Originally Posted by
nicolai
I'm afraid I don't agree with the CAA saying that. The CAA is saying that passengers are "passengers affected ... are protected under EU law", and this law provides for both a duty of care (in all circumstances) and compensation (in some circumstances). So the EU law will protect all passengers in case of travel disruption but may only require a duty of care.
The CAA is being reassuring to passengers and warning BA (and other airlines who may be watching) not to neglect the duty of care, rather than making any comments on compensation.
The duty of care does include getting passengers on their way as quickly as reasonable possible, for example - not excluding booking onto other carriers, which is often a sticking point for tight-fisted airlines. This may be one of the things the CAA is trying to remind the airlines of, again without any reference to compensation.
In a roundabout way what the CAP is saying is that the airline scam of using a blanket extraordinary circumstances to avoid pay compensation is over the ECJ has ruled that the practice of unforseen technical delay being used to exclude claims when the aircraft was late from maintenance is no excuse. Neither will an act of God unless Willy Wonka is still considered to be .God