Easiest few hundred quid I've made for a while (why EC261 is a good thing)

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 33 total)

  • FDOS_UK
    Participant

    So my flight departs 15 mins late – no big deal, airlines are used to padding the schedule a bit to magic up ontime arrivals – but, oh no, there’s a strong headwind and then two holding patterns, leading to a landing 28 mins late. This is compounded by an additional 5-10 minutes awaiting someone to come and switch on the stand guidance system for the aircraft.

    The airline was happy to sell me a 1h 5min connection, but now it has managed to render it null and void, but I try to make the connection, for the sake of good form.

    ‘Computer says no’, I’m told, even though the connecting flight is 25 mins late and I could probably have made it to the gate. You’ll have to get re-ticketed.

    A the ticket desk, a very disinterested woman books me on the next flight, scheduled to leave 4 hours and 5 mins after the one I’ve just missed. No mention of my rights, quelle surprise.

    I ask if I they would offer an alternative form of transport, e.g. train. No, absolutely not. So I smiled – the woman looked confused, but didn’t say anything – she’s probably thinking ‘why is he happy about a big delay’ and I’m thinking you’ve probably just gifted me more than your wage for the week.

    Off to the lounge, nice free lunch (tasty venison meatballs), few glasses of a not inexpensive tipple, relaxed and read an interesting book, early light dinner and then off home, arriving 3 hours late by a quirk of the train timetable.

    After paying out the EC261 compo and the F&B, the airline will have revenues of approximately £50 left from the ticket sale.

    Nice one, thanks European Commission, airlines have always acted in this sort of way, but now there is a sting in the tail!

    That must be the easiest few hundred quid I’ve earned for a while.


    DavidArnold
    Participant

    Very interesting until the bit about “getting back more than her weekly wage”.

    I wonder sometimes why Airline Handling agents get a little bit cheesed off by some passengers and their rants!!

    Ah well I am off to demand an upgrade from Club to First.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=866655]Very interesting until the bit about “getting back more than her weekly wage”.

    I wonder sometimes why Airline Handling agents get a little bit cheesed off by some passengers and their rants!!

    Ah well I am off to demand an upgrade from Club to First.[/quote]

    And what rant was that, David?

    I ask if I they would offer an alternative form of transport, e.g. train. No, absolutely not. So I smiled – the woman looked confused, but didn’t say anything – she’s probably thinking ‘why is he happy about a big delay’ and I’m thinking you’ve probably just gifted me more than your wage for the week.

    I smiled at the lady, didn’t say a word – it’s hard to rant when you are smiling and mute – her body language and tone of voice suggested that she didn’t give a **** (enter whatever four letter word you like) about the very long delay, it was a ‘take it or leave it’ approach and I was smiling because I had just done the math and knew a large payout was coming my way.

    Good luck with your upgrade demand, I can’t see what relevance it has to this thread, which is about the excellent level of regulation mandated compensation from an airline messing a passenger about.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    I don’t regard EU261 as an easy way of making a few bucks. I claim if I was seriously inconvenienced, incurred expenses, or was badly treated by the airline. I do not routinely claim every time I have an eligible delay. I probably would claim if it were an airline that I hated but I try to avoid travelling on those, the only one that comes to mind that I sometimes can’t avoid is Vueling.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=866658]I don’t regard EU261 as an easy way of making a few bucks. I claim if I was seriously inconvenienced, incurred expenses, or was badly treated by the airline. I do not routinely claim every time I have an eligible delay. I probably would claim if it were an airline that I hated but I try to avoid travelling on those, the only one that comes to mind that I sometimes can’t avoid is Vueling.[/quote]

    Fair enough, I expressed it as ‘earned’, because I was travelling on business and thus it adds to the revenues from the trip.

    And you are right, it is about redress for inconvenience, a four hour delay is very inconvenient, but in the bad old days the passenger would have to suck it up – that’s not the case anymore.


    DavidArnold
    Participant

    Oh dear!! My point is that you mentioned in your piece about claiming what could amount to her weekly wage which is condescending to say the least. Also you fail to see a little wit as l am not flying at all today but sounding boorish may appear to a lot of people as being a tad boring, I did say your initial claim was interesting and well done with your claim but just tone down the insults somewhat and you may be appreciated more by the non-boorish.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=866661]Oh dear!! My point is that you mentioned in your piece about claiming what could amount to her weekly wage which is condescending to say the least. Also you fail to see a little wit as l am not flying at all today but sounding boorish may appear to a lot of people as being a tad boring, I did say your initial claim was interesting and well done with your claim but just tone down the insults somewhat and you may be appreciated more by the non-boorish.[/quote]

    David, it is not me being insulting.

    To be condescending would require me to feel superior to the lady. I did not – nor did I write this in my post, you have chosen to make this interpretation, presumably based on cognitive bias. If I had written that her weekly wage wouldn’t be large enough to pay my gin bill, then you might have had a point, but I didn’t, did I? The part you missed was her apparent confusion at why I was smiling and my internalised thought that she had given me a nice, large, gift – no superiority there, move on.

    If you had actually read what I wrote in the post, it might have helped, since you would not have made a silly comment about airline agents being cheesed off by passenger rants, as I didn’t indulge in a rant and was nothing but polite.

    By the way, I realised that you were being sarcastic in your comments, I was being ironic, in response to your attempt to be clever, which resulted in a logical fallacy.


    Edski777
    Participant

    FDOS, I had a similar experience last year on a CPH – AMS flight with 4 hours delay. No trains running from Schiphol airport anymore.
    KLM reimbursed me for the € 75,- taxi fare and gave me the option of € 250,- cash or € 350,- voucher. I accepted the voucher and will be on my way to Orlando in a few weeks for the value of the voucher and € 53,- return. OK, economy and on Delta, but still a very happy puppy for that price.
    And due to my frequent flyer status I can still take a suitcase weighing a maximum of 23 kg for free and get Flying Blue miles.
    I hate delays, but I absolutely love EC261.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Without any bias… I wish you had been my English teacher at school FDoS..Whilst I appreciate you are not everyone’s cup of T, I do enjoy the way your present your side of the story…

    Having bumped into FDoS a number of times – I can assure you David, he is an amusing, respectful and highly intelligent guy.. such a shame, cyberspace does not entertain emotion…(yet)… 🙂

    Please let us know how long it takes for your claim/earnings to come through….


    EU_Flyer
    Participant

    How do I bump into FDOS too?

    Reg 261 is a God-send for passengers and a total nightmare for the airlines. What amuses me though are the convoluted excuses many airlines come up with for denying claims. Excuses which are blatant lies and impossible to support with evidence, advanced in the hope they will intimidate the claimant and make them give up.

    So when a Reg 261 claim arises, I usually have no qualms pursuing it.


    BrotherJim
    Participant

    Only issue I see with all the glee is that you the passenger are really paying for the compensation through higher fares.


    EU_Flyer
    Participant

    [quote quote=866676]Only issue I see with all the glee is that you the passenger are really paying for the compensation through higher fares.[/quote]

    I suspect – given the highly competitive European market – the fares are not influenced much by R261 exposure.

    Where I would be concerned is if an airline, to avoid cancelling / delaying a flight, compromised safety. Especially the smaller LCC carriers.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    Edski777
    Participant

    What I’m interested in is some research into the effect of EC261. Has the performance improved, have ticket prices been raised, are airlines following the EC261 rules, etc.
    I’m under the impression EC261 works, especially compared with the behavior and performance in the USA.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    BrotherJim
    Participant

    [quote quote=866679]

    Only issue I see with all the glee is that you the passenger are really paying for the compensation through higher fares.

    I suspect – given the highly competitive European market – the fares are not influenced much by R261 exposure.

    Where I would be concerned is if an airline, to avoid cancelling / delaying a flight, compromised safety. Especially the smaller LCC carriers.[/quote]

    They are paying for it somehow with the main source of income fares. So the cost must be factored in there somewhere and the customer is paying.

    I’m not saying it is a good thing or a bad thing just pointing out it is not ‘free’ money.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Brother Jim’s point is a valid one – the EC always recognised that there might be an impact on fares.

    However, the impact is a minimal one, a few quid per ticket at most and in return for that, the extra ‘insurance cover’ the passenger gets is extremely good VFM. Ryanair used to charge €2.40 (or somewhere thereabouts) as an EC261 levy – I always thought that was okay, being a transparent was to show the cost.

    Setting aside compensation for a moment, just think of the accommodation/F&B costs the passenger may otherwise bear – this could easily be £500 for a couple of nights whilst waiting for a new flight in times of disruption.

    So I am happy to consider any slight costs as equivalent to buying into a ‘group insurance policy’ provided by the airline.

    2 users thanked author for this post.
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