Agree with you Tom, why use these companies. They just pray upon people by implying that you will have a better result by using them. Just the same as PPI claim companies. It's so easy to do it yourself. Well, good luck OP and its a lesson for others thinking of using these companies.

I was delayed 5 hours MAN-DXB and consequently missed my connection to Mauritius in December.

EK put me on a later flight and I was 8 hrs late to my destination.

I was advised to claim compensation under the new EU regulations but after complaining to EK we came to an amicable agreement.

Thanks guys. The firm I am using just charges an up front fee of around £20 and don't take a cut of what I get back. As I said before I did contact Ryanair myself at first but they didn't want to know. The law has changed since then on flight delays so I'm pretty sure I should get 400 euro back eventually.

"so I'm pretty sure I should get 400 euro back eventually"

Is this perhaps what the claim company told you?

If the delay was due to weather e.g. fog you won't get a penny, and there are other reasons for delay which mean you wouldn't get anything.

Well I'm absolotuely certain because I've got a letter from the CAA in Spain stating excatly that. Ryanair initially wouldn't pay out because the plane had technical problems. before the EU court ruling at the end of last year the airlines could class technical problems as 'circumstances outside of their control'. The law has now changed regarding these delays when it's over 3 hours. Basically the airlines have lost their get-out clause or excuse to not pay anything. They obviously drag their feet, so I'm wondering whether to hang in there or just cut to the chase and take them to small claims court?

EU 261 has not been changed, but the interpretation has. A technical problem can still be deemed outside the airline's control. That depends on the problem.

You won't get €400 for such a short flight it will be €250

:-)

They obviously drag their feet, so I'm wondering whether to hang in there or just cut to the chase and take them to small claims court?

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You've got 2 years to make the claim, so I'd say wait a while before throwing your £20 away, does it matter if you get the money back in a few extra weeks?

A technical problem can be deemed as outwith the airlines control ( by the airline obviously).

We recently saw an airline declare force majeure re a delayed flight due to a technical issue and needed a new part. They stated as they had carried out all reasonable maintenance in a timely and efficient manner, they could not have reasonably foreseen and prevented the technical issue that suddenly arose and as such they could not be held accountable and refused all payments by subsequently declaring force majeure to absolve themselves of all financial obligations.

Not pretty, but there it is. Some airlines are paying, some of the time, but it would appear most are not paying, most of the time, and seldom do they advise passengers of their rights. so don't assume simply because its a technical issue the airline will pay, we are a long, long way from that sort of transparency and honesty.

As one would assume all commercial airlines carry out all maintenance in a timely and efficient manner, one would have to assume they could all play the force majeure card every time a tech issue arises and claim they could not have reasonably foreseen it, and then subsequently absolve themselves of all obligation to pay any form of compensation.