Comments on: Has Virgin Atlantic deflowered EU Rule 261?

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:50:26 +0000

Regarding Virgin Atlantic, I recently booked a non-stop return flight from London to DC, which they canceled without notification. I suspect that they are doing this whenever the flight isn’t fully booked, but the upshot was that I was backed into a corner because I was leaving the US the next day and had to accept a return flight that stopped in NY and extended my travel time by more than 4 hours. They never explained why the flight was canceled, but a customer service rep told me that many flights in this time slot had been canceled, which leads me to believe that profit motive, not maintenance, drove them to put my interests dead last – I suspect that they engaged in a bait and switch based on this information. I am looking for statistics on European flight cancellations, can anyone help me?

By: Mark @ TravelWonders

Mark @ TravelWonders — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:37:02 +0000

If airlines have to pay this cost out too much, it will simply put up the cost of fares.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:14:52 +0000

I have to side with the airlines on this. I’d rather they took more care in maintenance than worried about having to pay a lot of money in compensation. Having a flight delay already costs the airline a lot of money, and there’s a strong incentive for taking off on time. Payments for a delay that likely exceed the ticket cost in the first place is absurd.

By: skyguyj

skyguyj — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:41:14 +0000

As a Frequent Flier, I understand “ALL” airlines will do the very LEAST they can get away with, regarding passenger compensation etc. But as for Virgin Atlantic, if they state (and I quote):

“Operational, political instability, industrial action, weather, aircraft type grounding, air traffic control, safety reasons (with TECHNICAL falling under “safety”)…………..

Then the question begs to be asked…….what exactly DOES European Rule 260/04 Cover?

Clearly Virgin is of the belief they don’t have to offer compensation for ANY reason, including a Maintenance Delay; excuse me “Safety” delay.

Call it what you will Virgin, anyway you look at it, it’s YOUR traveller that’s getting screwed! (And I love VS, I fly them regularly!).

Just curious if anyone knows WHAT they WILL cover?

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:12:54 +0000

Sorry, but an engine is a mechanical part. In theory I guess you could state that it is for safety, but I wonder if any plane would ever take off knowing one engine didn’t work. That said, an airline could delay a flight for any reason and say “safety”. One seat belt didn’t buckle properly so the flight was delayed for safety reasons. I see it now.

I also have a feeling thatthe courts will decide this one as well.

Ed, you say that you “wouldn’t want to fly in an environment where airlines face large compensation costs when considering how to respond to a maintenance problem.”

If anything, these rules would pretty much force airlines to do BETTER maintenance and inspections on aircraft. they have three choices then, either pay each passenger a lot of money every time, take off knowing there may be a problem and face hundreds of millions in losses from lawsuits and get shut down by the govt, or spend a little more money on maintenance and make sure you aren’t paying out $600 euros to 300 people every other flight. The logical and easy choice would be the last. This would also have the result of making your planes safer than any other in the air, a better depart and arrival record, and probably higher customer satisfaction from the employees and customers.

By: Jasper

Jasper — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:54:51 +0000

There are European wide companies that will due the suing for you, for a small part of your compensation. They operate in most EU countries, in virtually all languages.

By: David Z

David Z — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:27:42 +0000

But is it correct?

Heh, you practically answered your question with it possibly going to the courts, Chris. This can be practically argued both ways, then it depends what one or both parties will do if both can’t agree with one another.

@Carter Stewart

Thanks for your detailed thoughts on what you wrote. I pretty much agree with them, though I’m sure others don’t for whatever reason. :)

By: Bela Fleck

Bela Fleck — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:34:55 +0000

I wouldn’t call maintenance an issue beyond the airline’s control. Not even emergency maintenance.

By: Trans World Blog » Blog Archive » European Court sets aviation precedent for passenger rights; or does it?

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:07:20 +0000

[...] http://www.elliott.org/blog/has-virgin-atlantic-deflowered-eu-rule-261/ [...]

By: Carver

Carver — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:04:40 +0000

@Aaron

I would hope that a rule like this would encourage airlines to really beef up their maintenance programs and have adequate spare parts within reason.