deniwhit

Hi, there has recently been a new ruling in the high court that allows for compensation for technical flight delays going back 6 years. My family had a dreadful experience flying from Heathrow on Thai airways. We were delayed 15 hours in 2008. I originally complained and tried to get compensation for the expenses that we had to incur but was declined as it was a technical fault. I am now going to claim again (I have the original message from the airline declining the claim) but do not have my original e-ticket or booking reference, does anyone know how I can obtain this information or if in fact I can make a claim without it?

Long Zhiren

Which country's high court?
And how would such jurisdiction affect a different country's company operating somewhere else?

nux

Perhaps you should look in to EU261.

LondonElite

I think 261 only goes back three years; in any case, it's nothing to do with the high court of any country.

nux

Dawson v Thomson set a precedent of 6 years, which was recently upheld on appeal.

Centipede100

Incorrect on both counts I'm afraid.

261/2004 came into effect in February 2005. Compensation for delays of 3 hours or more wasn't part of the original Reg but was brought in via the Sturgeon ECJ judgment in 2009. This allows passengers to bring claims up to 6 years after the delayed flight in Eng/Wales, 5 years in Scotland.

The UK Court of Appeal ruled in the last 3 weeks on 2 relevant cases:

Dawson v Thomson where the airline were attempting to limit legal claims to 2 years only (rather than 6 years);

Huzar v Jet2.com where the airline claimed that unforeseeable or unexpected technical faults were extraordinary circumstances and therefore compensation should not be paid.

Both airlines lost their appeals and, although the CoA ruled that they had no right of appeal to the UK Supreme Court, they have both stated their intentions of petitioning the SC for leave to appeal. In the meantime the CoA judgments stand as precedent case law.