Loganair ‘working really hard’ to clear backlog of claims after grounded flights
LOGANAIR says it is “working really hard” to fulfil compensation and reimbursement claims that stretch back as far as January.
The airline has been continually criticised this year for the length of time it has taken to respond to claims following delays caused by bad weather at the start of the year.
Shetland News has also struggled to get a response from the company in recent weeks regarding the issue, with one person writing to Shetland News today (Tuesday) to say their claim from January remains outstanding.
But Loganair chief executive Luke Farajallah said the company was pushing to clear the backlog ahead of the winter travel season.
There were just 33 claims related to Shetland for Loganair to deal with, he told today’s (Tuesday) meeting of the external transport forum.
Given the percentage of people flying in and out of Shetland, that figure was “tiny”, he said – though he admitted every claim was “important” to the people affected.
Loganair said in March it was dealing with “an unprecedented number” of compensation requests after flight disruption earlier this year.
Around 180 of 300 Loganair flights grounded during a 10-day period in January were either to or from Sumburgh Airport.
Farajallah asked the public to pass the details of any outstanding claims to Loganair, and asked councillors attending today’s meeting to flag any issues up with airline officials at the meeting.
Shetland West councillor Liz Peterson said some people had “still been waiting several months for compensation”.
And Shetland South representative Alex Armitage said he had heard “a lot of correspondence about delayed reimbursements” from his constituents.
The Loganair chief said the company was “working really hard” to clear the backlog.
“Six weeks ago we were still looking at February/March,” he said.
“Now we’re working on late May, into June.”
Farajallah said they had hired extra people in their call centre just to deal with the array of claims, something which he said had proved “really important”.
He added they would “definitely be using that tactic again” in the event of further disruption.
Peterson questioned whether Loganair could keep up with the number of compensation claims going forward, while Armitage urged the airline to continue with more staff in its call centre.
The Green councillor said it was looking likely that there would be further disruption this winter, with expectations that El Nino could result in stormier conditions.
Forum chairwoman Moraig Lyall also strongly encouraged Loganair to keep in communication with people who are awaiting the outcomes of their claims.
People can call Loganair on 0344 800 2855 to track a claim.
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