Originally Posted by
zabes64
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/tr...urt-rules.html
Mechanicals just don't count, and therefore, require payment:
"The ruling by the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg said passengers who reach their final destination three hours or more after the scheduled arrival time can claim fixed compensation from the airline, unless the delay is caused by “extraordinary circumstances” such as a strike or bad weather.
Mechanical problems with an aeroplane do not constitute extraordinary circumstances, the court ruled.
...The ruling confirms a 2009 verdict by the court, which said that under EU law passengers whose flights are delayed have the same rights to compensation as passengers whose fights are cancelled."
If you notice, the part in the article that mechanicals don't constitute an extraordinary circumstance, the article does not use quotes, meaning that is an interpretation by the author, where later on, the article does actually quote the court said that extraordinary circumstances were those “which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken, namely circumstances beyond the actual control of the air carrier”.
So, the court, at least per this article, doesnt look like it made a definitive ruling that no mechanicals were ever outside the control by "reasonable measures" of an air carrier, but the author of the pieceis stating that in his opinion that at least some (but not defined as all or any) may not fall under that.
The case tested if delayed was the same as cncld, not if a, some, or all mechanicals are subject to, or exempt from the penalties. Don't read into the court rulling what isn't presented as part of the ruling in an article not issued by the court, nor quoted of the court.