Good afternoon,

I am wondering if somebody can point me in the right direct.

Last summer myself, my wife and our son (13 at the time) flew to Romania with Tarom (Heathrow to Bucharest). Our flight landed almost 6 hours late.

On our return, I filed a claim for compensation for the three of us at 400 Euro’s per person. After 3 months, Tarom eventually replied to me with an apology and an offer of 450 Euro’s per person in vouchers. I refused this and insisted upon a cash alternative via bank transfer under Regulation EU261. Tarom agreed to compensate 400 Euro’s per person and asked for my bank details, which I have supplied. However, after another 3 weeks, they only paid 400 Euro’s. I have emailed them twice since to ask about the remaining 800 Euro’s. Today, I got a reply stating the following:

“Under the Romanian Law (we are a Romanian Company) we can make the payment directly to the passenger.

In order to make the payment for Mrs. XXXX and Mr. XXXX we need the following bank details of the passengers.”

Is this information correct, or are they trying to delay payment further? I can’t imagine that an airline pays each member of a family separately e.g. a family package holiday. Our son does not have a bank account, so I can’t give them any bank details for him, although he is entitled to compensation too.

Many thanks

Did you book the flight through a UK company?

It was booked via GoToGate which I think are Swedish.

Do they have a UK office and also in the terms and conditions do they say which law is the applicable law?

They have a london based contact number +44 20 3794 7674

Apparantley its 24/7

I've just looked through their T&C's and found that everything is operated under Swedish Law.

I notice that in their terms and conditions they say that the applicable law is Swedish law. However, they say that this is subject to any mandatory local laws. Therefore it seems to me that you could usefully sue them using the European small claim process by issuing a claim in this country and then transferring it to Sweden for enforcement. I can imagine that it wouldn't take very long before they were put their hands up. They don't want this kind of trouble.

I would simply sue them for breach of contract. Presumably you paid for the tickets on behalf of the others and so therefore you are the contracting party. Frankly I don't believe the Romanian story – I think it's a load of rubbish but of course you will have difficulty checking this out and in any way they are too remote for you to attack them. People in Sweden are far more likely to act responsibly and I would start corresponding with them. If they try to pass the buck onto the Romanian airline then simply tell them that you are going to sue them – but only if you're prepared to go ahead and do it. Then given 14 days and then do it. All of these people tend to shelter behind their international/foreign status/locations and a lot of the time they get away with it.

If it was all under the same booking with same reference number they could only need authorisation from the other passengers to pay you.

If your son is a minor they could just need his birth certificate proving you are his dad.

I say could because this is not mentioned in the legislation, but of course they try to apply the dpa to everything nowadays.

Play their game and get the money out of them.

Also point out to them that Romanian law doesn't apply to booking made on UK websites, even through third parties.

Airline is responsible directly and bound by UK legislation, which incidentally is the same as Romanian in this case.

Thank you for the info. provided above. I have a good friend in Romania (who is also Romanian) who has filed for compensation for herself and husband from Tarom before. I'll ask her if she has any info. too. I'll report on what happens as it may happen to other people in the future.

Tarom, have agreed to pay, but just not into one bank account. Not that they told me this until a lot of chasing.

I have the same problem with Iberia, they requested all the information from me, but so far no payment at all, they offered 150 euros vouchers. Does anyone knows if its a straightforward process to sue them using the EU justice and how much does it cost?

I had dealings with Iberia for delayed flight compensation.

As soon as you send them a lba they pay up.

Worst case scenario I guess that if your lba slips through the net, they would pay on receipt of court papers.

They have no chance in court, unless the delay is clearly due to exceptional circumstances, ie volcanic eruption.

Is this the link to follow?

https://e-justice.europa.eu/home.do?plang=en&action=home

I 've never used it, it is straightforward ? and how much does it cost.

Thanks

I wouldn't go about bringing a European court case.

The booking was made in UK on a UK website in pound sterling currency.

Take the case to county court and let them argue that you should go to Romania to claim your money back.

But that would never happen as they have already admitted that they owe you money and paid part of it.

Give them the documents they asked for and get the money, end of story.

These are the details from companies house:

ROMANIAN AIR TRANSPORT NATIONAL COMPANY - TAROM,INC

BR011898 - Opened on 1 October 2009

Room 4009 North East Extension Terminal Four, London, Heathrow Airport, TW6 3FB

Same thing for Iberia:

IBERIA LINEAS AEREAS DE ESPANA SOCIEDAD ANONIMA OPERADORA

BR014912 - Opened on 15 November 2010

Waterside Orient 2a West Drayton, Harmondsworth, UB7 0GB

Thank you for the response, but Iberia does not operate in the UK, this is what they told me, I asked at their [ Iberia ] airport desk.

It's rubbish!

They told me the same thing.

Their registered address is in my previous post.

As soon as I sent them a lba they paid up.