EU rules airlines cant use strikes as excuse to avoid compensation

[MARTIN3030]

http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1349397400.html

[Cityboy62]

The 2 judgements handed down yesterday by the ECJ have further strengthened passengers' rights in denied boarding cases.

 

In the Finnair case, the passengers were denied boarding by the airline who had given their seats away to passengers whose flight had been cancelled the day before.

 

In the Iberia case, passengers were denied boarding on their connecting flight due to the delayed arrival of their first flight. However, they still arrived at the gate before the final boarding call only to discover that their seats had been re-allocated to other passengers.

 

Both cases found in favour of the passengers who had claimed compensation for denied boarding.

Finnair case: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62011CJ0022:EN:HTML

 

Iberia case: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62011CJ0321:EN:HTML

[MARTIN3030]

Yes its a good call for passengers.

[MaxxPower]

How long before the inevitable appeal by the airlines I wonder.

[Cityboy62]

How long before the inevitable appeal by the airlines I wonder.

 

Beyond the obvious reason, on what grounds would they appeal these 2 decisions?

 

Both are well-found and argued decisions completely in line with the current wording of the Regulation. The main point at issue was only whether denied boarding could be applied only to overbooking situations or applied to wider issues such as operational matters not due to a failure on behalf of the passenger.

 

I cannot see grounds for an appeal - the ECJ is the appeal court in such decisions anyway.

 

If you are referring to the circumstances behind the Sturgeon challenge then that is a one-off since it was the ECJ itself rather than the wording of the Regulation who introduced compensation for delays in excess of 3 hours. There was therefore an arguable case by airlines but none exists in these latest decisions.

[MARTIN3030]

Yes I cant see any recourse for any appeal.

[MaxxPower]

No sensible recourse as far as we can see, but when have airlines ever been sensible? Maybe I'm just too cynical, but I just expect the airlines to appeal anything that might end up costing them. Then again they may just put up the ticket prices instead to cover their costs....