Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
Q3: I am flying on BA to SYD, connecting to a domestic QF service to MEL. Am I covered by the Regulation if the QF flight from SYD to MEL is delayed or cancelled?
A3: The Regulation only applies to flights which start or finish in the EU. For the reasons mentioned in A16b, it probably means individual flight segments rather than overall itinerary and, therefore, the Regulation probably does not apply here. The same would also probably be true in the other direction, viz. delay to a QF flight from MEL to SYD connecting to a BA flight to LHR.
Hey CWS, thanks for collating this information.
I found the following, which made me think that the first part of the answer I quoted above is incorrect:
UK Court of Appeal confirms non-EU airlines are liable for delays caused by missed connections at airports outside the EU - Bird & Bird
Having said that - in your example, the final delay was caused by issues with the flight that took place wholly outside the UK+EU, while the court ruling pertained to a scenario where the issues were caused by a delay to the physical flight departing the UK. Also, the court case related to two flights with the same carrier, whereas yours involved two different carriers. So, I investigated further, and found this:
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91 (Text with EEA relevance)
"For the purposes of this Regulation a flight comprised of more than one leg shall be treated—- (a) as a whole, if it was booked as a single unit, and
- (b) as departing from the point of departure of the first leg."
My understanding of this is that, in your first scenario, the passenger is eligible for compensation.
Unfortunately, the situation that led me to investigate this is analogous to your second scenario - a delay to the first leg (outside of the UK/EU) causing a missed connection to a UK-bound flight (on a UK carrier). While EC261 may be deemed to apply to the former scenario (because the first flight departed the UK, which means, I think, that it's not relevant who the operating carrier is), that doesn't answer the question of whether the operating airline in your second scenario is deemed to be the one operating the physical flight (QF) or the one operating the flight into the UK (BA).
Any thoughts would be welcome!