under EU261 and I spent Y on a hotel you need reimbursement for etc etc
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Old Jul 8, 2019, 3:22 am
  #85  
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
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Delayed Flight - TapPortugal

Hey Everyone

My flight from Sal Cape Verde was delayed for an hour and 10 minutes to Lisboa. I had connected flight to Dublin so my final destination was Dublin. Due to delayed we didn't make it for our next flight and TAP Portugal put us on the next flight within 7 hours difference from our original departure time. We arrived in Dublin with 7 hours delayed. I filled out the form eu261 and submitted my complaint to Tap Portugal. This was on the 21st of May and I still haven't received any response. I rang Tap Portugal twice, first I was told that their response deadline is 28 business days when the deadline was reached I ran again and they said that they have high-volume of complaints and not much they can do for now? Can you please let me know what I can do next? what institution I should contact or how I how can push them to receive a response?
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Old Jul 9, 2019, 5:36 am
  #86  
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Originally Posted by Klaudia Snopek
....they said that they have high-volume of complaints and not much they can do for now?
That comment both reflects he airline's standing, and encapsulate its approach to customer service



The BA forum has an excellent thread on claiming compensation under EC261, much of it relevant to claims in general rather than simple BA. There are a number of routes towards mediation and settlement described.

The 2019 BA compensation thread: Your guide to Regulation EC261/2004




you could contact directly the body enforcing the legislation, but don't hold your breath:
https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites...ent_bodies.pdf


And you could, of course, contact one of the agencies tha deal with this in return for a (quite hefty) cut of any compensation money you receive.
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Old Jul 11, 2019, 3:25 pm
  #87  
 
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I put in a claim on the TAP site.
How does one file a EU261 claim?
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Old Jul 11, 2019, 3:52 pm
  #88  
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Originally Posted by rankourabu
Air Canada does this, they will offer 900 EUR voucher instead.
Those vouchers come with so many restrictions (no residual, dont cover fuel surcharge) - its a borderline scam.

Always take cash.
Indeed.

€600 in cash straight into your bank account, which you can spend anywhere and anyhow you like, is worth far more than a €900 voucher that can only be spent with an airline that the OP says they won't travel again, and which furthermore is subject to any and all further arbitrary restrictions that the airline imposes on its use (such as TAP's restriction of the voucher to have only 1 year's validity).

The airline would much rather that you spend that money with them - or, indeed, let the voucher go unused. Why would you go with the airline's preferred option, unless you are a frequent TAP traveller?
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Last edited by irishguy28; Jul 11, 2019 at 4:01 pm
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Old Jul 11, 2019, 3:54 pm
  #89  
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Originally Posted by HomerJ
I put in a claim on the TAP site.
How does one file a EU261 claim?
You can't file two claims.

If you already put a claim in on the TAP site, then you have filed your EU261/2004 claim.

(or, if not - what "claim" did you put in on the TAP website?)
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Old Jul 12, 2019, 7:21 am
  #90  
 
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Maybe claim is the wrong word...

Originally Posted by irishguy28
You can't file two claims.

If you already put a claim in on the TAP site, then you have filed your EU261/2004 claim.

(or, if not - what "claim" did you put in on the TAP website?)
...I filed a complaint about my flight delay and the costs I incurred, thats all I did.
Are you saying I shouldn't have an should have done the EU261/2004 instead?
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