We contacted Maleth Aero and it said:
Maleth is eager to get things wrapped up with Carnival and any valid UK 261 claims paid out. However, at this time Maleth has not been fully paid for those flights. Maleth and Carnival are in the process of reaching an agreement on open amounts due to Maleth, which Maleth believes exceed the amount of deposits received and the amount UK 261 claims. At present, Maleth has not been paid for onboard catering or alcoholic beverage service, among other costs. These costs were not included in the contract with Carnival, but Maleth stepped in to cover them to accommodate passengers and minimize the discomfort Carnival customers would have had without those services.
Maleth is committed to paying valid UK 261 claims and has in fact proposed to Carnival that it will open an escrow account with a third party to receive Carnival’s payment, from which UK 261 claims that are determined to be due will be directly disbursed.
It added the following points:
It said Maleth is fully prepared to pay UK 261 claims determined to be due to Carnival customers but
requires full compensation due from Carnival for the flights in order to do so. Though passengers have paid Carnival in full for the flights, Maleth has not been paid in full for the flights from its customer, Carnival Cruises. Maleth requires to be paid for the services before it can pay for any penalties attendant to those services. Nonetheless, Maleth and Carnival have an open dialogue to close these open items.
It said it has proposed to Carnival that it will open an escrow account for Carnival to pay
into, from which it will directly disburse funds to Carnival customers with valid UK 261
claims. And that this structure would allow it to satisfy Carnival customers’ claims first, even if Carnival feels there are open issues to resolve between Maleth and Carnival afterwards.
It said that Carnival contracted Maleth for a high-density seating aircraft, with no in-flight entertainment system, and no catering nor alcohol service included. This proved to be very much at odds with Carnival customers’ expectations of a more premium luxury passenger operation.
It said certain Maleth aircraft do offer business class seating, with newer cabins and in-flight
entertainment options, but they were not chosen by Carnival for these flight and that Maleth suffered the blame from Carnival customers for failing to offer services that had not
been included.
Further more it said public pressure from Carnival customers forced Maleth to scramble to try to make additional services available to Carnival customers, the nature of which made for a disappointing and disruptive experience related to these services reported by customers.
It said it has not been paid for any of the onboard meals or alcoholic beverage service,
among significant other costs, that Maleth stepped in to provide in order to try to meet the
expectation and minimize the discomfort of Carnival’s passengers. This saddled Maleth
with a significant amount of unforeseen costs and created other disruptions felt by all
involved.
It said Maleth is committed to working in cooperation with Carnival to closeout any open items, with validUK 261 claims chief among those.
We additionally contacted P & O/Carnival and it said:
It was are very disappointed that despite being legally responsible to do so, Maleth Aero has not paid some guests compensation under Regulation 261 for flight delays experienced by those guests when joining or departing from one of our holidays. The law exists to make airlines responsible and hold them to account for delays or cancellations incurred due to their fault, and therefore Maleth Aero must pay the compensation to guests and we would encourage them to do so promptly. Guests who are still waiting for compensation should contact the Civil Aviation Authority, which may be able to offer advice.
It said when it entered the contract with Maleth it specifically requested aircraft with full in-flight entertainment but it was told there were none available for its required passenger capacity. In-flight catering was also a core element agreed by both parties, as it would provide for all our guests on its charter aircraft. It said it was very unhappy with the service provided by Maleth as it was not up to the standard agreed and certainly was not what it would want for its P&O Cruises guests.”
P&O Cruises no longer has a commercial relationship with Maleth Aero and will not be using the airline in the future. It said it has paid all monies due to Maleth but added it was looking at legal action to recover monies owed to it by Maleth.
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