MSE News: Delayed air passengers need more rights, EU says

The proposals are a mixed bag, some of the changes undermine the European Court ruling last October and make it more difficult to claim compensation for delays. For example, following the court case, compensation kicks in after a delay of 3 hours, now the delay must be at least 5 for short haul flights and up to 12 hours for long haul flights, the airlines have clearly been successful in their lobbying. Equally airlines had to look after customers for as long as it took to get them home during the volcanic ash crisis in 2010, the new proposals only require acoomodation for a maximum of three nights.

The good proposals include a requirement that airlines deal with claims quickly and there can be no charge for mispelling a name when making a reservation, a source of substantial income for some airlines whose customers seem unable to spell their own or their family's names. However these proposals will not be introduced until 2014 and may still be subject to change.

I am not sure I disagree with the reasoning, it is just amazing how quickly the airlines have been able to push, and seemingly succeed, with their demands for change. On the other hand, consumers buying 'non-package' holidays have been pushing since 2009 for a change to the Package Travel Directive to give similar protection as package consumers get and four years down the line, they are still waiting!

NFH wrote: »

Without compensation, the minority of passengers who suffer delays would be subsidising the majority who don't suffer delays. Compensation remedies this imbalance by causing the minority who suffer delays to pay a lot less and the majority who don't suffer delays to pay slightly more. It's fair that passengers pay a net amount according to the standard of service they receive.

That's a fair comment, and nicely explained. My main gripe is, I don't get the free flights I used to, so it's not so much moneysaving any longer. Many of us here were able to exploit the systems, to Travel for free, or for pennies!

If I was stuck in a plane for two hours , on the tarmac, then I would be forcing my way out and would prefer to be arrested and in a cell where it might be infinitely better than a plane with no food water and blocked toilets.

Like it it or not this is the price of having "cheap" flights, even as little as 10 or 15 years ago, the airlines were profitable and took care of you as that was included in the price.

GentleGiant wrote: »

Now airlines will not worry about the cost until 4.5 hours have elapsed.

That is exactly the point. The purpose is to encourage fewer cancellations since the new time-frame provides a more realistic chance of any technical problems being fixed. That's not necessarily bad for passengers. I take it most people would rather be delayed for 5 hours than to have their flight cancelled completed (I know I would).