First MCOL – tips

[MKB]

I am about to do my first MCOL claim and would appreciate any tips or pitfalls to be aware of.

This concerns a return short-haul flight with Lufthansa for my partner and I.

– The outbound leg was delayed by 5 hours due to smoke in the cabin, an emergency landing and being put on a later flight.
– We were denied boarding on the inbound flight the following morning, despite having successfully checked in online, because we were incorrectly listed as no-shows on the outbound flight and our seats on the full flight had been given to someone else. We were put on the next flight 12 hours later.

My belief was that the outbound delay was extraordinary circumstances and I was entitled to nothing for that — we had no additional expenses –, but that I was entitled to EU261 compensation and expenses for the inbound delay. Surprisingly, LH instead offered to pay EU261 compensation for the outbound but nothing for the inbound.

I accepted the offer for the outbound, and pursued compensation for the inbound. At this stage LH went quiet and stopped responding, even to letters sent recorded delivery to their legal company address in the UK. No compensation was ever paid for either leg of the journey.

I have read some advice that each passenger has to make separate claims with MCOL. Is that correct?

Any other tips?

[Rui N.]

A technical issue with the aircraft is something that is clearly due compensation, so no surprise there that they agreed to compensation.

[MKB]

Also, am I allowed to include in the claim an amount for time/effort spent (so far in vain) trying to get EU261 compensation, and, if so, how would I quantify that in a way that the court would regard as acceptable?

[Richie]

Aparently Lufthansa is part of https://soep-online.de/en/your-conciliation-request/online-form-flight/

[MKB]

Is that likely to be a better option than MCOL?

These arbitration schemes tend to be quite hit-and-miss don’t they? In the UK, I have had experience with the Rail Ombudsman (positive) and the Financial Ombudsman (very negative), but I haven’t used any resolution schemes, although I have seen quite a few negative accounts.