United cancelled a very important flight after delaying it several times during the day. They did not provide me any accomodations or new flights, the lady who was talking to us regarding the situation just left saying "access the app to book a new flight" - I kind of understand her position, it was not her fault but she would be the one getting screamed at by rude passengers. Long story short, I paid for my own accomodation, my own dinner and on the other day I was able to go back to the airport and find someone who helped me get another flight.
When I got back to Brazil I took united to the small claims court and got my money back plus some.
Small claims court is the future of airline customer service.
My dad recently filed in small claims for lost luggage after the realization there was no phone number for a human to speak with as everything is “live” chat where each chat takes ten minutes for a response. The check came in the mail days after notification of filing.
Granted it was a budget airline, but it’s not that different from waiting on hold to get transferred.
I have a similar experience, where I was originally denied a refund I was entitled to per EU’s passenger’s rights regulation (261/2004) and reported it to the national ombudsman for consumer rights and having them agree to pay up immediately.
This was also a budget airline (Norwegian). I’m pretty sure they’re trying to deny claims as a rule. They were making an excuse that isn’t a valid force majeure (the airplane needed emergency servicing).
My experience with Scandinavian has been the exact opposite, I pretty much just inform them of which flight I was on and that I’m interested in compensation and that’s it. Though this was pre-COVID and reconstruction.
I had no idea small claims court could be so productive. Did you write your own petition or did you use a service to help compile it? Do you have to handle giving the receiving party their documents or does the court do that?
Small claims court is slow and laborious for all parties. Airlines have realized it’s better for their bottom line to just settle immediately out of court once they receive a small claims summons.
Eventually they'll learn how to counter sue and use the full power of their legal team to make an example out of what they regard as "peons with delusions of grandeur".
You laugh, but similar stuff has happened in the context of IP/Patent law. de facto retaliation is real in the legal system
This is why some places require an actual company representative and not just a contracted lawyer to appear for small claims court. Helps even the scales a bit.
Having used small claims a couple of times I’ve found it easy enough to write the petition. Small claims is designed to be lawyer free. There are gotchas but the judges seem to be more lenient. I’m not a lawyer and don’t have much court experience, but it was really not that hard to research and write. If you’re that interested I’d share the doc with you.
Using experience in NJ and CT the processes were similar.
You find the docs on the court system website and write out your petition then file it. You also need to deliver it to the other party and provide evidence of delivery to the court but that’s just USPS signature-required mail.
You can request cost of the filing in your claim too, and it was ~$70 to file.
I had to use it with landlords to get back security deposits. Well worth the $70 and a couple of hours of time.
In the UK, I went through the small claims court because my wifes phone stopped working as a phone after just two years and one moth. I just filled it out online here: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/make-claim
Didn't get as far as court as I went to mediation and got a settlement. Worked out well; would definitely do it again.
When I got back to Brazil I took united to the small claims court and got my money back plus some.