EU261 care when stuck on the aircraft

Emily_Joy

Several times now I have been delayed by more than 2.5 hours (but less than 3 hours) being stuck on the aircraft sitting on the airfield. The situation is usually like this:

1) the flight is delayed because incoming flight is delayed;

2) boarding begins with 45 minutes - 1 hour delay

3) then some issues arise: we missed out slot, so need to get a new one, the air corridor is no longer available, so need to wait for re-routing, the re-routing is longer, so we need to refill, then we need to wait for a new slot to become available and off we go.

EU261 says that the passengers are entitled to food & drink vouchers if the flight is delayed for more than 2 hours. I have never seen flight assistants giving away vouchers on the aircraft to spend on on-board food (in case of low-costers - ryanair, easyjet & friends).

The question is: can one get some food from their on-board "cafe" and then claim the cost of it based on 2.5 hours delay? (I am not thinking about 3 mains, but maybe something relatively decent for 8-10EUR).

eskbanker

Emily_Joy said:

EU261 says that the passengers are entitled to food & drink vouchers if the flight is delayed for more than 2 hours.

It actually states "meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time", and in the context of boarding an hour late but then separately being subjected to ATC delays and potentially further issues from rerouting as a result of these, it's probably ambitious to expect freebies.  No harm in asking onboard at the time though, but I suspect that any retrospective claim is less likely to get anywhere....

Emily_Joy

eskbanker said:

Emily_Joy said:

EU261 says that the passengers are entitled to food & drink vouchers if the flight is delayed for more than 2 hours.

It actually states "meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time", and in the context of boarding an hour late but then separately being subjected to ATC delays and potentially further issues from rerouting as a result of these, it's probably ambitious to expect freebies.  No harm in asking onboard at the time though, but I suspect that any retrospective claim is less likely to get anywhere....

I tried asking on board once, when I was particularly irritated since on that occasion I had to abandon a business lounge in favour of 5 hours on an aircraft that couldn't fly "due to technical issues". The cabin crew flatly refused, saying they can only sell items - even water. It was Easyjet on that occasion.

eskbanker

Emily_Joy said:

eskbanker said:

Emily_Joy said:

EU261 says that the passengers are entitled to food & drink vouchers if the flight is delayed for more than 2 hours.

It actually states "meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time", and in the context of boarding an hour late but then separately being subjected to ATC delays and potentially further issues from rerouting as a result of these, it's probably ambitious to expect freebies.  No harm in asking onboard at the time though, but I suspect that any retrospective claim is less likely to get anywhere....

I tried asking on board once, when I was particularly irritated since on that occasion I had to abandon a business lounge in favour of 5 hours on an aircraft that couldn't fly "due to technical issues". The cabin crew flatly refused, saying they can only sell items - even water. It was Easyjet on that occasion.

I'd say that's the other side of the line - your original scenario of a post-boarding delay of less than two hours for two separate reasons largely beyond the airline's control is one thing, but a five hour one for something within their control is different IMHO, in terms of what's reasonable in relation to the waiting time, although the article 9 provisions aren't actually related to underlying cause anyway, whereas the article 7 liabilities are.

Emily_Joy

eskbanker said:

Emily_Joy said:

eskbanker said:

Emily_Joy said:

EU261 says that the passengers are entitled to food & drink vouchers if the flight is delayed for more than 2 hours.

It actually states "meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time", and in the context of boarding an hour late but then separately being subjected to ATC delays and potentially further issues from rerouting as a result of these, it's probably ambitious to expect freebies.  No harm in asking onboard at the time though, but I suspect that any retrospective claim is less likely to get anywhere....

I tried asking on board once, when I was particularly irritated since on that occasion I had to abandon a business lounge in favour of 5 hours on an aircraft that couldn't fly "due to technical issues". The cabin crew flatly refused, saying they can only sell items - even water. It was Easyjet on that occasion.

I'd say that's the other side of the line - your original scenario of a post-boarding delay of less than two hours for two separate reasons largely beyond the airline's control is one thing, but a five hour one for something within their control is different IMHO, in terms of what's reasonable in relation to the waiting time, although the article 9 provisions aren't actually related to underlying cause anyway, whereas the article 7 liabilities are.

Thank you - I understand it better now. These are indeed two very different scenarios. The first scenario is of course more frequent and happened to be no longer than 5 days ago.  

As you pointed out, Article 9 Right to Care doesn't say anything about underlying cause and it is referred in Article 6 Delay. However, Article 6 actually reads "When an operating air carrier reasonably expects a flight to be delayed beyond its scheduled time of departure..." so it seems to me that when the delay accumulated bit by bit, the airline could claim that "they didn't expect it to be that long."