Flight Delay Shockers

[* ORM *]

After a fantastic week in the Algarve my flight due to leave at 9.50am yesterday finally got off the ground at 8pm :( Got home at 1am and in bed for 2 resulting in a wasted day's holiday today :( **** !

Two planes had to be flown out to take 300 plus very ****ed off passengers back.

Needless to say the info we were supplied all day yesterday was either non-existent or wrong, not a Monarch rep in sight and a letter, that clearly should have been given to us in the morning, was only given to us at 7pm in the departure lounge. After originally dishing out 6 Euro meal vouchers (trust me this covers next to bugger all in Faro airport) they ferried us all off to a hotel for lunch and having spoken to a waiter all the staff there knew first thing in the morning whereas when we got to the airport at 8am it was just showing a delay until 1230 which got progressively worse. Felt sorry for the poor sods on the info desk. They were trying so hard but noone at Monarch was answering any of their calls.

Both planes took off and landed within minutes of each other but no-one knew which luggage was on which plane and needless to say they put the luggage on two different belts at Gatwick :minger:

Thank god for EU legislation though (thought I'd never see myself write that). Delays of 5 hours or more mean a full refund for the four of us (£550 in this case just for the return trip). The airline will fight it all the way but they don't have a leg to stand on.

 

[Cricko]

"The airline will fight it all the way but they don't have a leg to stand on".

Would that not be a wheel Tone..:rolleyes:

 

[Shrimpersarmy]

Funny you should bring that up Tone. Flew out to Cyprus last Saturday - with Monarch, from Gatwick - and that was delayed by 4 hours. Obviously nowhere near as bad as your delay but still a right royal pain in the ****.

Did you find out the reason for the delay?

 

[SARF]

Returning from Chamonix myself and a mate where driving back, planning to leave at 6 am .. 4 others had left the evening before at about 5pm for 7/8 pm ish flights. Loads of snow all night.. When we passed Geneva airport at about 7am in very hairy conditions we got a call , They where all still at the airport, no flights had moved all night.. Worse still 2 of them had been on the plane for about 5 hours before being turfed off, they ended up sleeping in a sweet shop doorway..Mind you it was pretty grim.. The last bit of ice fell off the car near Rhiems.. Thats when the windscreen washers started working again as well.. We beat 2 of them home..

 

[Kent Shrimper]

Back in Sept we were due to fly to Rhodes with BA and we were delayed. Basically we were told that the cleaners had turned up to clean the plane but half way through were ordered to another plane thus i was was still sat at the departure gate 2 hours later, until the ****ers returned we couldnt go anywhere. Again no where near as bad as ORM but still bloody frustrating. I would have cleaned the ****ing thing myself (Well sent the missus).

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Thank god for EU legislation though (thought I'd never see myself write that). Delays of 5 hours or more mean a full refund for the four of us (£550 in this case just for the return trip). The airline will fight it all the way but they don't have a leg to stand on.

Do they? :confused:

 

[Mr. Benedict]

Never had anything as bad as ORMs, but I was delayed for 7 hours on a flight into Mexico once. We ended up arriving at the hotel at 3am local time, having to be up at 7 to have breakfast before commencing our tour.


The only recompense we got was a £10 food voucher...

 

[Bob Cratchitt]

It appears they do!!

 

[Mad Cyril]

I was on a BA flight to JFK a couple of years back and an unconscious co-pilot was taken out of the cockpit on a stretcher. We sat on the runway for 90 minutes waiting for a replacement.

Luckily I was in business and spent the time drinking fine wines.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

It appears they do!!

Cheers for that. That's jogged a few dim and distant memories from when it was introduced.

Not quite sure ORM is entitled to that. His flight was only delayed rather than cancelled from what I can tell. According to that article:

Any postponements of longer than 5 hours will also make passengers eligible for reimbursement of the ticket (if they decide not to travel), and if it continues into the night, hotel rooms, and transfer to it, must also be provided for poor weary customers.

Its also worth noting that:

Airlines are exempt from paying out compensation if cancellations are due to ‘extraordinary circumstances'. Basically this covers unpreventable occurrences such as extreme weather conditions, security risks and worker strikes, but not technical problems with the aircraft.

 

[FeedTheGoat]

After a fantastic week in the Algarve my flight due to leave at 9.50am yesterday finally got off the ground at 8pm :( Got home at 1am and in bed for 2 resulting in a wasted day's holiday today :( **** !

Two planes had to be flown out to take 300 plus very ****ed off passengers back.

Needless to say the info we were supplied all day yesterday was either non-existent or wrong, not a Monarch rep in sight and a letter, that clearly should have been given to us in the morning, was only given to us at 7pm in the departure lounge. After originally dishing out 6 Euro meal vouchers (trust me this covers next to bugger all in Faro airport) they ferried us all off to a hotel for lunch and having spoken to a waiter all the staff there knew first thing in the morning whereas when we got to the airport at 8am it was just showing a delay until 1230 which got progressively worse. Felt sorry for the poor sods on the info desk. They were trying so hard but noone at Monarch was answering any of their calls.

Both planes took off and landed within minutes of each other but no-one knew which luggage was on which plane and needless to say they put the luggage on two different belts at Gatwick :minger:

Thank god for EU legislation though (thought I'd never see myself write that). Delays of 5 hours or more mean a full refund for the four of us (£550 in this case just for the return trip). The airline will fight it all the way but they don't have a leg to stand on.

I don't think I've ever flown out of Faro airport without a delay. Would expect more from Monarch though, I've never had any such trouble with them. I always find it's best to fly with TAP when going to Portugal, they're generally very dependable and when leaving Portugal they always get priority from Air Traffic Control