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In June 2023, my family and I were supposed to fly to Paris (from JFK). The flight was booked through our bank (paid with points and cash - the bank is therefore the travel agent), the marketing airline was Delta and operating airline Air France.

When we showed up at the airport 4 hours before the flight, Air France informed us that they couldn't find our tickets, as they were canceled by "revenue management". They had signs on the counters asking for volonteers to take later flights. At the airport, we also spoke to Delta (marketing airline), who said they could see our confirmed tickets and gave me a hand written note saying we were denied boarding. I asked for compensation and lodging and this was not possible according to the agent. We called our bank and they worked with Delta to put us on a Virgin Atlantic flight two days later.

Since then, I have taken the following actions:

  • Raised a denial of boarding complaint with Delta to get the DOT compensation. They denied it and pointed fingers at Air France and the bank who booked our tickets.
  • Raised a complaint with Air France, who pointed fingers at the bank (they think it is a ticketing issue).
  • Raised a complaint with our bank, who pointed fingers at Delta and Air France. They did confirm that we were correctly ticketed and provided an email with ticket #.
  • Tried other Avenues (including BBB, ADR and small claim lawsuit) that are still in progress. The airlines and their lawyers have been very successful at dragging the process.

I know that you will all say that's the perfect example confirming that booking directly with the airline is strongly recommended. I get that and agree, I learned my lesson.

My question is: what's my best course of action to either get the DOT denial of boarding compensation or EU261 compensation? How do I confirm if it is a true case of denial of boarding or as Air France says, a ticketing issue? Should I continue the ADR path and small claim processes?

I have gathered strong evidence (email from the bank confirming that we were ticketed, 2 notes from Delta confirming denial of boarding, Delta audit coupon etc), but holding the three parties accountable (bank, Air France and Delta) has been extremely challenging. They all point fingers at each other and give different versions (Delta and the bank agree it is a denial of boarding case, Air France says it is a ticketing issue likely caused by the bank).

Relaxed
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Catzman55
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3 Answers3

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In terms of EU261, the case is pretty clear: You were involuntarily denied boarding with a valid ticket and Air France is responsible as they are the operating carrier. The statute of limitations is 5 years in France (although the airline may state less in their terms and conditions), so you are still inside the valid time window.

File an EU 261 claim against Air France and elevate to their local aviation authority if they deny it. Alternatively, you can farm out the claim to a third party EU261 collector, which will handle the denial and possibly go to court if needed. Of course, they will charge you for that.

justhalf
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Hilmar
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As Hilmar said, Air France is the legally liable party, so any court claim needs to be made against Air France and ONLY Air France. Present ALL the evidence you have and refer to section 7 of the preamble to Regulation EC261/2004 stating it's the operating carrier that's legally responsible.

Crazydre
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The responsibility lies with the 'plating' carrier - they accepted the reservation for ticketing. It makes no difference which airline actually operated the flight. The airline whose paper the ticket was issued on is the one who received your money/points etc. Air France was obviously over-booked and they had to deny boarding to passengers, but they are totally liable to rebook and get you to your final destination

Elizabeth Budge
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