News on EU261/2004 Delay Compensation

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-1 ... -says.html

Potentially very good news for customers if the EU courts rule in the same way as the non-bindind advice which has been published yesterday.

Looks like passengers who arrive at their destination 3+ hours late are going to be entitled to €600 each. ^)

[Nottingham Nick]

Whilst I agree it will be good news for those who are delayed, it clearly won't be good news for the rest of the passengers.

If airlines are going to be shelling out loads of money, they will have to recoup it from somewhere - i.e. they will have to raise fares. n(

Is a three hours delay on a two week trip to Disney worth 600 euros (2400 euros for a family of four)?

IMHO, the compensation culture we have followed the Americans into is fine for a few, but not good for the majority - just look at how much car insurance premiums have gone up because of the huge rise in whiplash and other dodgy claims. My view is that compensation should only be paid to those who suffer genuine hardship due to the negligence of others.

Nick

I could understand 8+ hours but 3+ is far too generous. As Nick says in the long run it's the rest of us passengers who will pay the price as fares will surely rise if this goes ahead.

Maybe a sliding scale of compensation would be better.

-Steve

There is already a time/distance clause in the existing regulations so a short delay on a short flight = compo but it needs a much longer delay for a long flight to get any.

I can see the airlines cracking down on things like boarding times too so people are on the plane for longer so that if they do have to deboard because someone hasn't turned up they have enough time to do find the bags etc without then having to pay out any compo.

Or going down the railway route and employing delay attribution teams.