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Delayed departure from Edinburgh due to Staff Illness. Departure 9pm (Scheduled 1120 am) Notified a few hours prior to scheduled departure that additional flight leg from Toronto -Atlanta – Fort Myers now required and arrival at Fort Myers now a day later. Claim for flight delay submitted on Westjet website from which Westjet have replied to saying that medical issues arising are outwith airlines control. Question is can anyone advise which shall claims court has jurisdiction for a claim to be served?
Meant to ask in which country to to take small claims court action. UK US or Canada ?
Who had the medical issue that caused the delay and on which sector?
An just re read it – staff
Tell them about the Lipton case that the UK Supreme a court ruled on last week – staff illness isn’t an extraordinary circumstance.
Ruling available on the UK Supreme Court website.
So the delay to first leg of booking (Edi -Toronto) was a knock on effect of flight attendant illness/medical issue on incoming Westjet Flight (Toronto -Edinburgh) 15/6/24. Someone else affected by this has posted on Reddit Westjet Flight Delay !5/6/24. The members of my family affected by delay are US based. They were issued with vouchers for use at both Edinburgh and Toronto when they checked in baggage which had to be done within the timings of their originally scheduled departure of 1120am although the departure was delayed until 9pm.
@Magsnificent – I have never attempted a claim vs Westjet but in principle it does appear you have a claim for delay compensation at the rate of £520pp since you experienced a 24hr delay and, as posted above, staff illness does not constitute ‘extraordinary circumstances’ so Westjet has no get out. The difficulty is enforcement. Your claim under UK261 can only made be in the UK (I don’t know what potential claims could be made in Canada or the US, but they are unlikely to be as generous). Westjet explicitly does not participate in ADR here, which leaves MCOL as the only alternative if the airline refuses your claim. In order to issue an MCOL claim, both parties need a UK service address. I imagine you could offer this for your family, but I can’t see a UK registered office for Westjet. Do they have their own staff at EDI or do they use an agent? If one can’t find a suitable UK address to serve the claim, the CAA would probably be the next port of call (and I think they would take a dim view of the airline hiding from its legal responsibilities), although I would probably write to their head office first.
How delicious.
So this took place only 3 working days after the law existing currently, has just been confirmed last week to definitely still stand, by the highest court in the UK. That law being the one that says airline staff illness is viewed as the responsibility of the airline and does not an exempt the airline from paying compensation due under UK261.
The compensation is £520 per seat – which due to upcoming FX rate improvements is likely to grow in $ value over the next 3 months, or for a bit longer after that. It is claimable in the UK for every seat regardless of the passenger’s country of residence as the plane journey concerned departed from EDI which is in the UK.
As @JDB says though, you’ll need to find a way to address the claim to Westjet in the UK at an address where they may be reasonably found and perhaps if it’s not possible to Google one, the CAA could be asked what address to use? As they regulate aviation in the UK and have permitted Westjet to operate so presumably they have an address. I’d just call them.
It will take dogged step by step persistence but I have no doubt you will eventually get all the money per seat. If you had any extra hotel or meal expenses you have receipts for for your extra ground waiting time or longer journey time you can claim these too under the UK261 part for that.
When you have a contact address then go to moneyclaimonline.gov.uk and claim. There is a fee though but depending on your circumstances you might find it relatively small.
Loads of info on here in the Flight Cancellations section.
PS Please keep careful notes of what was communicated by whom that the cause was crew sickness, when and by what means. It’s just possible the airline may try to state the cause differently later so keep your notes of everything said.
Compensation exists, due to horrible journeys like this. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
PS Just to be clear, obviously point out the outcome of the Lipton case in your formal written request for compensation which you will make to Westjet.
Only if they still refuse – and I’d cc their Legal Dept in UK or in their Head Office as a courtesy and not just write to Customer Services – only if they still refuse would you go to MCOL ie moneyclaimonline.gov.uk
I have a feeling that receiving a written reminder of the Lipton decision and its date last week,in writing and a cc: also marked to the CAA, might make then decide to save themselves some time and pay up. Assuming you present it properly.
Tha time and effort posting the above helpful suggestions very much appreciated! Will consider and feedback to my family in US. The misery of long delay with very young children bad enough but worse was to come at Toronto. Westjet had rebooked them onto flights with Delta for Toronto~Atlanta~Ft Myers. When they attempted to re~check baggage they were told this hadn’t been booked by Westjet. They were sent to a Westjet Desk then back to Delta check in where they eventually relented allowing them to check in baggage. They only just made the gate thanks to the farce that had played out.
@Magsnificent – it all sounds very shabby treatment. The children and even infants are entitled to the compensation as well as the adults. Your family won’t get anything additional for the luggage fiasco, but for instance any reasonable food, transportation or telecommunications costs incurred during the delay should be reclaimable.
@JDB ~ thanks for confirming that lap infant entitled to compensation. Airline as mentioned above has rejected the claim with a cut and paste type of response. I realise that this is quite usual for many airlines and they hope that people will just give up on taking further action.
Give it another go.
Signed-for letter to their Legal Dept as well as copy in email.
Include cc: The UK Civil Aviation Authority under your signature or under the address in the letter.
State the exact Lipton judgment official title and say this is governing statute fot the flight and its operator.
Then the total value of your claim for x number of passengers (“breakdown of total claim on page 2).
Ask them to settle this claim in full as per your rights under [proper name of EU261 UK version which I’ve forgotten], within 28 days failing which you will take formal proceedings without further reference to them, all the costs of which will also be claimed. [attach your bank.details and signed dated authorisation of any other passengers not your children under 15, to deal with their claim.]
If you’ve done the above, addressed it to their Legal (or CEO if you hit a barrier), then you will have to MCOL. But it’s worth one more go to avoid that extra work and the time delay that will take.
PS For your cc: to the UK regulator, the CAA, which you will put on the letter and also send with a covering letter to the CAA requesting their assistance, JDB has provided the email address on another thread todsy :
Quote JDB “The newish CEO of the CAA is Rob dot Bishton at caa dot co dot uk”
To the Author, after involving the UK CAA as a UK Citizen, I was issued the full compensation for both tickets.
It took 5 months from my initial contact with Westjet, 3 of which were with the CAAVery well done and it shows determination pays.
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