I mentioned recently that I had been asked to prepare an 'Advice' on budget airlines and their claims regarding "Free Flights" - the advice was to include an opinion on a passenger's contractual, statutory and/or common law rights if things go wrong.

What may be of particular interest to members here are the relatively new European Union rights which affect

1) all flights which either depart from an EU airport or

2) flights which are scheduled to land at an EU airport which depart from outside the EU (if the flight is operated by an EU airline).

The new rights are in respect to denied boarding and cancellation, delays, baggage and injury in accidents. The figures quoted are the 'minimum' an airline must offer an affected passenger.

These rights have recently been confirmed by a Decision last month in The European Court of Justice. These are mandatory rights and an airline cannot opt out of them!

For more general information have a look at Air Passenger Rights and a little more here.

Thanks Tobias,
As a regular flier with Ryanair/Easyjet,(once a week at the minute) that will make very interesting reading,
Thanks again for the info
regards
Bryn

Bear in mind that these rights apply to 'every' flight that leaves the EU - not just low-cost airlines.

Also, the obligations on the airline will be limited or excluded in cases where an event has been caused by "extraordinary circumstances" which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken by the airline.

"Extraordinary circumstances" may include issues such as political instability, adverse weather conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes that affect the operation of the airline.