Personally I think EU261 is a crazy over burden of responsibility on airlines to compensate passengers, which was highlighted to its extreme during the volanic ash. Having said that, most airlines complied and compensated passengers in a timely manner in accordance with the regulations, and for some it created severe cashflow issues. Those airlines that strageically decided to obviate their responsibilities and repay over a considerable lenght of time have used the regs to create unfair competition over those that adhered. If Europe has any teeth it will impose rigorous sanctions against the offenders who gained unfair advantage. Hopefully a similar incident will not happen again, but if it did why would any airline pay up on time. Aside from compensation EU needs to radically overhaul 261.