2 canceled flights, 1 delay, 4 airports and lost luggage - what a trip!

[jo5ephedward5]

Hi Chaps.

 

Some friends and I recently went for a 4 day trip Switzerland to look after an aunties cat whilst she went away.

 

We had outbound flights with Swiss Air from Heathrow T1 and unfortunately 10 mins after arriving they cancelled our flight as there was an Airbus on fire on the runway…OK so these things happen, we waited for a couple of hours in a queue to find out what to do and eventually agreed to fly from City Airport at 7am the next day – no refreshments or accommodation were offered because we live in London. We drove home which took 5 hours on the M25 as it was rush hour(s) on a Friday.

 

I got in at midnight, booked a cab to city airport for 5am.

 

We got to city airport at 5.30am on the Saturday and were told that unfortunately there were weight restrictions on the flight due to the air conditions – they said we were only on the reserve list which was the first we’d heard of it and that if the flight was too heavy we wouldn’t be getting on. The did however say we could flight to Frankfurt at 2.30pm, then onto Geneva arriving about 7pm that day if we wanted as a backup and that if that happened they would give us a 250euro pre-paid card each as compensation…

 

…so we went through to the departures lounge, eventually got to the gate and they still hadn’t confirmed that we would get on the flight – eventually they check everything and agreed although on the cusp the flight was OK to take off – brilliant! We were allocated seats and joined the queue to board when an engineer came running in and said there was an oil leak – long story short they cancelled the flight. So we queued up again for 3 hours to be told that we could go back to Heathrow, fly with BA from there to Brussels, then wait 3 hours and go from Brussels to Geneva we had no choice so we accepted, they also said the 250 euro option was withdrawn as it was offered for a difference problem not the oil leak! So we get a black cab to Heathrow – Swiss paid for it, get to Heathrow T5, there was an hour delay but we eventually took off and landed in Brussels with time before our connecting flight – no issues with the connecting flight eventually we landed at 9.30pm the day after we were meant to arrive [about 26 hours late]…my Auntie had already gone on holiday so we had to pay 70 euros for a cab to where we were staying.

 

Then we notices that one of the checked bags had gone walk about – we reported this, it was still in Brussels and they said they’d send it out when it arrived…this was a further 26 hours later.

 

In a 4 day trip we lost 25% of our trip, and didn’t get a bag back for a further 26hours…

 

Are there any rules that mean we can claim compensation? We had trip insurance but they say as Swiss eventually got us alternative flights we’re not entitled to anything...I also get European trio cover with my bank but sadly Switzerland is outside of the EU so little point in calling them!

Edited August 2, 2013 by jo5ephedward5

[sequenci]

Hello there, there's an excellent guide over on MSE - I think you might have a good case here:

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delays

[jo5ephedward5]

Thanks I'll have a good read over the weekend, before I dig deeper does the fact the destination was Switzerland not an EU country come into play here?

 

Thanks

J

[sequenci]

'An EU flight is where the flight departed from an EU airport, regardless of the airline, OR was an EU airline that landed at an EU airport'

 

It's all about the airport of origin. So you're good to go.

[jo5ephedward5]

Ah this makes sense now - I'll get a letter together this weekend...I assume as 2 flights from 2 airports were canceled theoretically I shodul be entitled to 250euros for each canceled flight + 1 instance of lost luggage?

 

I'll update when I've written something down.

 

Thanks

J

[jo5ephedward5]

Just a quick update - I've just posted our letter of complaint and requested compensation but having looked at the European Commissions list of extraordinary circumstances I'd say we wont see a penny:

 

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/air/doc/neb-extraordinary-circumstances-list.pdf

 

I think closure of Heathrow will be item 15. and an oil leak at City Airport will be item 26.

 

I'll keep you posted.

J