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£50m Waiting For Expats Grounded By Delayed Flights

Thousands of expats are waiting for their share of more than £50 million in compensation for delayed flights sitting in airline bank accounts.

Three low-cost airlines are refusing to settle claims going back years despite a Supreme Court ruling against them.

The airlines argued that they should not have to pay compensation if a flight was delayed by a technical fault, but the courts ruled otherwise and ordered them to pay compensation to passengers.

The three – Ryanair, Flybe, and Jet2 – are four of the most popular airlines with expats in Europe travelling to and from the UK.

They wanted the court to agree technical faults that grounded aircraft were ‘extraordinary circumstances’  under European Union law, and as such beyond their control and not liable for compensation.

Pressure to settle

Another charter airline, Thomson, has started to settle claims.

The others are hanging on until European courts make a decision in another similar case against Alitalia, the Italian state carrier.

Thomson is looking at complaints from passengers going back six years. Compensation payments are an average £380 a passenger a flight.

The total cost of compensation due is estimated by aviation experts as at least £50 million and possibly as much as £100 million.

Jet2 has set aside £17 million to pay disgruntled passengers if the Alitalia case is lost.

Meanwhile, the UK aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority is pressuring airlines to settle the claims by threatening to take disciplinary action against them for breaching customer service agreements.

Expats can claim compensation under the Denied Boarding Regulation if flying with a European Union airline or a non-European Union airline from out of an EU airport.

How to claim

Complicated delay time and journey distance rules apply to claims.

The rule of thumb is if a passenger is delayed for more than two hours for a flight of more than 932 miles, providing the extraordinary circumstances rule does not apply.

Extraordinary circumstances would cover incidents such as strikes, bad weather and terror alerts.

Because aviation and transport rules are so complicated, the European Union has published a smartphone app explaining passenger rights in more detail.

“Passengers facing flight delays or who have lost their luggage can check in for free with the app to check their legal rights on the spot,” said an EU spokesman.

1 thought on “£50m Waiting For Expats Grounded By Delayed Flights”

  1. The three – Ryanair, Flybe, and Jet2 – are four of the most popular airlines with expats in Europe travelling to and from the UK.????

    The rule of thumb is if a passenger is delayed for more than two hours for a flight ….. incorrect it is 3 hours.
    Unfortunately some factual/reporting mistakes in this article and indeed there are other airlines now refusing to pay out following the Supreme Court ruling with another case to be heard in Liverpool (v Jet2) this week.
    For those considering a claim for a delay (over 3 hours!) the relevant EU ruling is 261/2004 with, in particular the Huzar -v- Jet2 Supreme Court decision making reference to extraordinary circumstances.
    Although four airlines are mentioned in this article the likes of WOW, Thomas Cook, Monarch Airlines etc are also likely to place obstacles in your way when claiming.

    Reply

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