Flight severly delayed and the airline is ignoring my claim. Tour operator (Balkan Holidays) and ABTA say I can only deal directly with BH Air (even though i have had no financial dealings with them). APPARENTLY THIS IS THE CASE WITH ALL TOUR OPERATORS.
We pushed back 4 hours and 29 minutes late, which according to Citizens advice
we are entitled to £350 compensation per person.
So aparently that's it.
If you are bored and want more detail, read on
BH Air say their crew and aircraft were ready to depart on time but there was a maintenance issue. There was, plus the previous flights baggage was late to be unloaded (we watched from the gate window after the flight departure time) our baggage was rthen loaded, then there was the maintenance issue - tannoy went out to say the engineer won't return to fix the problem until the airline pays him.
Then 2 hours and 55 mines after expected departure, we were all given food vouchers.
We were taken back to the departure lounge via a mobility aid to assist my wife's parents, and we were told to plenty of time to get something to eat. We arrived back at the lounge at approximately 8.30. This was now 3 hours and 5 minutes after scheduled departure.
We sat and had a small meal. We had been given a pager by the mobility desk which buzzed at 8.40pm. I know this as i have a call logged to my wife as she wanted to know whether they had time to eat or not, or get back to the gate. I returned to the desk to ask if it was time to return to the plane, they made a call to the gate. I had asked them to call the gate as i didnt want any extra unesscessary delays due to issues boarding my father in laws mobilty scooter (as there had been previously - the the ground crew member informed us earlier when we at the gate of a broken lift and he didn't know how he would get the scooter down there).
All the mobility desk wanted to know was whether we needed any mobility assistance to return to the gate, which we declined. I also asked specifically whether we needed to return to the gate immediately (as he had just spoken to them) and we were told no, go just after 9pm and the plane should be ready as the information they had received said it would be departing at approximately 10pm. So this is exactly what we did.
According to my receipt, the meal was paid for (using the airline vouchers) at 9.07pm but most of the group had left 5 minutes earlier to start making their way back to the gate. My wife and father in law went back via the mobility assistance desk in the departure lounge to check again that getting the scooter down to the plane wouldnt be an issue. They confirmed all was ok, and at no time were we told to hurry as the plane was waiting for us.
My family arrived back at the gate at approximately 9.15 where we were met by staff saying that we were late, and were asked where we had been. We had only followed the airlines instructions and had checked multiple times.
There hadn't been any announcements or information put on the screens as we checked regularly. We boarded by 9.20pm and then as stated pushed back at 21.54.
We were met on board by cabin crew who were particularly miserable and were treated as though it was our fault for the delay. She also apologised for the delay at the beginning of the safety briefing stating it was due to slow passenger check in.