Do airlines ever pay compensation?

[BrummyGit]

Before Christmas I submitted a compensation claim against BA connect for a flight cancellation for which no alternative arriving within 2 hours of the original could be offered and they turned me down stating that there was a technical fault with the aircraft and as this was a safety issue no compensation is due. I dispute this as it is really a matter of maintenance and spare aircraft - both of which are commercial descisions. This is currently in the hands of the Air Transport Users Council.

Since the Flybe takeover of BA Connect I submitted another when they "merged" my 7:05 flight with the 10:35 one and had no alternative arriving within 2 hours of the original and was told it was due to "crew availability". Now Flybe turned me down stating it was a crew hours problem and of course that is a safety issue so no compensation is due. They instead offer me a goodwill gesture of £75 vouchers for use against Flybe flights (as if I'd choose to use them for leisure :ugh:) and want written confirmation that I accept this offer :=. So anyway again crew hours for the first flight of the morning is nothing more than poor management and crew scheduling (or not allowing for staff going off sick etc) and I dispute this and intend to refer this to the AUC as well.

Has anyone actually found an airline that is prepared to pay the statutory compensation as per the law without trying to wriggle out of it?

[Single Spey]

The law states that if it is an exceptional circumstance affecting safety then compensation is not payable. The counter to this is to ask for airline statistics from the CAA under a FOI request to prove that it is exceptional. According to the Air Navigation Order (also Law) airlines have to report any technical defects or occurrences which affect or could affect safety undr the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting system. So by my reasoning when the flight is cancelled due to an exceptional safety event the airline is also required by law to report it to the CAA. You could ask the airline to prove that they have complied with the law in this respect. As an aside, the ANO also requires any person aware of such events to report them - so once you have been told I suppose that you should also report it. Get the airline to put it in writing and go direct to the CAA with your concerns that the airline has safety problems and ask if they are aware of them, and what they are doing about it.