Flight Delays: Whose fault is it? CNN.Com

I hate flight delays. But more than that, I hate the complexity of the compensation process.

I just found out that my girlfriend’s flight home yesterday was delayed by more than 3 hours. It reminded me of a previous 5 hour delay I had with Easyjet in Prague, where we were not even given refreshments nor any compensation. Then again, I wasn’t exactly sure how I would go about getting it.

So I decided to do some research into this. The simple answer is: if your flight was delayed by more than 2 hours, you are most likely eligible for compensation.

I am hoping that my article will help you in the event of your next flight being cancelled or delay so that you know your rights.

Flight Cancellations

According to an article in The Guardian, certain airlines apparently always have cancellations on certain routes. This is because airlines put on the flights and if not enough bookings arrive the pull the flight. Quite annoying if you happened to be one of those booked on the flight!

In response to this, the EU (European Union) passed a new regulation in Feb 2005. Any overbooked or cancelled flights are required a payout of up to €600.

The amount of payout is determined by the length of time your flight was cancelled before your were due to fly, the distance from your destination and the delay suffered.

This applies to all flights with any EU city as a destination or port of departure.

Flight Delays

What is slightly trickier is the area of flight delays. As most flights do eventually do fly, while it’s equally annoying and frustrating, it enters a somewhat grey area, since you do get to your destination eventually. And by the time we get to the destination, we try to forget about this.

The long and short is:
All Airlines will be required by law to provide free meals, drinks and two phone calls, emails,
telexes or faxes to all passengers on flights subject to long hold-ups.

As long as your flight is delayed by 2 hours for flights up to 1,500 km, 3 hours for 1,500-3,500 km, and 4 hours for flights over 3,500 km. If it’s postponed by over 5 hours, you are immediately eligible for reimbursement of the ticket.

Any postponements of longer than 5 hours will make you eligible for reimbursement of the ticket, but only if you decide not to travel. If it continues into the night, hotel rooms, and transfer to it, must also be provided.

How do you claim compensation?

I discovered that lots of airlines actually remain to break EU regulation by NOT compensating following guidelines if they get away with it.  Most airlines will not pay out until Her Magistry’s Court Service serves papers on their doormat. They may file a defense, but very rarely will the case go to Court because most people will NOT follow through.

But for those who do, airlines will usually stop short before having to go to court, as they will usually lose. Airlines rely on passengers giving up early in the complaints process or paying those who take it to litigation before the case goes to court.

So I guess the lesson is, to always follow through with your compensations.  It’s worth the effort to, for those that are weaker will not be rewarded.

But for this same reason, I hate airlines just as I hate banks. They are passively aggressive.  Banks will pursue you for ridiculous charges on their parts, but when it comes to reclaiming illegal charges back from them, they will NOT compensate if they get away with it.  Airlines are the same.  They are happy to charge you lots of money for being late for your flight, but the other way around, they will do whatever they can to avoid paying you.

What’s the other word for this? Oh wait… THIEVES.

EU Claim

I then discovered that there is a firm that will pursue your claim (for a 27% fee – no claim no fee). The company is called EU Claim (www.euclaim.co.uk). They log every flight cancelled or delayed, and then use this to put it to the airlines on your behalf.

There’s however a slight problem.

EU Claim is based in The Netherlands. The problem is, in the UK, only Solicitors can engage in court proceedings, including filing proceedings for a client based in the UK. I also discovered that Solicitors are also prohibited from pursuing “contingent fee” litigation under the Access to Justice Act 1999. Therefore, if they are not Solicitors, they “cant take your claim to court” legally.

EUClaim circumvent this by engaging with the Dublin/London based law firm Lavelle Coleman to do this on their behalf. They also have a unique database of arguments from airlines that refused to pay compensation under Regulation 261/2004, showing how most of these arguments are false.

So I’m going to give them a try. Just as I would get my accountant to do my taxes, I’m not a big fan of filing small courts claims myself.

I will post an update if it’s successful.

The long term resolution with compensation will work only if everyone takes action together.  Court action needs to be taken, just like illegal bank charges. The airlines ‘cherry picking’ who they compensate is just one aspect of not adhering to EC 261/2004 guidelines from the Air Transport Users Council, but there’s not much can be done about it.  And until we do, this will just continue on a case to case basis.

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