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Legal Action Against Delayed Flights

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HollyDaze Thu 12-Jun-14 09:27:56

Following a ruling made by the European Court of Justice in October 2013, a Staffordshire judge has awarded a husband and wife £680 after their flight home from Tenerife with Thomas Cook was delayed by 22 hours.

Mr & Mrs Halsall had had a previous claim rejected when Thomas Cook said the delay was due to an ‘exceptional circumstance’ beyond its control but it transpired that the flight was delayed due to a mechanical fault.

Consumer groups have welcomed the decision as they feel it will ensure that airlines treat their customers more fairly.

Whilst I would agree that some delays are preventable (but the airline may well want to avoid the expense of bringing another aircraft into service and another flight crew and prefer, instead, to wait for another aircraft to land and use that and it's existing crew if possible), won't legal action inevitably push up the cost of air travel? Would the ruling cover when airlines deliberately overbook a flight on the assumption that not everyone will turn up and when they do, some people are told they have to wait for the next flight?

Is this a ruling for the better or is there another solution?

www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/flight-delayed-now-you-can-sue-landmark-ruling-could-mean-customers-receive-payouts-for-holdups-over-three-hours-8475075.html

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rosesarered Thu 12-Jun-14 09:38:33

I think we should be compensated for flights delayed by so many hours [an additional nights stay in a hotel] if the fault is the airlines, and not say , extreme weather or act of God etc.I think that £680 is a bit much for that though.

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HollyDaze Thu 12-Jun-14 16:04:31

It's quite a lot for a 3 hour delay isn't it. The longest I've been kept waiting was 7 hours and not so much as a free cup of coffee!

It does worry me that the cost of flights will increase which would be a problem for many people. If there is no connecting flight that's been missed, I agree - an overnight stay courtest of the airline would be suitable.

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papaoscar Thu 12-Jun-14 16:17:24

It's about time some of these airlines were made to do their duty!

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thatbags Thu 12-Jun-14 16:38:20

I think most airlines do get their passengers and their passengers' luggage to the correct destination, and most freight airlines get the freight to where it's supposed to be. I think I'd call that airlines doing their duty, pretty much. Things are bound to go wrong sometimes.

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HollyDaze Thu 12-Jun-14 21:00:19

200 million passengers to use UK airports every year, roughly two million are delayed by over three hours.

They do, undoubtedly, get most of their passengers where they want to be in under three hours of delayed take-off but 2 million delayed every year is quite substantial. I avoided BA as they seemed to have a lot of delayed flights and cancelled flights (judging by announcements over the tanoy).

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tiggypiro Thu 12-Jun-14 21:21:24

And guess who will be paying for all these payouts !

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Libralady Sun 22-Oct-17 11:48:58

We were recently delayed by 5.5 hours to Crete. Was at the airport from 12.30 12/9 and got to out destination middle of the night 13/9 with a 23 month old toddler in tow. First day of our 7 day holiday ruined because we were shattered. Delay due to French Air Traffic Control strike and being told no flight crew either.

Should we be compensated?

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