Q) OUR flight home from a cruise in Mexico was cancelled, leaving us stranded in the US for two days.
We think we are owed compensation from the airline, KLM.
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But after months of chasing, we are getting nowhere.
Robert and Jane Lawrence Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire
A) You flew with KLM from Glasgow to San Francisco via Amsterdam on October 16, and were due to fly home from LA on October 29 after the cruise.
On October 26, you got a text from KLM saying it was cancelled.
It said you’d now be leaving two days later, on October 31. Your travel agent, Hayes, confirmed it was true.
This meant two nights in an LA hotel close to the airport, arranged by Hayes.
After your dreamy cruise, it brought you back to earth with a bump.
You sought compensation for the inconvenience and contacted KLM.
But it was adamant notification of the flight change was given well in advance. You insist it was not.
The only notification you got was about a delay of just over an hour to your outgoing flight, which wasn’t a problem for you.
You told the Dutch airline this and wrote to the CEO, but heard nothing back.
With the short notice for such a significant delay on the return leg, this looked to me like an open and shut case and the airline should have coughed up £520 to each of you.
That is the amount airlines are meant to pay if a long-haul flight of more than 2,175 miles is delayed by four hours or over.
The only exception is where the delay is due to “extraordinary circumstances”, which this was not.
I pointed this out to KLM.
It didn’t take long for the airline to confirm you were entitled to compensation.
It agreed you should also be reimbursed for your food costs.
You were delighted to finally get the compensation you were owed after such a stressful journey.
In total, KLM gave you £1,103.
A KLM spokesperson explained the reason it denied you compensation at first was down to a mix-up by the member of staff who looked at your case.
As a thank you for my help on this, you told me that you would be making a donation to Cancer Research UK.
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