Flight cancellation judgement

A judgment at the European Court means passengers may now be able to claim compensation from airlines for delayed flights under certain circumstances.  Following the judgement, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is offering new advice to passengers in the event their flight arriving more than three hours late.  Airlines will be able to claim ‘extraordinary circumstances’, that is if happenings outside their control delayed the flight.

The CAA has provided a standard document to enable passengers to proceed and write to the airline concerned.  It sets out the relevant judgement and details the compensation due.  On a short haul flight (up to 1500km) this is €250 and the figure steadily increases to a maximum of €600 when the destination is more than 3500km away.

Diverted flights are usually caused by bad weather or serious airport problems at the destination.  These are likely to be covered under ‘extraordinary circumstances’ and the same goes for in-flight medical problems where the aircraft seeks the nearest practical airport.  The judgement is also retrospective but all paperwork will be demanded.  Whatever the delay passengers are still entitled to care and assistance including food, drinks and hotel accommodation where appropriate. www.caa.co.uk

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum