Originally Posted by
8420PR
From an airline point of view, the legislation has significantly changed in 10 years from punitive compensation payable where an airline took a commercial decision to overbook a flight or cancel a flight due to low loads, to having to pay punitive compensation where a flight is delayed because of a technical problem with the engine (that wasn't planned for).
IMO, you are making a totally unwarranted assumption as to what the legislation was supposed to mean. It seems to me pretty plain, whether one looks at its actual provisions, the discussions on the Reg during the legislative process or its interpretation by the CJEU since then, that the aim was always first and foremost one of compensation of passengers rather than "punishing" airlines. A "punitive" level of compensation is one which would be massively disproportionate with the harm suffered by the passenger. I do not think that a €250 award is manifestly grossly out of proportion with the prejudice suffered by the passenger for a flight delay of over 2 hrs on a short-haul itinerary (and mutatis mutandis for the other levels of compensation in the Reg)