Airlines will have to pay compensation to passengers who experience delays of more than three hours following a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) today.
The Luxembourg-based court said it would be unfair to treat passengers suffering significant delays differently to those who had their flights cancelled.
Under existing EU rules, passengers on cancelled flights can seek as much as €600 in compensation. Airlines will only be exempt from paying compensation if they can prove that the delay was "due to exceptional circumstances" outside of the company’s control.
The court stressed that a technical problem cannot be considered as an exceptional circumstance unless it followed an incident unconnected with the normal running of an airline, such as a plane being sabotaged.
"Passengers on a flight which is cancelled at short notice have a right to compensation, even when they are re-routed by the airline on another flight, if they lose three hours or more in relation to the duration originally planned,” the ruling said.
"There is no justification for treating passengers whose flight is delayed any differently when they reach their final destination three hours or more after the scheduled arrival time.
"Such a delay does not give rise to a right to compensation if the airline can prove that the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which are beyond its actual control and which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken," it said.
The ECJ delivered its opinion after being asked by the German and Austrian courts to clarify what rights passengers who suffered delays had.
Both countries had sought definitive clarification of the applicable EU legislation before reaching a judgment on passengers seeking compensation from Condor and Air France airlines, when their flights were delayed by 22 and 25 hours.
The ruling has been welcomed by Ireland’s representative on the European Parliament Transport Committee, Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins. He said the ruling “was a victory for the ordinary travelling public”.
“I am delighted that the ECJ has taken a very logical and reasoned approach to this issue. Passengers who are delayed by three or more hours are usually seriously inconvenienced. It is about time that the rights which exist for passengers, whose flights are cancelled, are extended to delayed flights."
