Airlines try to head off compensation claims
Airlines appear to be trying to head off a flood of expensive compensation claims for delayed flights caused by technical failures by voluntarily issuing passengers with travel vouchers instead.
Earlier this month, a Court of Appeal ruled that airlines couldn’t use aircraft technical faults as a blanket excuse to avoid compensating passengers on flights cancelled or delayed by more than three hours.
It said that not all technical faults would be considered as the sort of "extraordinary circumstances" that allow airlines to avoid paying compensation under EU regulation 261. The ruling, which went against Jet2, is expected to lead to a rise in successful claims against all airlines.
Christoph Debus, group head of air travel for Thomas Cook Group said that pending an appeal against the ruling by Jet2, the company would put all claims that could be paid under this new ruling on hold.
However, earlier this week Thomas Cook Airlines issued thousands of pounds in vouchers to passengers whose flight from Dalaman in Turkey to Gatwick was delayed 22 hours. When the flight eventually took off on June 9, passengers were issued with letters and told to claim on their travel insurance, but one passenger said she had subsequently received £200 of vouchers from Thomas Cook.
She told her travel agent she still intends to submit a claim for compensation for the delay, which she was informed was due to a bird flying into an engine on the inbound flight.
A company spokesman said the airline didn’t consider the passengers were eligible for compensation under EU261. "It was a delay relating to a technical issue, which we consider extraordinary," he said. "The vouchers were offered as a gesture of goodwill."
The airline said it had also sent vouchers instead of cash to passengers on other delayed flights who were eligible for cash compensation. The spokesman said passengers were sent vouchers unless they specified they wanted cash when they submitted their claims.
He added: "If the customer requests cash during the process, or would rather have cash after we have offered vouchers, we exchange this for cash, so it is always ultimately with the customers’ agreement."
Thomson said it always paid cash compensation but Monarch said customers who accepted vouchers were offered 20% more than they were entitled to under EU261. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have also offered delayed passengers vouchers.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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