Where can I take an airline to court ?

[juan75carlos]

Dear all,

It's a long story but I'll make it as short as possible.

I bought the tickets for my dad(Bogota-Madrid-Bogota) They were purchased on the phone in the UK. The initial flight (Bogota-Madrid) was delayed more than 5 hours; as a consequence:

1. He got some refreshments.
   
2. he lost the flight from Madrid to Rome (it was booked seperatly).
   
3. My dad had to stay in the airport the whole night.
   
4. He lost the hotel bookings in Rome etc. etc.

30 days later the return flight (Madrid-Bogota) was cancelled; as a consequence:

1. They offered me the money of the second leg or to travel on the next day
   
2. I declined both options as my dad's visa expired on the initial date + work reasons.
   
3. I lost the money from the tickets (London-Madrid) (it was booked seperately).
   
4. I had to buy a last-minute flight London-Bogota (£1200)

And my questions are:

1. If the airline is not obliged to reimburse any other components of my trip (regilation 261/2004)? How can I force them to pay compensation according to: "The rights recognised under the Regulation do not exclude the possibility of a passenger or third person claiming complementary compensation or compensation for damages (except in the case of passengers who voluntarily gave up their reservation following denied boarding), under applicable national law."
   
2. After letters, e-mails, phone calls, even through the AUC they haven't replied to my questions (not even an apology)? how can I take them to court if they are based in Madrid, have an office in London and I bought the tickets on the phone from the UK. (small claims court?, in the UK, Spain or Colombia?)

Thank you, any help would be appreciated.

 

Juan Londono

[juan75carlos]

Where can I take an airline to court if they are based in Madrid, have an office in London but I bought the tickets on the phone from the UK to a travel agency in Colombia. The flight was Madrid-Bogota

Thank you

 

Juan

[Sp00ky]

can you give us any more info on why you wish to take them to court?

[bigboyprice69]

I don't think you do have a valid reason to take them to court.

 

On the outbound flight the connecting flight was booked separately, therefore I do not think they have any obligation to compensate you for the missed flight.

 

On the inbound flight they offered you a flight the next day, or payment, you refused both, why didn't you take the money and use that for the flight you paid for?

 

Spooky, it's here:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/holiday-companies/50967-air-madrid-5-hors.html

[Bookworm]

No, it's not, I merged both threads. ;-)

[Sp00ky]

unfortunately, airlines do not guarantee flight times due to them having to apply for landing and take off times closer to the time of departure. With this in mind, they cannot be held responsible for missing interconnecting flights im afraid.

 

Also, airlines are not like Tour operators who have timelines in which to respond as set by ABTA. As such, they could take forever to respond. I would also like to point out that the section you quote: -

 

The rights recognised under the Regulation do not exclude the possibility of a passenger or third person claiming complementary compensation or compensation for damages (except in the case of passengers who voluntarily gave up their reservation following denied boarding), under applicable national law."

 

it says claiming. it doesnt say you are guaranteed it.

[juan75carlos]

Thank you all for your posts.

I declined the offer of taking the flight for the following days because of work responsibilities that couldn't be postponed (plus visa issues); and I declined the the money because it was a ridiculos amount and accepting the money would be taken as a final settlement. At that point is when I joined this forum because I don't know if it's worth taking them to court or to accept the money (£250) I know it's good money but having that I had to buy a £1200 flight for the following day I don't think it was a good compensation.

Thanks again

 

(Sp00ky: all the info of the flight is posted in this thread on 5th December. Sp00ky, I know the Regulation doesn't guarantee it but it says possibility and that's why I thought I had a chance. )

Does anybody know a case where the Montreal convention was applied with success to claim consequential damages.

thanks again