Well done Easyjet!

[cockney steve]

Daughter travelling Southend to Schipol last sunday. Flight delayed about 4 hours. She used a template from the "Which" site to ask for £250 Statutory compensation via E-mail..
Easy replied in the affirmative, within 24 hours.

Excellent customer service,l t will not be the last time she uses, or recommends them .

[seafire6b]

Coincidental, or have Easy noted the way things are moving? It now seems that other airlines will be forking out quicker too. Also perhaps opening the gates towards higher airfares?

BBC News - Flight delay ruling opens way for compensation payments (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31641645)

[jxf63]

It's funny, my ex-mother-in-law had a very similar experience just before Xmas -

Big delay AMS-LGW, standard letter sent to EZY, cheque for £ value of €250 received within a couple of weeks...

I'm still arguing with BA Customer "Services" about a 3-hour + delay I had last Easter :\

[PAXboy]

Social media has got the attention of some companies.

cockney steve's comment:
Excellent customer service, it will not be the last time she uses, or recommends them.is what it's all about.

[Dannyboy39]

How the EU or anyone can justify a 250 Euro statutory compensation claim for a 4-hour delay is beyond me.


EU261 has the potential to kill an airline.

[PAXboy]

Some would say that it was designed to kill airlines. :uhoh:

Unfortunately, politicos have decided that since:


Millions want to travel by in within Europe
European Countries have not resolved flow control and sufficient land space for airports and (sometimes) place national priorities before continental ones.
So some flights arrive late.
I know!! Let's fine them until the airlines sort it out ...

Yes, I'm too cyncial for my socks.

[edi_local]

I think it's clear that some people want the airlines to fail.

More fines well in excess of what people have actually paid, coupled with a system which makes it harder and harder for the airlines to defend themselves not to mention the ambulance chasing lawyers are now becoming delay chasers, it's doesn't paint a pretty picture for the industry, especially smaller airlines. If people want higher fares and less choice then by all means allow this to continue, but it'll only damage European aviation in the long term. Regional airlines don't stand a chance once these floodgates open.

I've had my fair share of delays but I decide not to claim anything. I just don't see why I should have any right to get money when I haven't lost out financially. I am definitely due at least €250 from an airline who got me home 5 hours late on a ticket that cost me barely £80 and another one who got me home 3 hours late when I paid around £70, both of which are the fault of the airline. I don't intend on claiming a penny. I'd rather they took that €250 and spent it towards making sure that factor didn't delay a plane again.

[mixture]

Yes, I'm too cyncial for my socks.

Not really.

Its just the way consumer law is going in Europe.

The mussels [sic] from Brussels tend to err very firmly on the side of the private individual when it comes to legislation.

Whether it is employment law, consumer law or anything else, there has never been a better time to be an employee or procure products and services, and there's probably no better place in the entire world that affords quite the same level of biased protections.

For example, the DSD "return within 14 days for any reason whatsoever, hell you don't even need to give a reason, and no you don't even need to return the goods in their original packaging" is absolutely wonderful for the consumer .... but it must be hell on earth for businesses involved with distance sales to consumers !

I think its great that Brussels takes the private individual into account, but they really do need to inject a little more balance into their legislative output ....

[ExXB]

When debating Regulation 261 the Parliament/Commission/Council agreed that the compensation for CANCELLATIONS should be punitive - This was because of the belief that airlines cancelled flights primarily for financial reasons and they should be discouraged from doing so.

The same groups agreed that DELAYS should not be compensated. Many reasons given but (IMHO) the most important was they did not want to encourage airlines to operate in unsafe conditions (or have crew pressured to do so). They also saw a cancellation as being worse than a delay - seeing as the passenger actually travelled.

That's the way the Regulation is written, and if read the text you will find nothing about delays being compensated. The duty of care, meals; phone calls; hotac; etc do apply in cases of delays. Also the provisions on delays are all in relation to delay in departure, not delay in arrival.

The European Courts did not like that delays were handled differently than cancellations concluding that a delay could be as bad as a cancellation. Subsequent rulings have 'interpreted' the Regulation in that a delay of more than 3 hours could be as bad as a delay, but the exclusions due to extraordinary circumstances (which applied to cancellations) also applied to delays.

The media has interpreted these rulings as meaning that every delay of more than 3 hours must be compensated. And something considered extraordinary, for example airport closures; bird strikes; technical faults; fuel contamination; etc would only apply to that flight and not to subsequent flights of that aircraft.

The OP's daughter probably paid something between €45 and €100 for her ticket while is entitled to €250 in 'compensation'. If the aircraft was full Easy would have revenues of €7,155 to €15, 900 plus on board sales of (a guess) of €800~€1600. Add to that the fees and the total revenues would likely still be less than €20,000. (These are revenues not profits.)

And the Compensation as decided by the European Courts? €39,750 if the flight was full.

Oh, and if it had been a rail journey? Well according to Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations.

Delays and cancellations

This Regulation strengthens passengers’ rights to compensation in the case of delays or cancellations. Passengers may claim a minimum compensation equivalent to:

25 % of the ticket price for a delay of 60 to 119 minutes;
50 % of the ticket price for a delay of 120 minutes or more.


So if this applied to air the OP's daughter would get something between €23 and €50. The entire aircraft would be entitled to something between €3,600 and €8,000.

Oh, remember the compensation amounts was supposed to be punitive to change the behaviour of airlines cancelling flights for economic reasons? Well, a study done by an outside party for the EC showed that there was no measurable change to the rate of cancellations of European airlines. The study was posted on the EC's web-site, but has long disappeared.

[Background Noise]

My in-laws had to cancel an Easyjet flight because of (serious) injuries sustained in an accident. They had, unusually, taken out Easy's own travel insurance but it took 8 months for them to get any refund. The consultant's confirmation of the broken bones was not acceptable - they had to get their GP's input (at further cost). The final refund didn't cover everything, some of which was expected, but also didn't cover the departure taxes, which they would apparently have to get from the carrier - Easy were the carrier!