What do airlines commonly offer compensation for?
 

I read this article on the front page reporting that only 4 in 10 people claim the airline compensation from long flight delays that they are entitled to. In my own experience, it can be fairly painful to get anything: Delta denied any compensation for an overnight delay due to engine failure because the people in charge of hotel vouchers had already left... I remember asking a friend to send a stern letter to their legal department in the following weeks that got me a voucher for a few hundred bucks (probably still not sufficient for what ended up as a 24hr delay on the heels of a weather related 24hr delay).

But aside from that, I suspect many people also don't know when they are entitled to compensation. This may be especially confusing because credit cards offer different protection as well.

Is there a nice summary of coverages and compensations available for common problems and delays?

For example: My first leg of a connecting ticket (US-EU) is delayed by a half hour, and Norwegian told me they will rebook me to a later flight (4.5hr longer layover). If I wanted to risk the original connection, they said they would not honor the remainder of the ticket as I'm now aware already that I'd have less than a 1hr layover. Plus, no meal voucher (or anything else).

The above article prompted me to wonder whether there should be compensation for it. But I couldn't find anything, and I'm probably looking up the wrong terms, too. I'm glad I get to fly out on the same day at least...

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

That article is referring to an EU compensation regulation (EU 261/2004) that governs EU carriers traveling to/from/within the EU, and non-EU carriers departing from an EU airport. The regulation does not apply to non-EU carriers when they are not departing from an EU airport.

if you make a booking where a measly 30min delay ruins your travel plans that's not the airline's fault... They offered you another flight ONLY 5 hours later, that's the best possible outcome here. So no, if everyone with a 30min delay got compensation that'd be a huge number of flights. Make bookings with longer layovers...?

Interesting. I had the opposite experience with Delta when I had the same problem in Santiago, Chile, in January and they had to fly in a replacement aircraft. It was late at night (9:50 pm scheduled departure, the decision that the problem was not fixable came quite a bit later) but they kept enough people around to handle the problem. They bussed us all to decent hotels (I got the Crowne Plaza), arranged with the hotel dining room to feed us dinner even though it was well past the normal dinner hour, took care of our breakfast the next day, and bussed us back to the airport. I think they also provided lunch, but I was walking around Santiago (it was a beautiful summer day) so I don't know for sure. Then they gave me 17,500 miles for the hassle. Their communication with us could have been a bit clearer, but I did OK just following the crowd.

The funniest part was that, legally, we had already left Chile at that point and our passports had been stamped by the exit inspectors. We had to go back in, where someone took a pen, scribbled all over the exit stamp, and said we were good to go. No official entry stamp; it was as if we had never left. We got a new exit stamp, with no scribbles, the next day.

Now wait a minute here. As I read it, OP booked a connection with an MCT legal connection. A small delay on on the inbound dropped the connecting time below MCT, but presumably still within PCT (possible connecting time). He was rebooked to a later connection proactively and not allowed to try for the original connection without assuming all the risk. If this happened to me, I'd be pretty pissed. MCTs have some padding in them, precisely for this reason.

Book a flight with a longer layover? The longer layover sounds like exactly what OP wanted to avoid.

United has been proactively offering compensation for delays (don't know if you aren't an elite member whether that is true as well).

At least within the reach of EC261 this statement is not correct. If the OP's flight US-EU (i. e. more than 3500 km) was delayed and this caused the airline to rebook him on another flight resulting in a delay at the final destination of more than 4 hours, according to articles 6 and 7 of EC261 OP has the right to EUR 600,- compensation.

The airline also has a duty of care under EC261 so there probably should have been a meal voucher in addition to the 600 Euro compensation. Plus, the regulations require the carrier to inform passengers of their rights under EC261, which apparently didn't happen either.

Quite true. The OP should have received "meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time" as well as "free of charge two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails".

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"If the OP's flight US-EU (i. e. more than 3500 km) was delayed and this caused the airline to rebook him on another flight resulting in a delay at the final destination of more than 4 hours, according to articles 6 and 7 of EC261 OP has the right to EUR 600,- compensation."

Even if the OP's flights were on Norwegian, connecting in Norway?

Yes. You can find more info here.

Does Norway follow the EC261 regulations? Some countries that do not belong to the EC nevertheless give the same consumer protections to airline passengers.

Also, if the OP originated in the EC, then EC261 should apply as the first flight was late.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

That's interesting; thanks for that.

No problem!

Interesting. For flights to/from USA, they follow EC261 for delays and cancellations but DOT rules for IDBs.