[pablo disan]

To Whom It May Concern:

Myself and my wife travelled to Newark from Edinburgh (U.K) on 8 may 2010. We were due to travel back on the Sat 15 May at 10.20pm.
Due to volcanic ash Edinburgh and most Scottish and Irish airports closed. We knew it was likely and were not suprised when the flight was cancelled. We asked staff what we do now, by now 3 couples had gathered with us, and were sent to see a C.A. rep. Nobody even had a chance to ask a question, before she barked that NOBODY WAS TO GET ANY COMPENSATION. We didnt mind too much but the elderly couple queuing beside us were scared and nervous enough without the aggressive manner. We just wanted to know how we would get home.

We were told to re-book a flight at a check in desk. We were advised by a helpful member of staff the next direct Edinburgh flight would be on Tuesday. She then reviewed the situation and offered flights to london heathrow, 8pm on 16 may and London - Edinburgh connections on the 17 may 12.55pm. We accepted and got the tickets, no complaints and proceeded to find a hotel for ourselves.

The next day we arrived at the airport early. A few hours before our flight all U.K flights were again cancelled. Same story again in a queue for nearly 2 hours. It took one person on average 40mins to re-book and there were two staff dealing with our queue of about 100 people.
We proceeded to ask to re-book our flights to Edinburgh, they said first available were saturday 22 may. Same for London and various other UK airports. She said the first available flight to the U.K was via Bristol on wed 19 may. We said that would work, and asked about connecting flights from Bristol to Edinburgh. We were told that they were not allowed to do that, even though the last employee had issued us tickets with British Midland for London to Edinburgh. She said we would just have to go direct to Edinburgh on the 22 may or accept the Bristol flight. We accepted the Bristol flight because it got us home 3 days earlier. We were annoyed that C.A could change their policy to suit each idividual employee. If they have a bad day so does everyone they see.

We did in the end turn up for our Bristol flight early to see if there was any chance of being on standby for Edinburgh as we were there anyway. A nice staff member said there were no available seats to Edinburgh but two had become available on London Heathrow an hour earlier than the Bristol flight,giving us more travel options to Edinburgh. We changed to London. We found on the flight within view of our seats approx 11 seats were empty.

We got off the flight 7.40am and proceeded from our terminal to terminal 5 C.A help desk. It took about 45mins to get our bags and bus. I proceded to tell the employee the situation. I said i would like him to book us a flight home. He told me there was nothing he could do, he said i could have changed it because i was visiting sombody in London. It had taken 45 mins after landing in a different terminal in London Heathrow to arrive at his desk, who could i have visited in that time? He then said i should keep all Rail tickets/receipts to Edinburgh to claim them back. He said i would not be able to claim anything if i were to fly. Why i could only re-claim if going by rail i dont know so i walked away bemused as to the reason for this. We did in the end use rail and it cost about £120 each.

We will be trying to claim back our money out of principal. We will not fly Continental Airlines again, there is probably another page full of faults i could have written. We will repost upon outcome of complaint.

GOOD LUCK TRAVELLERS

[jimworcs]

Dear Pablo,
Here is the good news... Continental airlines were absolutely wrong and you are legally entitled to significantly more compensation that you may realise. Because your journey began in the UK, you are covered by EU Law 261. Many staff at US based carriers have tried to apply US law to travellers, which states that events such as volcano's or extreme weather means that airlines are not required to pay for hotels, etc. In fact, because your journey began in the UK, EU law applies to the whole of your journey. You are entitled to the following:

1. The cost of 3 meals per day during the entire delay
2. The cost of your hotel stays during the entire delay
3. The cost of getting to your originally booked airport (EDI from LHR)

Continental Airlines are fully aware of their legal obligations in this regard, as the US carriers have complained vociferously about the costs involved. You should gather your receipts and submit a claim. If you did not keep receipts for your food because you had been mislead by their staff that you were not entitled to such compensation, you can claim a reasonable daily figure. This is because Continental Airlines failed to notify you of your legal rights at the time of the delay. This is a breach of the EU 261 directive, and Ryanair have just been fined €3m for breaching this, in relation to the volcanic ash events.

Continental don't have a leg to stand on, and you should write a detailed complaint. It may have been possible that their employee's in Newark are unaware of EU261 (although they are in fact legally obligated to provide written information on your rights in relation to a cancellation). However, the London based employee most certainly knew your rights and you have a legitimate complaint relating to how you were treated. Continental are not permitted under these rules to claim that by accepting a flight to LHR you had effectively changed your routing. If you request to be taken to your originally booked airport, they must, at their expense get you there. This rule applies even if they get you to the same city, but a different airport. (For example, if you were booked to LHR and they got you to LGW they would have to pay for the cost of transport between the airports).

You should assert your rights: they treated you badly and did not obey the rules. Airlines regularly use the rules to their advantage and at the expense of their customers. You should have no hesitation in doing the same.