international Air Compensation

[cphilb]

This is just a request for help from someone who has better knowledge of the airline industry than me. I am currently having a heated exchange of correspondence over a delayed flight with a budget carrier. I am claiming under Article 7 of European Regulations 261/2004. So far the airline has refused to pay out compensation because it says that the cause was beyond its control. I have asked them to explain the reasons for the delay but they refuse to tell me.
My question to the community is to ask if there is a site anywhere where airlines log their flights and which lists the reasons for any delay. I don't know if such information is freely available anywhere, but I am just asking the question in case anyone who is better informed than me, can advise me

 

[dutchflyer]

This is a trains/rail forum.
A FAAAR better forum is flyertalk.com for your situation. The answer might already be there.

 

[Watershed]

This is just a request for help from someone who has better knowledge of the airline industry than me. I am currently having a heated exchange of correspondence over a delayed flight with a budget carrier. I am claiming under Article 7 of European Regulations 261/2004. So far the airline has refused to pay out compensation because it says that the cause was beyond its control. I have asked them to explain the reasons for the delay but they refuse to tell me.
My question to the community is to ask if there is a site anywhere where airlines log their flights and which lists the reasons for any delay. I don't know if such information is freely available anywhere, but I am just asking the question in case anyone who is better informed than me, can advise me

Airlines flying to/from the UK generally now participate in an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme, such as AviationADR or CEDR. The CAA website shows which scheme each airline is a member of. So that would be my suggestion for a next step.

If your case is rejected by the ADR provider, you can still take the matter to Court. You can either do so as a litigant in person, or with legal representation. As flight delay claims yield a quite substantial amount of compensation and are simple for solicitors' firms to do in bulk, there are many willing to do so on a 'no win, no fee' basis. One of the best known is Bott & Co, who have taken several cases to the High Court and beyond to establish case law. There are of course many other firms out there.

I don't think there is any publicly available way of verifying the details that airlines hold for delays (in the same way that there is, to a limited extent, for the rail industry here). But they would certainly not get very far by refusing to disclose the evidence on which they seek to rely, if the matter proceeds to ADR or Court.

 

[AlterEgo]

This is a trains/rail forum.
A FAAAR better forum is flyertalk.com for your situation. The answer might already be there.

Flyertalk is full of absolute experts in this area. That is where to ask this question.

 

[TravelDream]

I also think that Flyertalk is a better venue with a lot of experts.

However, you will need to give more details than you have given here.
They'll need to know:
- The airline.
- The route.
- The length of the delay. Note that the delay is measured from advertised landing time and not departure time.
- The reason stated by the airline at the time and since if they have given one.

The airline should have given you something like this from Ryanair (https://www.ryanair.com/content/dam/ryanair/help-centre-pdfs/eu261-en.pdf) giving details of what you are entitled to in a delay.

My other piece of advice is that your exchange with the airline should NOT be heated.
You need to be clear and stick to the facts quoting the regulation under which you are claiming.