Airline Lawsuits in Europe…Just for Late Flights

In Europe, passengers have the option to sue airlines for damages resulting from delayed flights. Being from the U.S., where we’re known for suing everybody for everything, I find this really interesting. At this time, an estimated 349 million pounds is due to past delayed passengers. Wow. That’s a lot of moula.

Pim de Vos, an attorney for the De Vos & Partners firm in Amsterdam and Hendrik Noorderhaven, owner of Lennoc, an airline data management system based in the Netherlands, have been compiling information on airline delays and cancellations over the last five years. The finding? Airlines are either delayed or no-shows 30% of the time. That’s a lot of missed flights.

According to De Vos, only a fraction of travellers ever claim monies to which they are entitled. Those that do make a claim find it difficult because of a nuance in the law that protects airlines if the delay or cancellation was due to forces beyond their control.

For UK travelers wishing to claim damages due to delayed or cancelled flights, a website is being set up by Noorderhaven at www.euclaim.co.uk.

I wonder when is the U.S. going to follow suit?

Via The Times Online