Originally Posted by FlyingNone
If I were part of the European flying public I'd pray for rain -- it could be very lucrative to go to the airport for a cheap flight within Europe or elsewhere and be delayed or cancelled thereby acquiring meals, transportation, a hotel room and probably a free airline ticket. This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard of. Are they running airlines or charities ?
In the case of bad weather, the airlines do not have to pay any compensation in cash, only offer meals and the hotel room. (Certainly not worth to buy a cheap ticket just to get that)
My friend was flying back from the US to Germany (on UA/LH). His flight to Chicago was delayed due to bad weather. He (and another 25!!! pax) on that plane missed their flight to FRA by 5 minutes. The plane was leaving on time and they could even still see it being pushed back from the gate. The reason because they were not holding the plane for some minutes was really obvious: the flight was overbooked, my friend met some people at the gate who were already paid VDBC for that flight. Certainly LH was happy that they did not need to pay any compensation or a hotel for 25 people 'because of the weather'.
In such situations it is really easy for an airline just to blame the weather (or anything out of their control) to get out of any responsibility. After all, how should a passenger know what is the reason for a flight delay? I think that was the reason for the EU that they forced the airlines to pay for meals and hotels even if the reasons for the delay are out of their control - although it might not sound fair. But the thing that happend to my friend does not sound fair at all either.
I think the rest of the regulations really are o.k.. After all, airlines are all making A LOT of money with overbooking.
The same holds for flights that are cancelled just because there are not enough pax booked. As mentioned this is really common practice with LCC and happened to me once and it is really anoying. They (Ryanair) told me that they cancelled the flight due to low demand at the airport!!! (No notification in advance, no compensation, not even for my train ticked that I needed to get home again (next flight was the next day))
So I am happy with the new legislation.
From what I read in (european) newspapers I have the impression that the US Carriers are getting much more financial help from the government (in particular regarding the payments after 9/11) than the European carriers. Most of them are not owned by the national governments. But the impression you have on that subject really might just depend on where you read the papers...