European Court of Justice Ruling - Flight Delay Compensation

Just seen this story on the moneysavingexpert web site.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/t ... gates-open (sorry to post the complete link but couldn't create a short link for some reason in the post)

Apparently the flight delay compensation case that has been on hold since the ECJ ruling in 2009 was finally ruled yesterday.

The ECJ ruled against the airlines, travellers can now claim for up to £488 for delays of 3hrs or more (subject to conditions)

The ECJ ruling was upheld yesterday and all claims that were on hold should now be settled and new claims can be backdated to 17/02/05.

Time to get those boarding stubs out ! y)

and be prepared to go through small claims court, its not going to be as easy to get money out of the airlines as people think.

And then fares will probably go up to offset the cost

Is there a way to check how long a flight was officially delayed for?

Very interesting news that a 5+ hour delay = a refund!

Yet again european courts stick their noses in and cause more grief to companies. Whereas it is frustrating to be hit by a delay, to be refunded almost the whole cost of the flight because of bad weather ??? What will be the long shot of this, certain airlines might start to take chances with small defects rather than risk the pay out, some airlines will indeed go bust, those without spare planes to throw into the mix. The compensation culture has become a monster that really needs to be taken apart, sometimes things don't always work as planned, it's part of life. As long as the Airline treats you well then that should suffice but this could be a push to much.

I agree and the cost would only get passed on the the fare paying passenger. However there are quite a lot of conditions to be met before a compensation payout will be possible. The conditions for no compensation are the following: Bad weather, Industrial action, Political problems, Security or safety issues and Air traffic management decisions. So that can cover most aspects of a delay.