EU court rules compensation laws valid

[Irish Steve]

In a ruling issued today, the EU court has stated that the compensation and other payments laws that apply if flights are delayed or cancelled are valid, rejecting appeals from airline representative bodies
For more details http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/0110/airline.html

[Cyrano]

Full text of the judgement (if you are having sleeping difficulties) is at the ECJ website (http://curia.eu.int/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=Rechercher$docrequire=alldocs&numaff=C-344/04&datefs=&datefe=&nomusuel=&domaine=&mots=&resmax=100).

One of the grounds for IATA's and ELFAA's case was that other forms of transport are not subject to the same compensation provisions. If your Eurostar train is cancelled, you have no EU-mandated rights to compensation.

The judges argue that air passengers are particularly disadvantaged by cancellations or delays as they will be in airports away from city centres and they may already have checked their luggage in; thus this ground for appeal is dismissed.

Another argument against this compensation (and one beloved of the LCCs) is that if you paid less for your ticket, you can't expect the same level of compensation if something goes wrong.

The judges said:
The damage suffered by passengers of air carriers in the event of cancellation of, or a long delay to, a flight is similar whatever the airline with which they have a contract and is unrelated to the pricing policies operated by the airline.

So it looks as though it's ECJ 1, airlines nil.

[the grim repa]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10787646/

[cwatters]

Perhaps the low cost carriers could give discounts to people who waive their right to compensation in the event of a delay.

[Nov71]

Here's an interesting thought:
If my new TV arrives u/s, my legal redress is with the retailer, though he might not have taken it out of the box, likely a maufac QC problem. The retailer pays up and claims back from his supplier/manuf.

If many flights delayed due to weather/ATC fair enough, get me on my way asap, but if only my flight/airline is delayed I get suspicious, give me regular accurate info, pay up or get me another a/c (free transfer to another airline) asap don't kick me out of the airport with a shrug of the shoulders. That's customer service

No doubt airlines will now consider an insurance policy against delay compensation and add it to the price of the ticket

[The SSK]

The regulation does NOT specify compensation for a delay.

It has two elements - airlines have a duty of care to passengers whose journeys are disrupted. This extends to refreshments, meals, phone calls and eventually overnight accommodation. This requirement is unconditional on the reason for the delay.

The compensation element (€250 - 600 depending on journey distance) is supposed to be punitive, for some perceived commercial malpractice, namely denying boarding to someone who has an OK ticket (because of overbooking) or cancelling a flight for commercial reasons (poor levels of booked pax).

The other badly-understood part of the rule is that if a long delay makes your journey pointless (you miss your job interview/granny's funeral/football match) then you can give up and go home, and get your money back even if you have a non-refundable ticket. If you're halfway to your destination when the delay occurs, the airline with the delay has to get you back to your starting point, and refund you the whole fare. If the delay occurs when you're on the way back, you're not entitled to a refund.