The United Kingdom High
Court on Tuesday suspended U.K. courts from hearing any more compensation cases
for delays against airlines. It has ordered the suspension while it asks the
European Court of Justice to review a contentious November 2009 ruling on
controversial European Union passenger rights legislation that strengthened the
entitlements of passengers but has outraged airlines.
Under the legislation,
introduced in 2004, airlines must provide assistance to delayed passengers,
including meals, two free phone calls and, if appropriate, hotel accommodation.
However, for flights which are cancelled, carriers are obliged to pay
compensation of up to €600 in addition to providing assistance.
The November 2009 ruling established that airlines must treat delays of more than three hours as if they
were flight cancellations and accordingly pay compensation to passengers.
Airlines have argued this
is a misinterpretation of the original legislation and the U.K. High Court
suspended further judgments after considering legal representation from, among
others, British Airways, EasyJet and the International Air Transport
Association. The BBC reported that it might take until 2012 before ECJ
reconsiders the matter.
The Air Transport Users
Council, a passenger watchdog under the auspices of the United Kingdom's Civil
Aviation Authority, expressed disappointment with today's ruling. It had been
helping to take airlines that had refused compensation to court.
"Last November's
ruling was good news for passengers," a spokesman told BTN. "However, it would be helpful
to get clarification on this issue. Some airlines have been paying out, whereas
others have refused."
In practice, airlines have
often evaded paying compensation for delays and cancellations by hiding behind
a clause in the legislation exempting them from liability "in
extraordinary circumstances." However, whatever the circumstances,
carriers remain obliged to provide assistance, a responsibility which has led
to repeated calls for reform after it cost them hundreds of millions of euros
during the ash crisis. It was reported this week that the European Commission
has threatened to take legal action against KLM for refusing to fulfill its
full assistance obligations. Instead, the Dutch carrier has been reimbursing
hotel and meal costs for no more than 24 hours per passenger.