Air Travel Delay - Compensation

[IQBAL]

My whole journey from Dubai to Edinburgh was booked with Air France directly on the airline's website which automatically gave me a connection time for the Paris-Edinburgh flight. However, I missed my onward connection to Edinburgh because passengers were made to wait on board for at least 20 minutes for the terminal bus to arrive before being allowed to disembark from the aircraft when it arrived in Paris from Dubai. I was then re-routed via London Heathrow and arrived into Edinburgh 5 hours and 15 minutes later. The 20 minutes wait on aircraft was crucial as the Edinburgh flight (which could have waited for me) was closed only 5 minutes before I arrived at the boarding gate.I have received a reply from Air France saying that due to a problem outside of their control no compensation is payable under EU Regulation 261/2004. Please advise if this is correct or is Air France trying to wriggle out of this and in what form and how much compensation I should be entitled to un der EU regulations. Many thanks.

[ReinaLuna]

Sorry, I can't answer to your question precisely, but for one thing I can confirm you that YES, they are certainly trying to wriggle out of this! I need to travel sometimes using Air France, (lack of other options) and I really lost my respect for that company. Many of their staff is rude to you, and when my boyfriend had all his luggage delayed and had to stay one day without any of his clothes, I asked the lady "how will he stay a whole day without having a shower, having his personal hygiene?"

She just replied in a very angry way "what's the problem, I would!!!!!"

Later on, somebody said we could claim up to 100 Euros for this embarrassment, so we went out and he bought soap, shampoos, and some essentials. We kept ALL the receipts like they said. When we sent them all and asked for the compensation, they came out with an obscure line of the EU regulation where it said you could only claim that until 1 month AFTER the fact! Problem is, we were travelling around for 2 months so we would never guess that!

So, be careful with Air France. Wish you a good luck!!