Flight Delay Compensation: Germanwings Offers Nichts For Delay Exceeding 2 Hours

File this under Flight Delay Compensation, or rather Flight Delay – No Compensation.

Quick Synopsis: After a long delay in boarding due to an “alleged” missing crew, we boarded the flight from Cologne, Germany to London Heathrow. We then sat on the plane for what seemed like an eternity. Below, they had taken all of the checked baggage out of the plane and were going through the tags one-by-one. They announced a snafu: a misplaced bag or something like that. Our requests for something as simple as water were denied.  All tolled, the delay was over 2 hours.

Write a Letter: I spelled out the facts in my letter to Germanwings:

Both my boyfriend (Won’t Run) and I were on flight 4U 464 yesterday, which was delayed for various reasons. I believe we are entitled to compensation under your own rules, and those of the European Parliament.

There were extreme delays. First we were told that the crew could not be found. Then after we boarded 30 minutes late, we were told that there was a confusion with the luggage.  They then went through the luggage one by one. this took well more than an hour. When they were done, we then had to wait in line for a new place in take off. 

In all, our take-off was delayed more than 2 hours. We asked for water or some other refreshment, but the flight assistant refused to give us anything.

Receive a Letter: I received this response from Eurowings/Germanwings:

Thank you for your E-Mail. We apologize for any inconvenience and we are very sorry that we were not able to operate your flight as planned.

We work very hard to provide our passengers with a reliable, high-quality product. This includes attending to our passengers’ concerns to the best of our ability and ensuring that they feel welcome and well looked-after from the moment they arrive at the airport. Unfortunately, we did not achieve this goal in the case of your flight.

However, we regret that we cannot offer compensation in your case. Legal regulations require that compensation has to be paid only when the airline is responsible for a flight arriving at its destination at least three hours late. If a flight is delayed by three hours (or more), compensation must only be paid if the delay was not caused by exceptional circumstances. The delay of your flight was 2 hours and 6 minutes with the result that no compensation has to be paid. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to reduce the delay.

If you incurred additional costs during the waiting period, for example food costs, please send us the relevant receipts for a cross-check.

It is important to us that you continue to be one of our loyal and valued customers in spite of the inconvenience you have experienced. We hope that you continue to place your trust in us in the future. We assure you that we will do everything we can to ensure that your future trips run smoothly.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Kind regards…

Analysis: This amounts to a whole bunch of nothing.  How could I have incurred additional costs during the waiting time, when I was sitting in the plane and we were being refused any service, even a glass of water? Oh well. All I have to say is thanks for nicht.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~