Read about Rule 240 for the next time.
Ok. Had fantastic long 4 day break in New York. Flew with Amercian Airlines.
Flight times were 8.30am depart heathrow arrive NY 11.30am (five hours ahead of us) Friday
Depart NY 8.30am arrive Heathrow 8.30pm Tuesday .
Actual flights were
Arrived at 5.30am (three hours before departure as demanded) to be told quite cusually that the flight had been cancelled. Next flight available 12.15noon that same day, arriving in New York 3.30pm. Most of the day gone.
Compensation i asked - no madam they replied. its under four hours delay.
Returning flight... arrived at 5.00am as demanded. Flight cancelled due to weather at heathrow. next flight 6.20pm.. arriving at heathrow 6.30am Wednesday morning. (10 hour delay)
Compensation i asked - no madam they replied. its weather related.
how do they get away with this. The weather by the way was fine in heathrow, it was the day after the snow storm and heathrow was operating fully.
Read about Rule 240 for the next time.
Similar thing happened to us last year flying to Canada
Flight was cancelled due to snow storms (in Canada) so we were put on flights the next day.
On claiming the delay on our insurance we found that we were not eligible for any "delay" payment because the actual flight had been cancelled and not delayed.
The airline refused to pay because it was due to weather
Grrrrr.
Isn't this what travel insurance is for?
Can't really expect compensation from the airlines for their refusal to put your safety at risk can you?
That's what we thought but obviously if there's any chance of them not paying they won't. I'd still get insurance though for all the medical cover but won't be worrying so much in the future for delay cost cover.
Nope - I totally agree they were under their rights just annoyed that no-one could reimburse us for the delayOriginally Posted by robd
But thats the whole point isn't it Rob. They can use that excuse anytime they want and what can you say..... absolutely nothing but in actual fact.. should they not get another plane and get the flight out anyway. If we say we are going to supply a service should they not have back up for just this sort of problem. The first delay, although quite minor, cost us virtually the whole first day in New york to be lost. They did not contact us or anything and they could have at least warned us of the delay thus avoiding getting up at 3am for nothing.
The journey home was even more laughable. heathrow was running normally. They were trying to say that the day before the plane had gone to England, landed and could not get out again. Why not.. only one run way was down and for half a day at heathrow. It was running normally by the evening. The plane would not have landed till the evening. Its does not make sense and if you argue, they just tell you tough virtually. Can we prove it.. no. Can we do anything about it... no.
Which airline was it?
What - "Amercian Arlines"?
Heathrow runs to such a tight schedule that a closure one day has knock-on effects for days afterwards - most transatlantic airliners won't arrive at Heathrow with much fuel left on board besides the legal minimum so if there's a chance they'll be made to hold for more than an hour, the airline will seriously consider cancelling the flight. This is why they want to build a third runway, Heathrow is so full that you're not even allowed to divert there in an emergency.
I was flying on Monday when the snow first came in and it was absolute chaos - we ended up going to Gatwick instead of Southampton (which was snowed out all day) and even with hardly anything moving we still nearly didn't make it out. If an airline cancels a flight they do have an obligation to get you where you want to go - which they did in your case, delays are always annoying but at least you got there safe and sound. It's not like transatlantic flights run every half hour.
If the delay is due to weather or the destination airport being extremely congested then no amount of planes will help.
Most hotels will have a service allowing you to check on flights "live", even if it's just a Ceefax page or equivalent. Alternatively there are departure/arrival pages on most large airports' websites telling you how the flights are doing. Having to ring 300 people separately at 3am and try to explain to a sleepy, grumpy passenger exactly why the flight is delayed is not something I would wish upon anyone and I would never expect an airline to do it.
yes you have a point but we did check and it was not listed as cancelled. We also checked on return.. hotel said it was listed as running normally.
I understand all the points you have made but the fact still remains that airlines, regardless of the circumstances do have you by the knackers. They do not have to do anything and nine times out of ten, dont. Also, the air stewards were ugly and crap at the customer liason. Most of us had been stuck at the airport for 16 hours then another 2 hours on the tarmac. They had the audacity to charge for a vodka.... ***.
I suggest you write a letter of complaint
here is a a good one
Last edited by Tiggerbabe; 9th-February-2009 at 04:52 PM. Reason: Added link
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