Airlines to be forced to pay up for cancellations
16.03.08
Airlines will be forced to compensate many more passengers for delays and cancellations under a move by the European Commission to close loopholes in the law governing the industry, the Times reports. This will make it easier for passengers to claim up to £460 for a cancelled flight and to obtain free meals, phone calls and hotel rooms during long delays.
Under European laws introduced in 2005 airlines must provide passengers with refreshments, phone calls, and in some cases hotel accommodation, when their plane is delayed by more than two hours. In addition, travellers whose flights are cancelled altogether are entitled to compensation. Depending on the flight's duration this could be between €250 (£190) and €600 (£460).
But airlines do not have to pay out if the cancellation was due to unforeseen circumstances or so-called 'force majeure'. This was intended to mean bad weather, fire and air traffic control strikes, but some airlines are also claiming cancellations as a result of technical problems with an aircraft or even staff shortages are also unforeseen circumstances, and failing to pay compensation.
In an interview with The Times, Jacques Barrot, the European Transport Commissioner, said that many airlines were exploiting loopholes and leaving passengers stranded. He said that the EC would issue new guidelines to clarify the rules and would prosecute national aviation regulators, such as the Civil Aviation Authority, who fail to enforce the rules.
Under the new guidelines, airlines will no longer be able to dismiss claims by arguing that staff shortages or maintenance errors had prevented them from operating the flight. Mr Barrot told the newspaper that the burden of proof would be on airlines to demonstrate that they had taken all reasonable steps to prevent the problem from occurring.
He said that the airlines will be required to supply logbooks, incident reports and maintenance manuals to CAA inspectors and will be fined up to £5,000 per passenger if they falsely claim that an incident was beyond their control. Mr Barrot said that airlines which claimed they had taken ‘all reasonable measures’ would be subject to much more rigorous tests.
He added: ‘We have clarified the circumstances in which airlines are liable and member states will have to examine complaints very thoroughly. If it turns out that passengers are not having complaints properly investigated, I will bring infringement proceedings in the European Court of Justice against the offending member states.’
The Air Transport Users Council, the watchdog that refers unresolved complaints to the CAA, said the authority was failing to hold airlines to account. The CAA has not taken enforcement action against any airline despite receiving dozens of complaints.
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