A ruling in the High Court yesterday (June 11) could mean that potentially millions of people who have waited for more than three hours for a flight could now claim compensation.
The case concerned a passenger who was delayed by 27 hours when the plane taking him from Manchester to Malaga in 2011 was grounded because of a wiring defect.
Under EU law, airlines must pay up to €600 compensation for flight delays longer than three hours, but airlines can deny compensation if the delay was caused by ‘extraordinary circumstances’ like industrial action or extreme weather.
The complainant, Ron Huzar, duly claimed but the carrier, budget airline Jet2, argued that the wiring defect amounted to ‘extraordinary circumstances’. Not to be deterred, Mr Huzar took his case to Manchester County Court and won but Jet2 lodged an appeal, taking the case all the way to the High Court.
Having heard the evidence, judges there disagreed with Jet2’s arguments, ruling that technical faults are ‘inherent in the running of an airline’ and cannot be considered extraordinary. They therefore awarded Mr Huzar £526 in compensation
Technical faults have proved to be a grey area within the EU regulations, with many UK airlines in the past taking advantage of this ambiguity to refuse compensation to passengers.
However, the ruling could open the doors for hundreds of thousands of customers delayed every year to get significant compensation from their airlines, including those previously rejected. In fact, there are thought to be as many as 20 million passengers who have experienced delays or cancellations over the past six years, which is the UK’s statute of limitations, who could be eligible to bring a claim.