Terry Kirby, Evening Standard
12 February 2009
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/consumer/t ... ge_id=1093
Airlines face having to pay a potentially huge number of compensation claims to passengers who have suffered cancelled flights due to 'technical reasons', following a European Court ruling.
British Airways has confirmed that, as a result, it has now settled a series of long-running claims from passengers who took legal action after delayed or cancelled flights. The settlement amounts to an average payment of about £388 for each passenger.
Lawyers representing aggrieved passengers are hailing the ruling as a landmark in consumer rights because it largely removes the ability of airlines to routinely cite 'extraordinary circumstances' as a reason for refusing even small compensation claims.
It may be used by lawyers representing thousands of passengers who were affected by the chaos at Heathrow's Terminal 5 following its opening last year.
Flights were delayed and cancelled following the collapse of the baggage handling system. A number of claims against British Airways over the T5 chaos are believed to be still in progress.
The European Court of Justice ruling, published just before Christmas went largely unnoticed at the time, but its implications are now becoming clear. It applies to all European airlines.
The judgment relates to a claim against Alitalia by an Austrian family over a flight between Vienna and Brindisi, cancelled five minutes before departure because of a defect discovered in the engine turbine the previous day. The airline rejected the claim for compensation of €260 (£235) under the clause which allowed it to claim the cancellation was caused 'by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken'.
However, the court ruled that issues which emerged during maintenance had to be regarded as part of an air carrier's normal activity, saying: 'Technical problems which come to light during maintenance of aircraft or on account of failure to carry out such maintenance do not constitute, in themselves, "extraordinary circumstances".
Only events out of the control of the airline, such as the discovery of manufacturers' defect or acts of sabotage or terrorism, would enable the clause to be invoked in the future, the court said. The onus was now on the airlines themselves, said the court, to prove that, even if they had done everything within their powers, they would not have been able to prevent the 'extraordinary circumstances' from occurring.
British Airways is said to be the worst national European carrier for cancellations.