Airline compensation nonsense
Discussion
Hoping there may be some clued-up bods amongst our frequently flying av geeks who can help with this 
Without giving too much detail as I m expecting an argument with the airline, any thoughts on claiming for this:
Flight delayed continually, and then subsequently rescheduled under a different number the next day as a follow on flight , overall delay on landing around 19 hours.
Cause found to be that the outbound flight (from an airline base location in London, to a non-base location in the EU) was delayed awaiting a pilot, who having eventually been drafted in from a different base location was then unable to fly to the destination airport, entailing a diversion and crew change en route. Replacement crew were then unable to complete the return flight (i.e. my original booked flight), and required to overnight for their rest period before taking the eventual follow on flight back the next day, with the resulting substantial delay.
Airline advertised the cause of the delays as air traffic restrictions , however it has since been confirmed by customer service, as well as by the crew on my eventual flight, that the cause was no pilot available for the outbound flight. This eventually took off with a delay once the replacement was in place. Airline customer service agent further added that original pilot was unfit .
As scheduled, the flight is London > destination approx 4.5 hours, aircraft on the ground for less than an hour, and return flight back to London. As above, the destination is not an airline base. I presume therefore that this would be, if you will, a shift for the crew; i.e. they fly the full round trip and that s a day s work - and therefore it is the airline s liability if their pilot is unavailable at the start of their shift for the outward trip?
Appreciate all input here; again sorry it s a tad vague but I don t want to compromise my anticipated game of compensation chess with customer services! Perhaps I ll be pleasantly surprised
Cheers all!
[Apologies for various missing punctucation, iPhones seem to have an issue with it on PH currently!]

Without giving too much detail as I m expecting an argument with the airline, any thoughts on claiming for this:
Flight delayed continually, and then subsequently rescheduled under a different number the next day as a follow on flight , overall delay on landing around 19 hours.
Cause found to be that the outbound flight (from an airline base location in London, to a non-base location in the EU) was delayed awaiting a pilot, who having eventually been drafted in from a different base location was then unable to fly to the destination airport, entailing a diversion and crew change en route. Replacement crew were then unable to complete the return flight (i.e. my original booked flight), and required to overnight for their rest period before taking the eventual follow on flight back the next day, with the resulting substantial delay.
Airline advertised the cause of the delays as air traffic restrictions , however it has since been confirmed by customer service, as well as by the crew on my eventual flight, that the cause was no pilot available for the outbound flight. This eventually took off with a delay once the replacement was in place. Airline customer service agent further added that original pilot was unfit .
As scheduled, the flight is London > destination approx 4.5 hours, aircraft on the ground for less than an hour, and return flight back to London. As above, the destination is not an airline base. I presume therefore that this would be, if you will, a shift for the crew; i.e. they fly the full round trip and that s a day s work - and therefore it is the airline s liability if their pilot is unavailable at the start of their shift for the outward trip?
Appreciate all input here; again sorry it s a tad vague but I don t want to compromise my anticipated game of compensation chess with customer services! Perhaps I ll be pleasantly surprised
Cheers all!
[Apologies for various missing punctucation, iPhones seem to have an issue with it on PH currently!]
Edited by Southerner on Wednesday 6th August 11:27
I've got no direct help for your specific requirement, but I've offloaded all of my consumer complaints to ChatGPT.
All you have to do is describe your circumstances like you have here and ask it to give you a letter that references appropriate consumer laws, then you just forward that to the relevant people. Then when you get a response, feed that back into the GPT under the same chat so it tracks all the history, and it will give you a follow up - repeat until the matter is resolved.
It's sorted a couple of tricky situations for me very quickly by making me sound like I'm fully clued up on the legal situation, and basically removed all stress because it's just a copy/paste job on my part and avoided me introducing any irrelevant emotional response to my arguments.
All you have to do is describe your circumstances like you have here and ask it to give you a letter that references appropriate consumer laws, then you just forward that to the relevant people. Then when you get a response, feed that back into the GPT under the same chat so it tracks all the history, and it will give you a follow up - repeat until the matter is resolved.
It's sorted a couple of tricky situations for me very quickly by making me sound like I'm fully clued up on the legal situation, and basically removed all stress because it's just a copy/paste job on my part and avoided me introducing any irrelevant emotional response to my arguments.
Edited by billbring on Wednesday 6th August 12:08
Abc321 said:
I thought you were entitled to *some* compensation if 4 hours delayed, and increasing on time after that. My guess is going to be Wizz Air
It s more than three hours and varies between £220 and £520 depending on distance.Would also be entitled to food and drink and possibly accommodation.
Edited by craig1912 on Wednesday 6th August 13:00
craig1912 said:
Which Airline?
And all within the UK/EU?
The orange one, and yes!And all within the UK/EU?
My issue is if they come back with some tenuous excuse that the missing captain wasn t in place because air traffic control restrictions the day before or some such, whereas I would assume that a pilot not being in place when their flight is due to be taking off is surely 100% the airline s responsibility regardless? Surely there should be sufficient resilience in these situations. Although a customer service bod confirming that the pilot was unfit suggests that was unlikely to be the reason, unless that is airline speak for delayed yesterday .
I half read something somewhere about it having recently become a lot easier to claim due compensation if flight crew have gone sick etc, so I presume it s been a grey area at least up until recently.
We were given the required £6 worth of refreshments during the initial “delayed” period, and duly provided overnight accommodation when the flight was eventually postponed to the next day. I’ll be claiming for food bought while awaiting departure on the eventual flight, which they’ve confirmed they generally refund - I presume all of that is their legal obligation anyway.
Edited by Southerner on Wednesday 6th August 13:54
craig1912 said:
Never had an issue with EasyJet.
Wife was three hours delayed in Malaga last year. She completed the online form while sat waiting to take off and received the money ten days later.
Son claimed for six passengers a couple of years ago from Faro. Again money paid straight away.
A friend has said very much the same, which is very welcome. The complication here is that their own flight tracker site specifically said that the reason was air traffic restriction, and that this was considered extraordinary circumstances (and therefore compensation is not applicable). The crew of the return flight were the first people to tell us that the cause was in fact no captain , the pilot mentioning this before takeoff and noting that some of the info on the app is incorrect , and a customer service chat agent later added that the original captain was unfit . Wife was three hours delayed in Malaga last year. She completed the online form while sat waiting to take off and received the money ten days later.
Son claimed for six passengers a couple of years ago from Faro. Again money paid straight away.
I ve never claimed compo from EJ, but with what appears at face value to be incorrect information having been provided, and budget airlines not being known in general for their willingness to pay out, you can appreciate my trepidation!
Edited by Southerner on Wednesday 6th August 15:18
Their crewing issues are their issues, same as tech issues. They’re part and parcel of running an airline and therefore compensation is almost certainly owed. Trying to blame ATC restrictions the day before is really pushing their luck and the arbitration service is highly unlikely to buy that one.
DJC76 said:
The arbitration service is highly unlikely to buy that one.

https://www.aviationadr.org.uk
Keep any receipts for food, drink, hotels, bus tickets, taxi receipts etc if you still have them.
Edited by smallpaul on Thursday 7th August 22:03
smallpaul said:
DJC76 said:
The arbitration service is highly unlikely to buy that one.

https://www.aviationadr.org.uk
Keep any receipts for food, drink, hotels, bus tickets, taxi receipts etc if you still have them.
[footnote]Edited by smallpaul on Thursday 7th August
22:03[/footnote]

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