Claim compensation for delayed flight with AirEuropa - A modern odyssey

 Two years ago (before Corona that is) I took a flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Medellin, Colombia with AirEuropa (AE) a Spain (Mallorca) based low budget carrier. AE seems to be owned by a family via Globalia Corporación Empresarial S.A. Due to technical issues in Frankfurt our plane was delayed and by the time we reached Madrid the connecting flight to Medellin was gone. So there big confusion and it took some hours for the very scarce staff of AirEuropa to reroute everyone onto new flights and arrange accommodation. For us that was a flight on the new day to Madrid -> Bogota -> Medellin with a night in a cheap Airport hotel close by including transport via bus back an further plus dinner and breakfast. All in all we arrived in Medellin with more than 24 hours delay.

After being back I thought about the two options to claim compensation:   

1. Sell the claim to an agency and receive a certain percentage (around 70%) ; or
2. Hire an agency to pursue the claim on your behalf; or 
3. Try claiming the compensation yourself. 

I went ahead with option 3, in theory my claim is sound and clear and protected by EU regulation which I should be able to pursue myself. With AirEuropa not being part of the private mediation body called Schlichtungsstelle für den öffentlichen Personenverkehr e.V. (söp) this will not be easy. The following is a chronicle of my so far fruitless attempts to claim compensation with AirEuropa.

1. December 2019: 24h+ delayed flight FRA - MDE 
2. January 2020: Calculated claim with Flugärger App (German only): €900. Submitted claim via App/Email to AirEuropa
3. January 2020: Acknowledgment of receipt of "comments" by AirEuropa, no further viable information except to not send follow-ups.
4. March 2020: Reply by AirEuropa with most sincere apologies but basically saying the rerouted by flight so everything is fine, no mentioning of my monetary claim at all.
5. March 2020: First follow-up as to the response to my claim 
6. April 2020: Second follow-up as to the response to my claim with the notion that I will pursue the claim by legal means if necessary.
7. June 2020: Request for mediation of my claim with the mediation board for flights at the German Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ).
8. March 2021 (!): BMJ requesting power of attorney by my wife for which I filed a claim as well which we provide immediately.
9. April 2021: BMJ saying under EU legislation I have the right to claim €600 only, not €900 as I initially claimed. I agree to waive my claim on the €300 and continue to uphold €600.
10. April 2021: BMJ has informed AirEuropa of my claim of €600 and requested a statement within 4 weeks. After they received the statement I will have the right to response to said statement.
11. May 18th, 2021: AirEuropa wired the complete claim (€600 / pax) to my bank account 
12. May 20th, 2021: BMJ informed me that AirEuropa acknowledged by claim and will pay the amount. I informed them the payment has already happened.

Conclusion: It took 1.5 years and the help of the German Ministry of Justice (BMJ) to get my claim through with AirEuropa. I must say that it probably would have been easier to file with a private agency and accept a haircut on my claim, given the time and involved, especially if you need the cash rather fast.