Flight delay costs/compensation
Discussion
Me, my wife, daughter and parents returned from a holiday in Greece on Monday this week, however the flight home ended up being delayed by 14 hours. I've thankfully not suffered a delay as long as this for a long time so I'm not really sure of the process for claiming back costs; can anyone advise on the best approach please?
Some further details first:
Compensation
Looking on Citizen's Advice the delay and flight distance appears to suggest compensation of £350 per person is owed. I assume this is claimed for through the airline, either TUI or possibly Avion Express Malta in this case? I believe there is a form on their website for this which I will look to complete ASAP.
Costs
TUI provided us with an €8 food voucher each at the airport, but given we were there for nearly 7 hours this didn't go far and we bought a meal and some other refreshments totalling about €40. Can this be claimed for, and if so how? I'm not too worried about this but they are still costs that we otherwise wouldn't have had.
Replacement flight
This is where I'm particularly confused. The replacement flight for my wife and daughter cost approximately £175 all in; am I right in thinking that we are responsible for this cost but then the original flight from TUI should be refunded for them? I've no idea how much the TUI flight cost as we booked everything as a package. Also, does claiming this refund affect the payment of the £350 compensation? My wife's father also drove to pick them up from Stanstead (given our car was at LGW) in a journey pushing 250 miles plus parking; can his fuel be claimed?
I've just read my post back and I can see that it might come across as though I'm trying to wring every penny out of this; this really isn't the case, I'm just trying to understand what is reasonable to expect. I'm happy to drop things such as the food and parking at Stanstead, but the replacement flight in particular is not clear to me. If the simple answer is to claim for 5x £350 and leave it at that then that's fine, but if there's more to it I'd really appreciate the help. Anything anyone might be able to advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much for your help.
Some further details first:
- All flights booked for the whole party under a single booking through TUI, including transfers and all inclusive hotel
- I have in writing from TUI that the delay was caused by a technical fault with the plane
- Flight from Thessaloniki to Gatwick, total distance of 2,120km
- Scheduled departure 13:55, actual departure 04:00
- Told of 4 hour delay during transfer to the airport at 10:45, no further updates were given until 17:30 when it was announced that the flight would be at 04:00
- The TUI flight was to be operated by Avion Express Malta on behalf of TUI with a BY flight code. However the replacement plane that finally came was TUI branded.
- Wife and daughter decided to catch a different flight home once the cancellation was revealed (17:30) as they needed to be home for Tuesday. They took a 21:30 flight with Jet2 to Stanstead as that is all that was available that day and were then picked up by a family member. Their bags could not be released by TUI so I flew with 3 bags.
- Hotel and dinner provided by the airline for the evening. No money was paid by us for this, my wife and daughter did not come.
Compensation
Looking on Citizen's Advice the delay and flight distance appears to suggest compensation of £350 per person is owed. I assume this is claimed for through the airline, either TUI or possibly Avion Express Malta in this case? I believe there is a form on their website for this which I will look to complete ASAP.
Costs
TUI provided us with an €8 food voucher each at the airport, but given we were there for nearly 7 hours this didn't go far and we bought a meal and some other refreshments totalling about €40. Can this be claimed for, and if so how? I'm not too worried about this but they are still costs that we otherwise wouldn't have had.
Replacement flight
This is where I'm particularly confused. The replacement flight for my wife and daughter cost approximately £175 all in; am I right in thinking that we are responsible for this cost but then the original flight from TUI should be refunded for them? I've no idea how much the TUI flight cost as we booked everything as a package. Also, does claiming this refund affect the payment of the £350 compensation? My wife's father also drove to pick them up from Stanstead (given our car was at LGW) in a journey pushing 250 miles plus parking; can his fuel be claimed?
I've just read my post back and I can see that it might come across as though I'm trying to wring every penny out of this; this really isn't the case, I'm just trying to understand what is reasonable to expect. I'm happy to drop things such as the food and parking at Stanstead, but the replacement flight in particular is not clear to me. If the simple answer is to claim for 5x £350 and leave it at that then that's fine, but if there's more to it I'd really appreciate the help. Anything anyone might be able to advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much for your help.
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