Ryanair et all

Interesting. From the Beeb website:

DENIED BOARDING REGULATIONS

The Headline: Airlines cannot mess you around with impunity.

The Scenario: A budget airline, Lionair we'll call them, cancels your
flight to a historic eastern European capital. Oh, and it's not going to
compensate you either.

The Truth: The EU has brought in some regulations that have caused
wailing and gnashing of teeth in some sectors of the airline industry.

If you are denied entry to a flight where you met all the boarding
criteria - prompt check-in, valid ticket and in a fit state to board -
or the flight is cancelled, you now have rights.


Firstly, you get "reimbursement of the cost of the ticket within seven
days or a return flight to the first point of departure or re-routing to
their final destination".

You are also entitled to "care". The EU's summary mentions
"refreshments, meals, hotel accommodation, transport between the airport
and place of accommodation, two free telephone calls, telex or fax
messages, or e-mails".

And you're in line for compensation of 250 euros for all flights of
1,500km. You get 400 euros for all flights within the EU of more than
1,500km, and the same for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500km.
All other flights get you 600 euros. Compensation only applies to
cancellation, not delay.

The airline can avoid compensation if passengers are notified at least
two weeks before departure. And if they are notified less than two weeks
before, and are re-routed with only minor delays, they will also not be
compensated.

There are rights for people who are delayed. Different levels of delay
entitle customers to different levels of care, while any delay of more
than five hours allows a refund to be obtained, although obviously, you
will not be any closer to your destination.

But the legislation contains a glorious get-out for airlines. In
"extraordinary circumstances", they do not have to compensate
passengers.

There is a great temptation for airlines to say that staffing shortages
or technical faults are "extraordinary circumstances". But this get-out
may not continue much longer.

"The European Court of Justice has cracked down," says Dr Twigg-Flesner.
"Technical problems are not extraordinary circumstances."

Where it applies: The regulations are European law, so apply across the
whole of the EU.

 

The number of people who are eligible for that exact amount must be
pretty limited