Should compensation be extended?
Apr 6, 2019, 1:31 am
#31
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,190
No, compensation should not be extended. I believe that would raise prices artificially and 20 minutes late is perfectly acceptable given the constraints of airports, ATC etc. YMMV, but I don't think you'll get much traction here or elsewhere TBH.
Provided you are on the plane at the prescribed time, arrival time is all that counts. The ticket is to get to to a certain place around a certain time. There is no expectation of taking off at a particular time, nor travelling at a certain average speed.
Finally, air travel and rail travel are not really comparable for a variety of reasons.
rb211.
Provided you are on the plane at the prescribed time, arrival time is all that counts. The ticket is to get to to a certain place around a certain time. There is no expectation of taking off at a particular time, nor travelling at a certain average speed.
Finally, air travel and rail travel are not really comparable for a variety of reasons.
rb211.
Apr 6, 2019, 3:36 am
#33
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Increased reliability of aircraft, tight schedules and airline propaganda leads us into the false belief that air travel is this perfectly controlled environment, but it isn't. Complex machinery, thousands of people involved in the movement of each flight, weather lead to an indeterminable amount of unforeseen events from mechanical breakdowns, human issues and weather delays or diversions.
30-60 minutes delays in air travel should be expected when planning a journey and an appreciation that delays of a day or more are entirely feasible, as is the possibility of your checked luggage not arriving. Chances are it will all be good, but prepare for the worst and appreciate the times when it all goes to plan.
That said many of us control freaks use forums like this to learn ways/gain tools to ensure a modicum of control.
30-60 minutes delays in air travel should be expected when planning a journey and an appreciation that delays of a day or more are entirely feasible, as is the possibility of your checked luggage not arriving. Chances are it will all be good, but prepare for the worst and appreciate the times when it all goes to plan.
That said many of us control freaks use forums like this to learn ways/gain tools to ensure a modicum of control.
Apr 6, 2019, 3:59 am
#34
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Apr 6, 2019, 4:13 am
#35
Join Date: Aug 2006
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The fact you arrived 20 minutes late is indicative of your departure delay being longer than usual, but it's not enough to trigger compensation.
Apr 6, 2019, 6:32 am
#36
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If being 20 minutes late is likely to inconvenience you enough for you to feel you need compensation, surely you should get the departure before the one you have booked? Or am I being unreasonable?
Apr 6, 2019, 9:29 am
#37
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Apr 6, 2019, 10:45 am
#38
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Compensation isn't going to happen, but I sympathesize with an argument based on the asymmetry between the airlines (no compensation unless the customer arrives several hours late, and exceptions for extraordinary circumstances) and the customer (many tickets lose all value if the passenger is even one minute late, for whatever reason). [Trevel insurance doesn't solve the problem.]
Apr 6, 2019, 11:03 am
#39
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I sympathise with the sentiment but I suppose given the greater engineering and physical demands inherent to manned flight they had to draw the line somewhere. Should that line be moved, maybe? I don’t know. Perhaps once the airlines have become more efficient in response to EC261 the EU might tighten the screw a little?
There are obviously tolerances involved 🤷🏻.♀️
There are obviously tolerances involved 🤷🏻.♀️
But there is only so much efficiency an airline can improve upon to reduce delays.
Get passengers on the jet way slightly earlier to that they can board the instant the crew is ready leads to complaints 'why were we stood waiting when we could have sat at the gate?'
Apr 6, 2019, 11:07 am
#40
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I have long since stopped counting the delays on getting airborne, or indeed reaching the stand, at DUB. Or indeed LGW. Has it affected the overall arrival time at the end of the flight? Not sure it really counted ... we took off, flew and landed within broad parameters of on time. Waiting bags is a separate subject, of course.
Apr 6, 2019, 12:20 pm
#41
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Delay Repay on the railways is also based on arrival times not departure. On most trains there would be no compensation for a 20min delayed arrival either. (some offer something for a 15m delay though). Furthermore may of the longer train routes also build in time into their schedules to allow for delays so as to "arrive" on time.
Apr 7, 2019, 5:55 am
#43
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 1,281
Delay Repay on the railways is also based on arrival times not departure. On most trains there would be no compensation for a 20min delayed arrival either. (some offer something for a 15m delay though). Furthermore may of the longer train routes also build in time into their schedules to allow for delays so as to "arrive" on time.
There's an argument that the massive increase in rail passenger journies is in part due to a massive improvement in on-time performance, which in turn is due to compensation-for-delays culture. Stricter compensation rules could turn out to be good for the airlines in the long term too.
Apr 7, 2019, 6:41 am
#44
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That might have been true had EC 261/2004 been enforced as intended and written. But with judges at the national and especially CJEU level tinkering with the economics and operations of something about which they know nothing, delay compensation has become government-mandated insurance, not a means of improving on time performance.
If the EU were serious about ontime performance, it would abandon this Regulation and simply impose fines on carriers for delayed flights and deposit those fines in a fund available to improve the EU air carrier network.
If the EU were serious about ontime performance, it would abandon this Regulation and simply impose fines on carriers for delayed flights and deposit those fines in a fund available to improve the EU air carrier network.