Europe has had this for years and imo it keeps the airlines pretty good in check
As often with eu regulations there are a couple of loopholes so you have to watch out nevertheless (eg force majeur like bird strikes doesn’t count, or when the flight is delayed to next day they have to pay your food and hotel but I decided to book another flight and then they don’t have to pay anything back except the fixed fee which I didn’t know…)
Fun Fact: Air traffic controller strikes also count as force majeur
Actually, once my flight (to Europe) was delayed by like 4h because they had an air traffic controller strike in another country THE NEXT DAY and kind of shuffled their plane fleet across the continent to make it work.
Airline denied me my (i think it was 600 Euros) compensation using the force majeur strike argument.
That was the only time I went to one of those services that went to court for me for like 30% of my claim.
They really did go almost all the way until the airline took the very last exit before a trial.
The French controllers strike so often it's hardly unexpected (yesterday/today I believe!). But I agree it's largely out of the airlines' control. But it's a well known issue of many years and should be a part of doing business
I would want compensation from the controllers' bosses (French government?)
So what happens to the concept of "getting what you paid for"? Does KLM just shrug and say sorry? I could imagine if they said "we can't pay for accommodation but we'll send you on the next flight", but did they even do that?
I wasn't anywhere that needed accomodation so I cant speak to that. They canceled the flight and booked for the next day, which meant that I had to miss half the conference and the reason that I was making the trip in the first place.
Family member and I were flying from America to Germany, having connecting flight to Czech. Our first flight departed few hours later, and during the flight Condor cancelled our connecting flight because we wouldnt have enough time to transfer. We actually sprinted across the airport and made it to an open gate, but our tickets wouldnt work, all while watching people from other flights board normally.
We were directed to their kiosk, where after 2 hours of waiting and 2 hours of explaining/negotiating we were rebooked on a flight next day, with "all our airport and contract accomodations are full, find your own one, condor will refund". Spent the night in €700/night hotel (fourth I called, first to actually had rooms).
Afterwards we sent all info/invoices throug mail. First reply: we refund your expenses, but not flight compensation ($600 per person), because the delay was not our fault, the delay was less than 4(6?) hours, and (despite the flight landing in EU, which is all it takes for EU legislation to apply) the flight is not covered by EU legislation, because it originated from outside EU.
Sent extempt from law saying they have to pay us, or we will involve layers. Next email said they will issue full requested refund (which they did).
So, apart from having to threaten with legal action and having to know our rights trough Condor lies, pretty good outcome.
I recently ran into this when I was flying from the US to Europe with United and they canceled my flight and put me on a different one that arrived half a day later. -> Nothing I could do because I incurred no tangible costs (no additional hotel stay etc.) other than losing time and starting work the next morning completely jet-lagged.
It really is beyond me why the EU holds European airlines to a much higher standard than foreign ones which, effectively, works as a subsidy for foreign airlines flying to/from Europe.
An aircraft is out of position, so the flight is definitely going to be cancelled, but instead of cancelling the flight, every 10 minutes, they'll announce a further 10 minute delay to the flight.
If you get frustrated and leave before its officially cancelled, there's no compensation to pay.
The moment it hits 3 hours, and compensation will have to be paid, the flight is suddenly cancelled.
If anything this causes the airlines to be extra cynical and try their hardest to keep the delay within the 3h window. Whatever it takes not to be liable.
The exemptions are the first hurdle. Airlines are getting sick of compensation and often won’t pay until the day before the court date. And in some countries you must follow a procedure and depend on government officials, but they may ghost you for a year (maybe in cahoots or legitimately backlogged)
I always get downvoted for saying anything negative about EU consumer protection…but the protections are so well known and claimed, that it’s hurting airlines financially so they devise strategies. The politicians know this. Absolutely they do. The protections are only as good as how easy they are to claim
And anyway we are basically paying for this insurance anyway through increased fares and fees and baggage costs etc.
As often with eu regulations there are a couple of loopholes so you have to watch out nevertheless (eg force majeur like bird strikes doesn’t count, or when the flight is delayed to next day they have to pay your food and hotel but I decided to book another flight and then they don’t have to pay anything back except the fixed fee which I didn’t know…)