Originally posted by Tim64
Also could have done without 3am start yesterday with headache, hacking cough and minimal sleep only to discover a 4 hour flight delay at the airport. 
When I got back from my ski trip, I decided to write Austrian Airlines a rude letter about the horrid delay at Innsbruck Apt. Being British, I was born with the ability to complain (we are handed proforma complaints letters along with nappies on leaving the hospital).
After about a month, they wrote back:
Dear Mr. [ ],
first of all we would like to thank you for employing the services of Austrian Airlines.
In reference to your e-mail [it was actually a rude letter; people just delete emails these days] regarding your experiences with Austrian Airlines due to your delayed flight please accept our sincere apologies for this incident and for all inconvenience this has caused you.
We understand how disruptive flight delays, cancellations and misconnections can be to our passengers' travel plans. At Austrian Airlines Group, we do our utmost to adhere to published schedules in effect on the date of travel and prevent flight irregularities from occurring. However, on occasion, flight delays and cancellations are unavoidable due to circumstances beyond control, such as weather or safety-related precautions that must be taken. In your case it was due to technical reason but it would go too far to describe a technical problem.
We regret to hear that the service at the airport was not satisfactory that day. As we are aware of the fact that a professional service is extremely important to our customers, please be assured that the Station Management has already been notified of the lack of service you have highlighted. Our Station Manager will review your complaint to ensure that our staff conduct themselves in a professional manner and are sensitive to customer perception.
On behalf of our customer relations department we will reimburse any occurred direct costs if any occurred.
According to our General Conditions of Carriage we cannot accept liability for consequential costs of flight irregularities but we will offer the compensation of €250.- according EC-Regulation 261/04. Please send your bank details with name of the bank, IBAn and BIC/SWIFT. Thank you. [No, no; thank YOU]
We kindly ask for your understanding that we cannot offer any further payment. [No worries]
In closing may we reiterate our sincere apologies for these most unfortunate incidents. We do hope that despite the disappointment you have expressed, we may have the pleasure of regaining your confidence in Austrian Airlines. [Absolutely. Nicely handled, if you ask me]
Best regards
__________________________
AUSTRIAN AIRLINES
The money turned up in my a/c a few days ago. So I bought one of these with it:
Am startin to think HEM2 rulez...
