European Court Tells Airlines Not To Delay Flight Compensations!

May 19
14:59

2015

Stephen Godden

Stephen Godden

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In late February 2015, airline carriers have been directed by a court order to not delay airline compensation claims made by passengers. A judge at Liverpool’s County Court stressed that airlines have to settle cases as soon as possible keeping in mind the existing norms.

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The ruling came in a test case where Jet2 has asked for a flight delay compensation that was due to Ms. Kim Allen to be stayed for the second time. District Judge Jenkinson,European Court Tells Airlines Not To Delay Flight Compensations! Articles while ruling in favour of Ms. Allen, said that it was about time that justice was served and there was a need to put a stop to airlines’ unwillingness to cough up the compensation.

Since the decision was taken in an all-important test case, it will now help other claimants access their compensations faster with greater ease.

Justice served

Over a decade ago, a new law stipulated that airlines operating within the European Union should fairly compensate customers when there was an inexcusable delay in flights. According to the rule, a flight whose landing at its destination was delayed for three hours or more was equal to a flight being cancelled. In such scenario, the flight’s passengers were entitled to a compensation, which depended on the distance travelled and the number of hours the flight was delayed.

Kim Allen, a resident of Lancashire, claimed Flight Delay Compensation from Jet 2 after her flight from Manchester to Malaga was delayed for more than seven hours in March 2012. However, Jet2 and other airlines like Ryanair and Wizz Air have repeatedly appealed to the courts saying that Ms. Allen and thousands of other claimants are not eligible for compensation as the delay came under the ‘extraordinary circumstance’ stipulation that European Union has laid down while pronouncing compensation rules.

An extraordinary circumstance

The law says that airlines will not have to pay compensations when extraordinary circumstances like security threats and unfavourable weather arise and prevent the timely departure of flights. However, many carriers use the extraordinary circumstance clause as an excuse to avoid paying compensations. When compensation claims come in, airlines have been passing off technical issues as an extraordinary circumstance.

Earlier, Ron Huzar from Stockport, tasted success with airline compensation claims when courts ruled that Jet2 needed to compensate him when his flight from Malaga to Manchester was delayed for more than 27 hours. After this, Ms. Allen’s court ruling has infused hope in thousands of claimants who are hoping that they can be compensated at the earliest. Many experts also point out that justice has been extraordinarily delayed. It was because existing European airlines compensation rules did not set the level of compensation at a feasible level. Moreover, the law does not clearly state what technical issues can be treated as extraordinary event and what cannot.

While these rulings have brought much cheer to aggrieved customers, airlines are unlikely to welcome the decision and might continue to fight. Many airlines are now compensating customers according to the law, but see it an unnecessarily generous compensation for a bit of discomfort.