The European Court of Justice has issued a new ruling that would not allow airlines to avoid paying compensation for delayed or cancelled flights on claims of technical problems. The new ruling has at last closed the legal loophole and would potentially cost airlines millions in terms of compensation claims.
Before the ruling was issued, passengers were not able to claim any compensation on grounds of flights delays or cancellations attributed to "extreme circumstances." This was because there was no clear definition of such circumstances and a loophole enabled technical faults to be treated under this exemption.
However the judges have now ruled that faults "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." The court has added that problems ensuing from lack of maintenance should be regarded as "inherent in the normal exercise of an air carrier"s activity.
The ruling was necessitated when a legal action was brought against Alitalia after it refused to pay the necessary compensation for an Austrian family for a last minute cancellation. Friederike Wallentin-Hermann had filed a civil case against the Italian carrier after it cancelled her family"s flight between Vienna and Brindisi five minutes before the departure.
Alitalia had appealed against the ruling by the Austrian court, refusing to make a compensation of 250 and 10 for telephone charges, which has prompted the decision by the European Court.
