European Court Rules Airlines Must Pay When Planes are Delayed

The European Court of First Instance has decided that delayed flights merit compensation to those travelers who are inconvenienced, upholding rules that entered into force in February. One would have thought this was obvious, but business tried hard to prevent the ruling. Mercifully, there are people in the EU who care about service as much as profits.

The rules apply to regularly scheduled flights, charters and package holiday air travel, which is most of the air traffic anywhere. Passengers who are bumped off an over-booked flight get anywhere from €125 for short-haul flights to as much as €600 for longer journeys. Delays of 2-4 hours will require airlines to feed their captive passengers, and those of 5 hours or more will entitle travelers to a refund and a hotel room in needed. Moreover, business travelers can get their money back on roundtrip flights if the delay makes the trip unnecessary, say for a missed meeting.

The airlines tried to get the rules dropped, and their pretexts were pretty lame. Ryanair, for instance, said that the most delays in Europe were due to the weather and bad air traffic control. One fails to see how that causes airlines to over-book flights. The European Low Fares Airline Association, which has among its members Ryanair Holdings PLC, TUI AG's Hapag-Lloyd Express and Flybe, were upset because budget airlines have to pay as much compensation as flag carriers. They argued that their ability to fly profitably would be endangered. The court held that a four-hour delay is ever bit as irritating if one is on easyJet as it is to a Lufthansa passenger.

Another interestingly faulty argument claimed discrimination against airlines and in favor of other modes of transportation. Railway carriers don’t have the same duty to passengers. The court ruled, “Because, in particular, of the location of airports, which are generally outside urban centers, and of the particular procedures for checking-in and reclaiming baggage, the inconvenience suffered by passengers when such incidents occur is not comparable.” In other words, special cases deserve special treatment.

The most effective evidence that the air carriers’ case was bogus rests on experience. The rules have been in effect for almost a year, and wonder of wonders, the airlines of Europe are still in business. One would like to think that a business that valued its customers would feed them if the plane was three hours late, but apparently some must be forced into doing what's right. As anyone who flew thirty years ago can attest, things aren’t quite what they used to be.


© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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