[QUOTE=Lack;13800196]Please withhold from judgments like "ridiculous" or "stupid", because the same might as well be used against your opinions and that would lead us nowhere.
In Europe consumers are perceived as being the weak side of any transaction, therefore their rights/privileges extend way further then in the US.
Please also keep in mind that there would be no reciprocity in that relationship - airlines aren't that forgiving when force majeure affects the customer only (ie. late for a flight because of snowstorm).


I understand your points and in no way want to be impolite but I am not making any ad hominem attacks but just saying that regulating what is clearly an accepted and logical business practice does not make any sense. You can't shift the burden of cost to an undeserving entity because it makes "psychological" sense. This is how you create distortions in the system that have to be fixed by other distortions in an endless cycle. In any case this is but just one example of the myriad of nonsensical regulations that the EU created to appease one or another constituency without regard for the common good.