Kmxu

WOW. This thread is very quiet since March 2020. I do not think that nobody filed EU261 against United during the past 17 months. My colleague's flight from Iceland (KEF) was cancelled this Monday due to MX and he and his wife lose Polaris business class seats while forced to fly Iceland Air on B737 MAX to Chicago. They also had to overnight in Chicago and flew AA next morning (sitting on the last row of E135) because United flight to Richmond was full. United gave them a Comfort Inn room for the overnight stay. I will report back how much compensation they will get from United.

LondonElite

For anyone to give you some meaningful information, you'll have to provide a lot more detail, including the circumstances around the new flight, and timings.

Kmxu

I just commented on the lack of posts on this thread since March 2020. My colleague knows what to do because he is a UA 1K and an ex-DL Diamond with lots of international flight experiences.

VRFast

E-cert for $800? Wow, they offered my wife and I e-certs for $300 each when we got stuck in Athens two years ago, no status though which may be the difference? Had to stay overnight and catch another flight the next morning. We were also able to get the $600 EU 261 compensation plus the per diem rate for the hotel stay which was half of what we actually spent...yes we stayed at the airport hotel. I expected there would be a maximum.

fafa123

Was scheduled to fly UA KEF=EWR on 7/28/21, 11;20am departure. Arrive at the airport to be told no plane as flight from Chicago had to turn around and return to airport. Flight delayed until 11:55pm (later further delayed to7/29 1:55am). No ability to put us on another carrier flight. Told to call United and the CSRs disappeared. I rebooked on Icelandicair, cancelled United return.

On the United feedback webpage asked for compensation under EU261, reimbursement for lunch and transport there (no food landside in KEF and no vouchers offered), and reimbursement for luggage storage for the day (total $159). United agreed to pay the $159 and credited me for the leg I didn't take. They said no on the EU261 as the "inbound flight to your location was delayed due to a medical issue. This delay would have caused the flight crew to exceed permissible duty hours as mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration." Isn't this a knock on effect? It says in the wiki above, "Delays of the INCOMING aircraft for ANY reason NEVER qualify as an exemption for compensation as per EU court rulings." What should I say to United? Anyone aware of case law to cite?

jsloan

Iceland isn't in the EU. They may or may not follow EC.261 anyway -- I don't know, and a quick search didn't answer it -- but I doubt that any court cases would be particularly useful. They certainly wouldn't be binding.

LondonElite

Although Iceland is not in the EU, like Switzerland it generally follows and observes EC261. However, there is no binding mechanism, so the Icelandic Transport Authority is not going to come after UA. I don't know whether UA's argument is convincing or not, but going through EC261 won't get you the result you want.

threeoh

I think your next step is to sue UA in Icelandic court, or get one of these for-hire places to take your case in exchange for a cut.

KDCAflyer

Does anyone have experience filing a claim for a UK departure post-Brexit? It looks like the UK copied EU law, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to word the letter (since EC 261 technically isn't the relevant rule anymore). If someone has a form letter they'd share with me, I'd really appreciate it.

I was booked on LHR-US for today, but the flight cancelled due to mechanical issues (as stated by UA), and I was moved to the same flight tomorrow. It would seem that I am eligible for the full 600 GBP amount.

Silver Fox

It's now called UK261 and this may offer some help as to what to do (this is a for profit org that I have no connection to and I am certainly not recommending it): Regulation UK261 explained

mpiotrow

KDCAflyer , did you ever get anything figured out? I just departed LHR a few days ago on a UA flight (LHR-EWR-SFO-XXX, all on the same PNR), and my EWR-SFO flight was delayed (not due to weather, strikes, etc, but simply due to the arriving plane landing 15 minutes late, which somehow caused the departing flight to leave ~1 hour 20 minutes late), which caused me to miss the SFO-XXX flight which was the last one of the day, so I had a forced overnight at SFO, and rebooked on the first flight the next morning (eventually arriving 10.5 hours later than I was originally scheduled to arrive). I believe this should be eligible for UK261. How would I best go about requesting the amount due?

Kmxu

United does offer EC261 compensation for KEF-USA flights. My colleague got an offer of $800 ETC offer, but has not accepted it yet.

Flying Machine

In the past they offered me an ETC of $900. Perhaps it has something to do with EU:USA Exchange rates? However, I thought the euro was about the same last time I received the $900 offer

mpiotrow

Looks like the last time the exchange rate would have made 1EUR anywhere close to 1.50USD was about 10 years ago...I'm guessing that the ETC received was just a goodwill gesture, and not necessarily in accordance with any EU 261 mandates.

cfischer

no, an ETC is always that much more. EC261 is cash and UA always offers 'extra' if you take the certificate. My guess is that still works in their favor if they don't have a cash drain.