Originally Posted by
Cap'n Benj
As the person who said they'd be happy to experience a delay for 600 EUR, I lost a whole day of my Honeymoon and spent 27 whole hours at LHR thanks to a BA delay!
...And yes Im still happy to now wait at the airport for 3-4 hours for 600 EUR!
Obviously cases like yours are the ones where the law has a real benefit to the consumer, in most cases though it will probably be a businessman or whole family who picks up 600EUR each for being 4 hours late for work/ school!
I, too, would be happy to wait in an airport for 3/4 hours for such a payment if it was not going to have a knock-on effect on other arrangements (and I don't imagine you were happy to be hanging-around Heathrow on your Honeymoon).
I would contend that the problem of whether the law is or is not beneficial is really a matter for the person suffering the consequences of such delay. The problem is that it's impossible for the airline alone to determine that effect, so there has to be a cut-off point beyond which it becomes the airline's responsibility to pay compensation. Beyond that, surely it becomes a commercial issue: is it more cost-effective to go to every effort to reduce the delay or to pay compensation?
Unless the airline can be held to account for a delay without reasonable cause (and I know that that will be debated ad infinitum), there's really no incentive to mitigate any delay beyond general passenger dissatisfaction and the effects of competition - powerful though both may be ... eventually.