Compensation and Refund for Brussels Airlines delayed or canceled flights

The bank is taking care of the refund and in the meantime I was given a chargeback from the bank on my account

Boarding pass 0822XXXXX02 stefan roosen seat 16c. You will find a reservation as well in françoise vandonink. Seat 18c. This turned out to be a 5h+ delay so we would like to file for damages & compensation. Our prepaid train tickets have been forfaited as well because the plane arrived after any possible connection available. The late night ride home with cab company should be compensated as well. We l try to obtain an invoice trough travel agency. In venice we received a 4 euro voucher for a drink. With this kind of delay they should have provided at least unlimited acces to bottled water, which was not the case, as well as a meal. A mignonette chocolate on the flight does not cover this. No explicatory comments of hosts or hostesses about the delay, only the captain of the flight mentioning a 'traffic jam' (5 hours ??) Once settled after boarding we suffered another 35 a 40 min delay because of the lift window

The flight should be departured on 29th January 2020, at 20:40. It was written on information that everything is all rigth, and gate 42 had been named at 19:55. Than 5 minutes later it was cancelled, without any reasons.

My flight (Brussels-Venice) was cancelled on the evening before the departure. Brussels airline did not send me any additional information and I occasionally noticed the cancellation in the app. It took me an (1) hour and 10 minutes of waiting on the phone to get my flight re-routed and re-scheduled, and I arrived in Venice at 21.25 on the 21 May only with another airline. Since my delay was more than 3 hours and the customer service availability was extremely low I think I am entitled to the compensation according to the EU law of air transportation. I claim that 1. there is no link between the ‘extraordinary circumstance (strike)’ and flight cancellation. Other airlines did operate on 21.05.2019 and I was re-routed to another operating airline 2. cancellation could have been avoided, Brussels airline did not take any reasonable measures to avoid cancellation and did not provide any valid explanation to it. 3. The employee of the Brussels airline who gave explanation of the cancellation seems to be working under influence because she explained the 21 May 2019 cancellation with the closure of Belgian air space on 12 February 2019 (please see their explanation). I contacted Belgium Civil Aviation Authority, got an answer: Our reference: PR555774 Dear Madam, We apologise for the delay in our response. However, we wanted to take all elements in consideration before giving our final opinion on this case. In an initial response, the airline informed us that your flight had been canceled following a strike by airport staff in Italy. As, in our opinion, there was a lack of evidence to substantiate this claim, we asked for additional information. The second response from the airline informed us that you had requested the intervention of the consumer mediation service and they informed us they would further handle the case with the mediator. We insisted to receive the additional information requested. The airline finally replied, repeating that the cancellation of the plane was due to a strike in Italy. Up to date, we still did not receive acceptable proof to determine the exact reason for the cancellation of your flight. These email exchanges take time, even though we try to follow up as much as possible the time frames given to airlines to respond and we try to reduce response times as much as possible. Without result after several email exchanges, we are forced at this point to close the case. The airline was advised that, in our opinion, we don't have sufficient evidence that the cancellation of your flight was due to extraordinary circumstances and that we would inform you of this outcome. This is merely a non-binding opinion, based on the information at our disposal. As mentionned before, we can not enforce the payment of a compensation to passengers. You can still take this matter before the competent national court. We advise you to contact a lawyer or legal advisor for further information. We are sorry not to be able to help you further. Yours faithfully, Karin FPS Mobility & Transport Belgian Civil Aviation Authority Strategic Unit –Passengers rights City Atrium (6th floor - locker PAX) - Rue du Progrès 56 B-1210 Brussels